Reds make final Barry offer
02 Jul 2008 - 07:19:25
Liverpool have reportedly made a final offer of £17million in a bid to land Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry.
Villa boss Martin O'Neill has already rejected two bids from the Anfield club for his captain.
The 27-year-old England international has informed O'Neill of his wish to join the Reds in order to play Champions League football, but so far the two clubs have failed to reach agreement on a price.
Barry and O'Neill became embroiled in a war of words over the weekend when the midfielder accused his manager of a lack of communication over the protracted transfer saga.
But O'Neill hit back at his skipper's criticism and insisted he would only be allowed Villa Park if Liverpool match his valuation of the player.
He said: "Contrary to what was reported, we desperately want to keep Gareth at Villa Park and he knows that.
"We asked both Gareth and his agent to consider what had been discussed at our meeting, but Gareth came back from England international duty in June and reiterated his intention to join Liverpool and told me so.
"But Liverpool's valuation of Gareth has been consistently well short of our own and at the moment remains so.
"We have made our position clear in respect of Liverpool's interest in the captain of our club, but if Liverpool meet our valuation then Gareth Barry will get his express wish to leave Villa Park."
Meanwhile, reports continue to suggest Liverpool are keen to land Spurs captain Robbie Keane in a £20million player-plus-cash swap deal involving Peter Crouch.