Aston Villa FC

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O'Neill welcomes Barry stay

29 Nov 2008 - 10:24:01

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Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill is confident that club owner Randy Lerner will not be tempted to cash in on midfielder Gareth Barry in the January transfer window.

The 27-year-old England international has vowed not to leave Villa Park before next summer at the earliest, with O'Neill comfortable to leave the situation as it is for the time being.

He said: "Gareth can buy himself out of his final year. I understand that, but it has never been a major issue with the owner of the football club.

"There has been no pressure from the owner to cash in. He has never mentioned it to me.

"It never entered his head. You accept people's value gets less as the contract runs down, but it has never entered his head. He is happy to hear the news that Gareth is staying."

O'Neil went on to say about former Villa skipper Barry: "Gareth and myself have had a wee chat and he wants to put all the speculation aside.

"He is going to see it out here until the summer - at least - see where we all are positioned at that time and so any speculation in January will be purely that.

"Sometimes I might not have been completely sure about what might happen in January because it is a window, a time where transfer speculation is rife.

"So I am so pleased Gareth wants to leave it to summer."