Gareth Barry agrees to stay at Aston Villa but snubs new contract talks

Gareth Barry last night admitted his hopes of a dream move to Liverpool this summer are finally over - but his long-term future at Aston Villa remains in huge doubt.

The England midfielder will be staying at Villa until January at the earliest after Liverpool had four bids for him rejected in a controversial transfer saga.

And Barry's next Premier League outing on Sunday is Villa's grudge match at home to Rafa Benitez's men.

But Barry, 27, has snubbed Villa's attempts to discuss a new long-term contract following Liverpool's failure to meet his £18million price tag.

And with just two years left on his £47,000-a-week deal, Barry will be able to invoke FIFA's Article 17 clause to buy out the last 12 months of his contract and move abroad next summer for a bargain £2m.

So while Villa boss Martin O'Neill has won his latest battle with Benitez, Barry will probably still leave next year if the Midlands club fail to fulfil his Champions League aspirations.

The star's agent Alex Black said: "After much speculation I can confirm that Gareth Barry will not leave Aston Villa before the transfer window closes. Gareth made the decision to stay and informed Aston Villa of his intentions.

"During this time discussions have taken place to decide the best way forward for all parties. Any talks regarding potential new contracts at Aston Villa will not take place until the end of the season.

"Gareth wants to concentrate on playing to the best of his ability for Aston Villa, and we hope this draws a line under the matter."

Benitez's persistent pursuit of Barry has infuriated O'Neill and stretched his own relationship with Anfield chief executive Rick Parry to breaking point as the club failed to capture his No.1 transfer target.

But O'Neill has been resolute in his determination to hold out for £18m for Barry, which Liverpool were eventually unable to afford after blowing £20m on striker Robbie Keane. Despite Barry's repeated demands to leave Villa Park, he must now get his head round staying at the club for the immediate future.

O'Neill plans to play Barry in tonight's second leg at home to FH Hafnarfjordur - the final hurdle to UEFA Cup qualification - to improve his fitness as he was disappointing on his previous appearance for both club and country.

Villa hold a healthy 4-1 advantage from the first leg in Iceland, and O'Neill needs his versatile left-sided playmaker to be much sharper when Liverpool come calling.

"I would have no reservations about playing him on Sunday," said O'Neill. "I genuinely don't have a problem about Gareth Barry being tuned in to play.

"If he stays with us for the foreseeable future, I would be really delighted. I would have said only a few weeks ago that I was kind of resigned to the fact he would no longer be there.

"He didn't come with us to our training camp in Malaga because I assumed everything would be done by then.

"But him staying is a really big bonus to us.

"He'll have better days for us than Saturday at Stoke, but that might have just been a culmination of the lack of any real steady pre-season and all of those things.

"He has had a stop-start pre-season, which hasn't helped him, and he has played four games in relatively quick succession - including the England game.

"I couldn't have faulted him in any of the matches but maybe his sharpness and fitness is something he is still striving for."

PROBABLE TEAMS
Aston Villa: Taylor Gardner Knight Davies Barry Routledge Petrov Osbourne Salifou Harewood Agbonlahor
H'fjordur: Sigurdsson Eiriksson Sverrisson Valgardsson Nielsen Gudnason Vidarsson Siim Vihjalmsson T G'mundsson M G'mundsson

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