Aston Villa Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

Bounty Hunter

12m & 100k a week it says on the Guardian online

Manchester City ready to complete £12m deal for Gareth Barry• England midfielder set for medical ahead of City move
• Expected to agree a salary-doubling £100,000-a-week deal
Buzz up!
Digg it
Stuart James guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 2 June 2009 15.31 BST Article history
Gareth Barry is expected to complete a £12m move to Manchester City. Photograph: Scott Heavey/Action Images

Manchester City are hopeful of completing the signing of Gareth Barry today after Aston Villa accepted their £12m bid for the England international.

The Midlands club confirmed this morning that Barry is in talks with City and it is understood that, with the deal at an advanced stage, the transfer could go through as early as tonight and leave Rafael Benítez, the Liverpool manager, facing up to the bitter disappointment of missing out on his No1 target.

With Barry due to fly to Kazakhstan with the England squad tomorrow morning, City were hoping to make arrangements with the Football Association to facilitate a medical this afternoon. Assuming there are no complications, the 28-year-old will sign a contract believed to be worth in the region of £100,000-a-week – more than double his current salary – with Villa not anticipating a late offer from Liverpool, who failed with five bids last summer, or any other club.

Barry's decision to move to City will sit uncomfortably with Villa supporters as well as the manager, Martin O'Neill. The former Brighton trainee indicated 12 months ago that the chance to play Champions League football was the motivation for his desire to join Liverpool. City, however, finished 10th in the Premier League, 12 points behind Villa and failed to qualify for the Europa League, leaving Barry open to accusations that finance rather than football has influenced his decision.

O'Neill has said on several occasions recently that no one at Villa would "begrudge" a player who has spent 12 years at the club the chance to play in the Champions League. He had offered to make him the best-paid employee in the club's history with an £80,000–a-week contract but Barry's head appears to have been turned by City's ambitions. The one consolation for Villa is that they have extracted a £12m fee for a player who would be available on a free transfer this time next year.

Savman

Yep, like I thought, £80k a week on the table from Villa plus European (micky mouse) footie. Sacrifice that for £20k a week?

In MON we trust.....*gulp*


/closes eyes and hopes that somehow everything will be ok.

Esse85

Barry didnt deserve to be offered 80k after his recent season.

Mr Alan

£100k a week.

Esse85

Mr Alan wrote: »

£100k a week.

I was implying that Barry didnt deserve to be offered 80k by Villa.

Whether he gets 8k or 800k at Man City matters little to me as a Villa supporter.

Mr Alan

sorry-i wasn't responding to your post.
Just marvelling at the fact that he is getting £100k a week!
Everyone knows he is a good player, a really good player. but thats the same money the likes to Torres,Gerrard,Rooney etc are on.

Insane wages at that club. Bridge is on the in and around the same.

God help us if they do sign a Kaka/Villa style player, 200k a week easy.

Esse85

I wonder what Helix makes of it all

invincibleirish

Meh its not the end of the world, 12m is excellent money for a player in the last year of the contract. If he had just a great season then it might be worth getting upset over but seeing as he was completely outshun by Petrov this season and has blown hot n' cold throughout his Villa career playing in CM then this can only be seen as an opportunity to improve the Villa midfield, over to MON to spend the moolah.

wynters

You have to admire City for not prckin us around either - For the deal to be this near completion in one single day?????? Contrast that to last summer when Liverpool hummed and hawed for 3 months about meeting the valuation...? City have bid more than Liverpool's opening bid for Barry last year, for a player with half the length of time left on his contract??? They've plonked a few million MORE than the valuation on the table, for a player who could actually invoke the Webster ruling to buy himself out of that remaining year of his contract to move abroad for NOTHING!

We're not doing too bad out of this. Barry is a great holding midfielder, but our current holding midfeilder is our fans and player's player of the year. If Petrov is going to be our holding player going forward, then this free's up a midfield role for a much more creative player than Barry. Barry is a great player in a defensive sense - he's consistent, retains possession well and is a tidy passer, but there's better attacking players out there in the NON-holding midfield position he plays in now. This allows us to get more craft in there.

If we could get Sturridge and first option on Micah Richards too we wouldn't be doing too bad at all!

I'll be glad that it's all out of the way this soon tbh. Because it would have ran and ran till the August deadline had it not. This way, we get more money, and possibly a player, and we now exactly where we need to strengthen 10 weeks before the season starts.

wynters

Esse85 wrote: »

I wonder what Helix makes of it all

Indeed. A raw deal.

Free 'The Boards One'!!! :mad:

shoutman

Sad to see Barry go, but glad at the way it went down.

There shouldn't be any hard feelings from any of the parties involved. We got a good price for a good player and City got a good player.

Hopefully we can spring an adequate replacement.

invincibleirish

wynters wrote: »

We're not doing too bad out of this. Barry is a great holding midfielder, but our current holding midfeilder is our fans and player's player of the year. If Petrov is going to be our holding player going forward, then this free's up a midfield role for a much more creative player than Barry. Barry is a great player in a defensive sense - he's consistent, retains possession well and is a tidy passer, but there's better attacking players out there in the NON-holding midfield position he plays in now. This allows us to get more craft there.

Barry isn't even a great holding player, but he's excellent to have as a utility player which i think is what he'll be primarily used as at Abu Dhabi FC and what attracted Benitez to him originally.

But yep there's an opportunity in midfield for a new signing, will MON do it? he has time & cash on his side so lets see....

Savman

shoutman wrote: »

Sad to see Barry go, but glad at the way it went down.

There shouldn't be any hard feelings from any of the parties involved. We got a good price for a good player and City got a good player.

Hopefully we can spring an adequate replacement.

Sums up my feelings tbh. £100k a week on a 5yr deal. £12m fee plus £6m in wages :eek:

Not worth that kinda money but g'luck to City anyway, great signing for them.

shoutman

Now what will I do with my Barry jersey signed by Petrov and Agathe?

Neil3030

Done and dusted, i's dotted and t's crossed, according to SSN:

Manchester City have completed the signing of Gareth Barry from Aston Villa in a £12million deal.

Barry has penned a five-year contract at Eastlands after agreeing personal terms and passing a medical.

The England international's future at Villa has been the subject of speculation for some time, with Liverpool failing to sign him last summer in a much-publicised tug-of-war with Villa.

Barry's contract at Villa was due to expire next summer and although Villa offered him a new deal, he has opted to make the move to ambitious City.

The 28-year-old becomes City's first signing of the summer and his arrival is a major boost for City boss Mark Hughes as he looks to build a side capable of breaking into the top four.

Villain

If he had signed for Pool or The Gunners I'd wish him the best of luck, but all that Champions league talk was nonsense.

12 million is a great fee seeing as he was on his last year, 8 million was what some reckoned Pool would try and sign him for.

Neil3030

Hopefully MON will announce Defour and Vermaelen by the end of the week... :pac:

DSB

Villain wrote: »

If he had signed for Pool or The Gunners I'd wish him the best of luck, but all that Champions league talk was nonsense.

12 million is a great fee seeing as he was on his last year, 8 million was what some reckoned Pool would try and sign him for.

I'm sure he sees City as a better CL opportunity than us so I'm sure its not nonsense. But I don't wish him well anyway after the stunts he pulled last year. I'm not going to bear any ill will towards him, but I've no real place for him in my heart, and he'll never be a Villa legend like colleagues he played with Mellberg and Laursen.

Mr Alan

wynters wrote: »

You have to admire City for not prckin us around either - For the deal to be this near completion in one single day?????? Contrast that to last summer when Liverpool hummed and hawed for 3 months about meeting the valuation...? City have bid more than Liverpool's opening bid for Barry last year, for a player with half the length of time left on his contract??? They've plonked a few million MORE than the valuation on the table, for a player who could actually invoke the Webster ruling to buy himself out of that remaining year of his contract to move abroad for NOTHING

yep, you're right, City are a shining light in the way transfers should be conducted, just chuck a shed load of cash at your target until they agree to join, genius!

:rolleyes:

not that disappointed we won't get him, Liverpool fans were divided whether or not we wanted him, i think he would have been a valuable squad player but him not coming means Alonso is near certainly not leaving. which is good.

selling him to City may prove a little silly seen as they are direct rivals with Villa for the Europa league spots, and also have the goal to break into the top 4 over the next few years.

invincibleirish

Can't begrudge him 100k a week or a new start, especially after so long at VP when you add it all up. he was established in defence by the time of the massive disappointment of the FA Cup in 2000 and the final decline of the Ellis era by 2006 and subsequent re-emergence.

If Villa were prepared to offer Barry 80k a week i'd rather see a new signing take that then give Barry another reward for another so-so season. He was anonymous for tracts of the season both as a player and captain. So long Gareth!.

Neil3030

I can't copy the text, but you should check out the minute reference to Barry on the OS.

12 years at the club and he gets a 3-line abstract describing his departure. Probably sums up the mood in B6.

Villain

Mr Alan wrote: »

yep, you're right, City are a shining light in the way transfers should be conducted, just chuck a shed load of cash at your target until they agree to join, genius!

:rolleyes:

Well some clubs match the asking price and get the player, others, well talk a lot but either won't or can't stump up the money

Savman

Mr Alan wrote: »

yep, you're right, City are a shining light in the way transfers should be conducted, just chuck a shed load of cash at your target until they agree to join, genius!

In fairness it's not exclusively a City phenomenon, just a copycat of the Real Madrid's and Chelsea's who've been at this for some time now.

Savman

Villain wrote: »

Well some clubs match the asking price and get the player, others, well talk a lot but either won't or can't stump up the money

Saucer of milk?

Mr Alan

Savman wrote: »

In fairness it's not exclusively a City phenomenon, just a copycat of the Real Madrid's and Chelsea's who've been at this for some time now.

I'm not saying City are the ones who invented the tactic, just saying praising that as a way of conducting business is a little stupid.

Bounty Hunter

Mr Alan wrote: »

I'm not saying City are the ones who invented the tactic, just saying praising that as a way of conducting business is a little stupid.

id agree with that but i am happy that it wont be a Barry transfer saga this year, done and dusted within hours of the news breaking (although im sure it took longer but Villa dont talk about transfers at all in general).

invincibleirish

Pool, Villa & Man City are all in the same being owned by billionaires game its the same business Mr. Alan. The way city handled this transfer is in a marked positive contrast to the soap opera spillover we got from Anfield that enveloped GB last summer.

Savman

invincibleirish wrote: »

Can't begrudge him 100k a week or a new start, especially after so long at VP when you add it all up.

Trust me, it sure ain't begrudgery. The player will deserve every boo and hiss he will inevitably receive.
June '08: "I want to play in the Champion's League"
June '09: "Screw the Champion's League, I want £100k a week and midtable mediocrity."

Like I say, great signing for Man City it really does give a statement of intent (like we needed on after the feckin Kaka episode :rolleyes:) but unfortunately I do believe they will learn the hard way that money does not buy you success. Abramovich for all his trillions could not get his mits on a Champion's League trophy, after spending how much and after going thru how many different managers now?

You need a massive team spirit, a huge slice of luck and some top class players. City only have the latter. I would've liked see Barry head to Italy or somewhere because I don't think this is the best footballing move for him, only time will tell though.

Anyway, his career is no longer any concern of ours, we've just lost a great player and long serving captain yet oddly enough I feel pretty indifferent about it. A big resounding meh, esp after last summer.

Interested to hear MON's views, sounds like they haven't seen eye to eye for a while.

Savman

Mr Alan wrote: »

I'm not saying City are the ones who invented the tactic, just saying praising that as a way of conducting business is a little stupid.

I wholeheartedly disagree. The way both clubs have gone about this screams professionalism tbh. Not a peep from either camp until he went for talks. They met Villa's asking price and got their man. Pretty sweet if you ask me.

I think this could turn out to be good business for AVFC. All good top level managers have to know when to cash in on their prize assets, and when some are simply devaluing all the time. See Ferguson with Beckham/RVN or Wenger with Henry, controversial sales but when the dust settled proved to be pretty astute, all things considered.

For the sake of Aston Villa Football Club, it's good news Gareth Barry has gone.

eagle eye

Savman wrote: »

Trust me, it sure ain't begrudgery. The player will deserve every boo and hiss he will inevitably receive.

Anyone who boos a guy who gave that length of service to a club is very disrespectful. I just despise people like that. Its different if a guy spends two or three years at a club and improves and then the first chance he gets to go he is off.

Savman

eagle eye wrote: »

Anyone who boos a guy who gave that length of service to a club is very disrespectful. I just despise people like that. Its different if a guy spends two or three years at a club and improves and then the first chance he gets to go he is off.

Length of service? Was it voluntary? Or was he paid a truck load of money for this 'length of service'? If so, it's not the fans loyalty that should be brought into question. The very same fans, I might add, who chanted his name when he was in the England wilderness and the forgotten man of English football.

He will not be booed for his performances on the field, he was a great player for Villa. He will be booed for his attitude over the last 12 months and for lying thru his gold teeth.

Mr Alan

Savman wrote: »

I wholeheartedly disagree. The way both clubs have gone about this screams professionalism tbh. Not a peep from either camp until he went for talks. They met Villa's asking price and got their man. Pretty sweet if you ask me.

I think this could turn out to be good business for AVFC. All good top level managers have to know when to cash in on their prize assets, and when some are simply devaluing all the time. See Ferguson with Beckham/RVN or Wenger with Henry, controversial sales but when the dust settled proved to be pretty astute, all things considered.

For the sake of Aston Villa Football Club, it's good news Gareth Barry has gone.

If Man City finish ahead of Villa next year, will it still have been good business?

Selling Henry proved to be astute? really? They've won nothing since he left & struggled big time to get CL this year, your implosion the only thing that made that possible, meanwhile Henry has been lighting up La Liga on his way to winning the first treble in the history of Spanish football.....bad example to pick tbh!

Kinetic^

I'd have preferred to have secured the services of someone else before he left but meh. So much for CL football though, having a laugh!

Any rumours of in coming players today?

Bounty Hunter

Mr Alan wrote: »

If Man City finish ahead of Villa next year, will it still have been good business?

if villa can get good enough relacements in with the money which is more than id say anyone else would have offered and improve on this season it will be, irregardless of where Man City finish for me.

Mr Alan

who could MON buy who is as good as Gareth Barry for 12m?

Bounty Hunter

Mr Alan wrote: »

who could MON buy who is as good as Gareth Barry for 12m?

well it most likely wont be a like for like switch as Petrov/NRC need an attack minded central midfielder side them, someone who could be a rea creative influence im the middle of the park. Defour from Standard Liege has been linked, I cant honestly say i have seen enough of him to be sure but hes only like 21 a full belgium international who i think is cub captain and mayhave one the golden boot in Belgium last year.

Vermealan at Ajax and Jushz(sp?) of Anderlecht who i think was the Hunaran POTY have also been strongley linked to fill Laursen's void. 5m maybe on top of the barry transfer could see a replacement for both our captains brought in, both of whom wouldbe young and hopefully not our only transfers.

Mr Alan

if O'Neill can pull that off, i'll applaud, personally, with Villa losing 2 of their best 3 players this summer....and the message the Barry transfer has sent....i think villa will struggle next year.

Bounty Hunter

Mr Alan wrote: »

if O'Neill can pull that off, i'll applaud, personally, with Villa losing 2 of their best 3 players this summer....and the message the Barry transfer has sent....i think villa will struggle next year.

nothings really changed though, Villa fans in general expected those 2 player gone long before either anouncement or the season ended. Its all about how good the players we add are, we have the money to spend. Time for MON to loosen those purse strings and spend randy's money.

Mr Alan

i actually thought Barry was gonna sign a new deal with yous the last couple of weeks, think our lack of interest in him since the summer & Xabi staying had put him off a move to us & i thought he only wanted the move for CL football, so thats what i was expecting, shows what i know!

Bounty Hunter

Mr Alan wrote: »

i actually thought Barry was gonna sign a new deal with yous the last couple of weeks, think our lack of interest in him since the summer & Xabi staying had put him off a move to us & i thought he only wanted the move for CL football, so thats what i was expecting, shows what i know!

Villa were trying to sign him up of course but i dont think it was expected instead it was expected just to visbly put the ball in Barry's court and for it to look like he is choosing to leave not Villa are selling him and despite us accepting the bid of course that is the way its being played out imo.

wynters

Will be very interesting to see what happens at Liverpool if Alonso requests a transfer now that Perez has made Madrid's interest known and the Barry option is gone... Benitez really should have handled that whole situation a bit better last year shouldn't he. Talk about how to make two players feel unwanted at once...! What a mess. I wonder if they have a 3rd choice or will that Lucas fellow become a regular???

Good job for us that the people at Man City know how to seal the deal.

Mr Alan

Alonso was only talking the other day how he is looking forward to next season at Liverpool & does not want to move.

Rafa handled the situation quite well, and any fool can see the progress Liverpool has made in the last 12 months.

Villa on the other hand imploded in the league, embarrased themselves in the Uefa cup & have lost two of their best 3 players.

yep, that Rafa fella is a disaster :rolleyes:

Highsider

wynters wrote: »

Will be very interesting to see what happens at Liverpool if Alonso requests a transfer now that Perez has made Madrid's interest known and the Barry option is gone... Benitez really should have handled that whole situation a bit better last year shouldn't he. Talk about how to make two players feel unwanted at once...! What a mess. I wonder if they have a 3rd choice or will that Lucas fellow become a regular???

Good job for us that the people at Man City know how to seal the deal.

Your right. Want to do a swap for your manager.:rolleyes: Complete mess alright.

eagle eye

Mr Alan wrote: »

Alonso was only talking the other day how he is looking forward to next season at Liverpool & does not want to move.

Rafa handled the situation quite well, and any fool can see the progress Liverpool has made in the last 12 months.

Villa on the other hand imploded in the league, embarrased themselves in the Uefa cup & have lost two of their best 3 players.

yep, that Rafa fella is a disaster :rolleyes:

What is this vitriol? The guy didn't berate Rafa.

The guy just made a comment about how he would not go the extra 2 mill for Barry and as a result Barry might feel that he wasn't all that important to Liverpool. At the same time Rafa was openly courting the notion of Barry being an important signing and the fact that he was willing to stump up 18 mill. for him, you gotta say that Alonso might start questioning if he has a future at Liverpool. This is last summer the man is talking about.

I seen nothing in what the guy said there about Rafa being a bad manager or anything close to it. His did make a good point.

Time Magazine

Not to back-seat mod here guys, but shut up about moderation on this forum. It's very disrespectful to the mods and will not get you anywhere. There are channels for these sorts of things.

As for Gaz Baz: f*ck off. His heart was not in it this season and it showed. £12m for him is good money. Most of us would have taken £15m for him last season and dropping £3m for a year's service isn't bad. (Plus it's a pretty nice two-fingers to Liverpool .)

Tonight, I'm hopeful his departure will bring us that attacking midfielder we all want.

JPA

I'm not mad at Villa, Man City, MON or Lerner but I am seriously disappointed with Barry after this.
I thought he was above moving for the filthy lucre but he's not. Very poor form and so contradictory.

One positive, at least it's over.

mirwillbeback

Mr Alan wrote: »

who could MON buy who is as good as Gareth Barry for 12m?

Steven Gerrard if he wasn't so intimidated by the Liverpool fans who persuaded him to stay by death threats.

A wonderful club.;)

mike65

As you don't know just how serious that gangland threat was it shouldn't be joked about tbh.

fullstop

eagle eye wrote: »

What is this vitriol? The guy didn't berate Rafa.

The guy just made a comment about how he would not go the extra 2 mill for Barry and as a result Barry might feel that he wasn't all that important to Liverpool. At the same time Rafa was openly courting the notion of Barry being an important signing and the fact that he was willing to stump up 18 mill. for him, you gotta say that Alonso might start questioning if he has a future at Liverpool. This is last summer the man is talking about.

I seen nothing in what the guy said there about Rafa being a bad manager or anything close to it. His did make a good point.

He's a troll, always at it

I feel sorry for Villa fans over this.
At least if GB had gone to Liverpool the excuse of a good player wanting chamions league football could have eased the pain but this idiot has gone to a club that will take years to get there and by the time if they become a club contending,he will be too old and will be disregarded.

I honestly dont see why he has moved, money?
Or Liverpool didnt want him anymore and city was the only other club willing to stump up the cash.