Source: Telegraph
Gareth Barry completes £12m move to Manchester City
Barry, who will fly to Kazakhstan with the England squad on Wednesday prior to Saturday's World Cup qualifier in Almaty, agreed a £92,000-a-week five-year deal to sign for City.[LNB]Their manager, Mark Hughes, is keen to add Barcelona forward Samuel Eto'o, Manchester United's Carlos Tevez, Blackburn forward Roque Santa Cruz and Everton defender Joleon Lescott to the capture of Barry before the end of the month.[LNB] Related ArticlesBarry's City move an embarrassment to VillaTop 20 transfer targetsPremier League Transfer TalkBarry: I want to join Liverpool, my mind is made upIreland commits future to Man CityCity dismiss talk of MourinhoBarry's move to Eastlands comes just a year after he told Villa manager Martin O'Neill that he wanted to leave Villa Park for a club competing in the Champions League.[LNB]An £18 million move to Liverpool collapsed last August, however, and Villa had been hopeful of tying the 28-year-old to a £70,000-a-week contract this summer.[LNB]But on the day that City owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan sold a large stake in Barclays for a profit of £1.5 billion, the club's £12 million offer for Barry, who had just 12 months left on his Villa contract, was accepted by the Midlands club, who could yet do further business with City by agreeing a compensation fee for out-of-contract teenage striker Daniel Sturridge.[LNB]Despite Barry's imminent departure to central Asia today for the Kazakhstan fixture, England manager Fabio Capello agreed to allow the player to finalise his move to City in order to end uncertainty over his future in the build-up to the qualifier.[LNB]Talks between Villa and City officials and Barry's representatives are understood to have commenced on Monday evening, prior to further discussions on Tuesday morning. And although the player had consistently expressed a desire to leave Villa for Liverpool, the Anfield club failed to make a late bid in an attempt to scupper City's move for the midfielder.[LNB]'I'm delighted to be joining City,' Barry said. 'It didn't take much persuasion from Mark Hughes; they are heading in the direction I want to go. There is great potential here.'[LNB]City's plans to sign Tevez are now to set to hinge on talks on Wednesday between United and the player's advisers. United have so far proved reluctant to pay the necessary £25.5 million to complete a permanent move for the Argentine, but chief executive David Gill could thrash out a deal to hand the player a three-year contract at Old Trafford.[LNB]
