Friday Apr 25 2008 17:29
Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill will wait until the end of the season before holding contract discussions with in-demand midfielder Gareth Barry.
The England international has been linked with several teams including Liverpool and Chelsea after enjoying the best season of his career, but O'Neill will do everything he can to keep the 27-year-old at Villa Park.
"(Owner) Randy (Lerner) shares my view in terms of keeping Gareth. Absolutely. I didn't need to have a long prolonged conversation with Randy to know that.
"He shares my ambition to keep Gareth Barry. Randy is well versed in those sorts of things. He deals closely with any player dealings at the Cleveland Browns so he'd be aware of such things.
"He's gone back to America. He's hoping to get back over here for the Everton game. He has been backwards and forwards.
"He is getting a few things organised but for the last couple of games with Wigan and West ham he will definitely be here.
"How did the meeting with Lerner go? I asked for £80million and he said yes! He brought the war chest out and there it was, £80million! It was all there in dollars. Only joking.
"In all seriousness we touched on a number of subjects and I said to him that I would prefer to leave things for now especially as we are in a position where we have to have full concentration on the games.
"I said I would prefer to leave any major talks until after the season is over."
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