Rafa: Barry saga not my fault
15 Aug 2008 - 15:31:16
Rafael Benitez has suggested the Liverpool board are to blame for the club's failure to land Gareth Barry in the summer's long-running transfer saga.
The England midfielder was expected to join the Reds earlier in the summer but remains a Villa player two months after the deal was first mooted.
Barry made an appearance for Villa in the UEFA Cup on Thursday evening which renders him ineligible for the first stage of the Champions League should he finally sign for the Anfield club.
Reports suggest the Liverpool hierarchy are unwilling to meet Villa's £18million valuation of their 27-year-old captain and Benitez is unhappy that he is being blamed for the failure to complete the deal.
Instead he has pointed the finger of blame at chief executive Rick Parry and the club's American owners.
"I will try to be very clear over the situation," he said. "Everyone has been talking and it seems that the blame is put on me.
"I get blamed for everything, for global warming to high petrol prices!
"But in this case I want to be very clear. Since I talked to (Villa boss) Martin O'Neill about the situation in April, I have not talked to anyone at Aston Villa.
"All the talks have been between our chief executive Rick Parry, the owner and the chief executive of Aston Villa - and those talks have all been pretty good.
"So if anyone wants to talk about Barry in the future they must talk with the owner, Rick Parry or the chief executive of Aston Villa.
"I was not involved in the talks about Barry, I was not involved in the talks about (Xabi) Alonso and Arsenal. If you want to talk about these players you must talk to the chief executive of our club who was handling the discussions.
"If you want to talk about players, then you talk to Rick Parry. If you want to talk about football, then you talk with me."