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Barry plays, he scores, he ends hope of move to Liverpool

Gareth Barry looks to have put pay to any chance of his dream move to Liverpool by playing in Aston Villa’s UEFA Cup qualifier against FH Hafnarfjordur. Not only did Barry play, he scored, and after just 3 minutes!

His appearance in the game means if he were to move to Liverpool, or any club for that matter, he would be ineligible in the Champions League until February and unable to play in the UEFA Cup for another team this season.

By playing Barry, Villa look to have signalled their intent to hang on to the player, as playing him has reduced his value to any potential suitor, Liverpool included.

Even after playing the England international tonight, manager Martin O’Neill is still unsure of whether he’ll hold on to his star player:

I wouldn’t be sure until the transfer deadline passes what will materialise.

I had a talk with him beforehand. He was in the right frame of mind and wanted to play and there was nothing that would have stopped him which was very pleasing.

He wanted to play and he knew the consequences so the decision was very much his.

It really does look as though this saga is over.

Is Rafa at odds with owners over Barry?

Just what is the problem with Gareth Barry’s transfer to Liverpool? The player wants to go, Benitez wants him at Liverpool and Villa are resigned to losing him for £18 million.

So why hasn’t the deal gone through?

The reason seems to be the American owners of Liverpool FC, Tom Hicks and George Gillett. According to reports it is they who refuse to meet Villa’s £18 valuation, even though Rafa Benitez believes the player is worth it.

Rick Parry, the Liverpool chairman, confirms that the American owners don’t believe the valuation is fair:

On this occasion Liverpool think the price quoted is too high.

According to some reports from with Anfield, Benitez and the American owners of Liverpool have argued over the transfer, though Parry insists that both Hicks and Gillette are willing to trust and back the manager’s decisions.

This is not about questioning the manager’s judgement or the ability of a particular player.

The owners have clearly demonstrated throughout the year they are willing to back Rafa in the transfer market and will continue to do so.

It is obviously the selling club’s prerogative to put whatever price they want on the player, but on this occasion Liverpool think the price quoted is too high.

With just six days of the pre-season left, the summer’s most public transfer looks likely to run on.

Benitez drops hint on new arrival at Anfield

The on-off transfer of Gareth Barry from Aston Villa to Liverpool could still be on, despite the sticking price of the fee that the two clubs fail to agree on. Liverpool still want to sign Barry, Barry still wants to sign for Liverpool and Villa manager Martin O’Neill has admitted he expects Barry to leave.

Benitez said he still expects to sign another player before the Premier League kicks off next week, though refused to name the player.

When speaking about the transfer fee over Gareth Barry, Benitez stated:

The situation is not a question of money.

He is English and can play three different positions, but I am talking about someone who can play on the left.

I am talking about one player, but I won’t say the name.

It was thought that the Spanish international Xabi Alonso would make way for Barry at Anfield, but now it appears that Alonso will be staying.

We have a good player (Alonso) and we have another good player coming in soon.

We can improve the squad, so we will try to do that. We will bring in one more player if we can.

I do not know when but clearly we have problems on the left, Kewell has gone, Aurelio is injured and Leto cannot get a work permit.

The next seven days before the start of the season will be very interesting to see who comes in and who goes out for each Premiership side.

Leto refused work permit for Liverpool

Argentina midfielder Leto, who played four times for Liverpool last season, has been refused a work permit this season. Leto, 21, cost Liverpool £2 million last year and landed himself an Italian passport in the summer, but has it revoked.

This meant that Liverpool had to apply for a work permit for the player, but the DWP refused to grant it, meaning the player cannot ply his trade in England this season.

Rafael Benitez now has to loan Leto out to another European club, and insists there are plenty of teams who want him.

Rafa is disappointed with the DWP’s decision however:

I am disappointed and it was a surprise because this is a player who has played in the Champions League and been in the Argentina squad for the Olympic Games.

You have managers talking about how good he is, so I think the system needs to change.

Now we have to look for a solution, maybe find a team for him on loan, but we have maybe eight or 10 teams in Spain, Italy and Greece asking about him.

When you have eight or 10 teams asking about a player and he’s not playing, it means that he is good.

Benitez reiterates though that this doesn’t mean the end of Leto’s Liverpool career. If he performs well on loan this season he might find his way back into England for the 2009/10 campaign.

Barry could still join Liverpool

Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry looked all the way to be staying with the midlands club after suitors Liverpool failed to sign the player by Villa’s deadline of Wednesday.

However, it might not mean the deal is dead as Liverpool still want to sign Barry, and the player definitely wants to leave Villa Park.

According to reports, Villa manager Martin O’Neill and their chairman Randy Lerner will meet up with Gareth Barry and his agent this week to discuss the player’s situation.

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez stated earlier this week that the club would need to sell before they could sign any more players, after the £20 million capture of Robbie Keane from Spurs.

After Liverpool failed to meet Villa’s deadline of Wednesday to sign Barry, Martin O’Neill said he was delighted that the player would be staying at the club:

Now we can all look forward to the season ahead with relief, anticipation and ambition.

The stumbling block has always been Liverpool failing to meet Aston Villa’s valuation for Gareth Barry. If they can agree on a fee, the player looks likely to sign for the Merseyside club.

Liverpool sign £20 million Keano

Republic of Ireland striker Robbie Keane has joined his boyhood idols Liverpool for a fee that could climb as high as £20 million, depending on appearances.

28 year-old Keane had his medical at Anfield this weekend and penned a four-year contract, which should earn him £80,000 per week.

The actual fee is reported to be £19 million, with a further £1.3 million over the next few years.

Tottenham had originally reported Liverpool for an illegal approach to Keane, but have decided to drop that claim following the transfer of the Irishman. Also Liverpool have apologised for their approach, which Spurs have posted on their website:

Liverpool FC have acknowledged that the way its website reported comments of its manager, which were widely covered by the media, was inappropriate.

In light of that acknowledgement (they) have apologised and agreed to make a donation to our Club’s main charity, the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation.

Tottenham Hotspur has therefore agreed not to pursue its official complaint to the Premier League.

Liverpool should mark the end in an extraordinary journey for the great traveller, Robbie Keane, who has played for Wolves, Coventry, Inter Milan, Leeds United and Tottenham. He has always commanded a high transfer fee, and has scored goals wherever he has played.

Keane was Liverpool’s top target this summer to replace Peter Crouch, who went to Pompey.
Keane spoke of his thanks to Tottenham for his time at the club:

I would like to place on record my thanks to the board, players and fans of Tottenham for the past six years, which were the best and most enjoyable of my career to date.

I will never forget them. I would specifically like to thank chairman Daniel Levy for understanding, that, as a fan, joining Liverpool is a lifelong dream of mine and one I couldn’t let pass me by.

I hope one day the Spurs fans, who have been brilliant to me, can understand this too.

I have only good things to say about my time at Tottenham and expect them to go from strength to strength under Juande Ramos and Daniel Levy.

Liverpool have now splashed out nearly £32 million this summer, with Keane being the most expensive and highest profile signing so far.

Fergie begins mind games with Big Phil

The season is some weeks off yet but Sir Alex Ferguson is already underway with the mind games. Speaking in an interview the canny Scott has already written off Chelsea’s title challenge for next season, insisting that Scolari’s team are too old to improve.

Instead Ferguson believes that Liverpool and Arsenal are more of a challenge. This is clearly Sir Alex chancing his arm with Big Phil early on, seeing if he can poke a reaction from the Brazilian.

Fergy stated:

Chelsea are an experienced side and I don’t see outstanding progress coming from a team in their 30s.

I wouldn’t write off Liverpool or Arsenal. It has been understated what Arsenal achieved last season.

They suffered injuries at a bad time, Arsenal - in February they lost most of their midfield.

Who is to say that it would not have been closer if Arsene Wenger had kept his players fit?

Ferguson’s intentions are obvious, even to newcomers to the game, as he obviously will be very wary of Chelsea and will consider them his main challengers. Especially after the blues have spent £24 million on two Portuguese players, Deco and Bosingwa.

Fergie however went onto say that Chelsea will find it hard to improve, even with the experienced Scolari at the helm.

I’m not concerned about Chelsea, I just don’t know how far that team has got to go.

They have lots of experience and big-game temperament and in a sense Scolari is fortunate, joining a big club with a team of internationals.

Liverpool and Manchester United reported to Premier League by Spurs

Both Liverpool and Manchester United have been reported to the premier league by Tottenham Hotspur, over their pursuit of the players Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov respectively.

Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, has stated that he expects the capture of Tottenham striker Berbatov to go through in a matter of days. This has angered Spurs, who say they haven’t accepted any offers from either Manchester United or Liverpool.

Daniel Levy, the chairman of Tottenham Hotspur, said of Sir Alex Ferguson:

It is unbelievably hypocritical given his comments in respect of Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid.

The behaviour of both clubs has been disgraceful. We told both clubs very early on that we had no interest in selling Robbie or Dimitar, respectively, and that they should refrain from pursuing the player.

Both clubs arrogantly chose to ignore this request and we now have evidence that both clubs have systematically been working to prise the players away from us, outside of Premier League rules of conduct.

Manchester United have made an offer for the 27-year-old Bulgarian striker Berbatov, but Spurs have not accepted. Liverpool meanwhile have made very public their interest in Robbie Kean.

Levy was particularly angered by Manchester United however, and explained how Spurs have made an official complaint about their conduct.

Today’s public comments by Manchester United’s manager, announcing that he has made an offer for Dimitar and is confident that the deal will go through with time working in their favour, is a blatant example of sheer arrogance and interference with one of our players.

It is also probably one of the worst offences by any manager in the Premier League to date

As a result, we have today made an official complaint to the Premier League about the conduct of Manchester United.

Tottenham are holding firm over their insistence that they do not wish to sell either player.

Stoke City pull out of Carson hunt

Premiership newboys Stoke City have dropped out of the hunt for Liverpool’s goalkeeper Scott Carson. The two clubs had agreed a fee of £4 million for the player, but the deal now appears to have collapsed.

There are two other clubs looking at Carson however, Blackburn Rovers and West Brom. Blackburn will most likely need a replacement for rad Friedel, who looks bound for Aston Villa, who Carson was on loan with last season… this is getting complicated.

The deal between Stoke and Liverpool appears to have collapsed over personal terms with the player.

Stoke announced to the media:

Stoke City can announce that we are no longer pursuing Liverpool goalkeeper Scott Carson.

The club will continue to look to improve the squad and remain hopeful of closing in on several new signings ahead of the Barclays Premier League campaign.

Villa were expected to sign Carson themelves, but now look to be targeting Tottenham’s Paul Robinson and Blackburn’s Brad Friedel.

Gareth Barry staying at Villa?

Long-time Liverpool target Gareth Barry could be staying at Aston Villa after all. Firstly, Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso looks to have had a proposed move to Juventus fall through, which would have paved the way (and spared up the cash) for Barry to arrive at Anfield. Secondly, Barry has been ordered to return to training on Wednesday at Aston Villa, according to the club.

Previously the Villa boss, Martin O’Neill, had ordered Barry to stay away and not report back for training at all. Villa play against Odense in the Intertoto Cup this Saturday, but Barry is not expected to feature.

Barry has shown signs of frustration at his dream move to Liverpool being put on hold by Villa’s refusal to accept any of Liverpool’s offers for the player.

Villa want £17 million plus Steve Finnan for Gareth Barry, Liverpool have refused to meet that offer.

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