Finnan, Maggio, Gudjohnsen and more on Gareth Barry

Daily Mirror headline:

[b]BLOGGER'S BEER AIDS MEMORY!
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Enjoy, Damian

I don't think the Finnan or Gudjohnsen link will come to anything as we should know by now that MON like to gets younger more impressionable players (19 - 25) which he can mould - both Finnan and Gudjohnsen are a bit long in the tooth for that.

Maggio on the other hand fits this criteria and is quite a good right full. Lets hope its not a load of hot air and we make an offer.

AS for the 20 Million for Barry, take it and laught the whole way to the bank. Realistically i think he'll go for around 15-16M.

£20m? I'm taking that and laughing all the way to the bank. Liverpool will be the latest victims of overpaying for overhyped English talent. I love Barry to bits - but come on, £20m? That's ever so slightly ridiculous.

I'd like to see Gudjohnsen, only if the price is right though. He's not a great goalscorer but he would give us a lot of engery going forward. As strange as it sounds I can't actually see him starting every game for us either, unless MON intends to use him as a right winger.

Of all the rumours there I think I like the Finnan one the most. I think he does fit our bill and I think £2m for a player of his experience and ability would be an absolute bargian.

£20million???? I'd bite his hand off! if we can get that for Barry i think its great buisness!

there is no way that rafa would pay 20 mill for gareth barry. no doubt that he is an awesome player and i believe would be a key figure next year for liverpool if we get him. however i do not believe he is worth 20 mill. i think an offer around 15 mill would be suitable and fair for both clubs.

there is no way that rafa would pay 20 mill for gareth barry. no doubt that he is an awesome player and i believe would be a key figure next year for liverpool if we get him. however i do not believe he is worth 20 mill. i think an offer around 15 mill would be suitable and fair for both clubs.

20 million quid for Barry, I would not even pay 5 million for Barry. Rafa won't pay such a ridiculous fee any way. :P

Im surprised this article hasn't yet been swamped by mouthy scousers spouting off...

i have looked through all the other blogs regarding Maggio and cant find any other team interested, however if it is Villa that has put in a bid the reason it may not come off is that the player is part owned by 2 Clubs. i think that this player will trun into a big money signing for any club as both the clubs that own him will want a good return for the player.
with regards to the rest 20 mil for Barry i would take as we can buy 3 players for that and then loook for a replacement for Barry and 3 more players.
with MON earlier stating thst he could buy 7 players in one week i think that is actually what he is looking for.
Eidur Gudjohnson would be a good signing and good competion for Carew as he has had some injuries.

Hargreaves and Carrick? Comparible transfers I would suggest bearing in mind Barry is now probably above both in the England pecking order and fees have inflated more since. So why is £20m so out of the question?

More likely £10m Finnan and Frank Carson.

we've bid 8million for christian maggio from sampdoria

I'm affraid I'm not concerned how much we get for him, I just wish it would get sorted and fast! The financial state of our club (until we are in the sh*t) is taken care of by the powers that be and I'm happy to say as a supporter I dont have to worry about that!

However, as a supporter I am a little worried about the lack of noise coming from the club regarding transfers... all we've had is "MON knows what we need" so bloody what, so do 40,000 other people!!! Only thing is these other 40k people would act a lot more openly and quicker than we always seem to do under MON/RL when it comes to transfers! I hope we arn't about to do what we did last summer and leave it late and end up with more average ploop that no one else wants (I'm talking about Harewood at the time, Zat Knight & Salifou), Jesus Christ I hope I'm wrong!

According to bill we have lost out on Maggio

[url]LINK[/url]

The reason GB is not worth £20m is the same reason Crouchie is not worth £20m - Carrick and Hargreaves are younger and both had longer to serve on their contracts and both had higher salaries to begin with so when you work out how much it costs to buy out the contract you come up with a higher usually ridiculous amount. Strikers like it or not also come at a premium so if Torres cost just about £20m and had 4 years on his contract and is younger than both Barry and Crouch then I'd place their value at about £10-12m. To be fair they are similar age, fringe England players (arguably Crouch is better established and more proven) and he is a striker. Both have similar time left on contract - but I think Barry is more versatile - I don't think either one is worth more than £12m but I think Rafa will pay more (£14m) for Barry because he may well link up better with Gerrard and cover when he is out of position. You may remember when Hargreaves contract was running down he was being touted for £2-3m about 12 months prior to Manure interest in him.
If Rafa offers more than £14m MoN(a) should bite his hand off!

even before the season ended Gareth Barry's name has been linked with a move away ...it would be a great help if GB just came out with his intensions rather than having villans sweating over his future..as captin he at least owes that to the fans....as for other signings i am fully confident we will be a better side for the new campagn as we have one of the worlds best managers and chairman in my opinion.

Barry hinted before the end of the season that he would decide and look at the signings we make before deciding his future. If we really want to keep him why are we not making the signings?. Really can't see it going past $16m

i for one am a hopeless romantic for the transfer season! no seriously, im obessed!
but this is gettin ridiculous!! weve been linked over 80 players on last count, and i dont mind that so much BUT NO ACTION IS BEING TAKEN!!
I dont care who we sign as long as 10 or so good players put pen to paper!
if at the end of the day our starting XI is a lot like this years then im not fussed so long as we have a squad big enuf to challenge in uefa, and the league cups (bear in mind we got knocked out ery early in both the cups)
but seriously, im gettin fed up with these rumours... tell me something new damo when someones signed...
and enuf with the barry people! im not blaming yu damo, yur doin yur job but would the kid hurry up and sign already... im sick of hearin how our captain wants out... be a benchwarmer, i dont care anymore!
im sorry ive rambled but im a patient guy but even this is killin me... and that curtis davies signing hasnt even been finalised yet i last heard!

Runtingz... I think the fact he [b]hasn't[/b] said anything pretty much outlines his intentions. If he wanted to say he'd have said so by now. He can't exactly come out and say "I want to join Liverpool", because then if no move is negotiated he'll look quite the fool. So he stays silent and waits for the clubs to sort it out.

He wants to join Liverpool, it's clear as day as far as I'm concerned. I'm disappointed he wants to leave but at the same time who can blame him? I certainly wouldn't be one of those idiotic fans who jeer him because he's playing for another team. He's given our club a great deal and he deserves the chance to further his career.

Mouthyscouser: GB is in his prime and an established international. Age is irrelevant except where a player will have significantly lower sell on value. Contract length is irrelevant except where there is a fear of devaluation due to Bosman. Neither of these factors apply to GB. A purchasing club does not have to buy out a players contract, his wage and other remuneration are irrelavant to the buyer.

I accept strikers cost more but I repeat, Hargreaves cost £17m and Carrick £18m (including add ons). GB may go for say £17m (I wouldn't accept less if I was MON) but as always that published figure will also include add-ons.

Just for your info.

there is no way that rafa would pay 20 mill for gareth barry. no doubt that he is an awesome player and i believe would be a key figure next year for liverpool if we get him. however i do not believe he is worth 20 mill. i think an offer around 15 mill would be suitable and fair for both clubs.

Liverpool don't have £20 yet alone £20Million. They still owe £50M for Babel and Torres.

I'd defo take £20 Million quids for GB! Thats a good price! One which i think matches MON's valuation!

As for Christian Maggio, he's in the same sort of mould as Nelson, Miguel and Jose Bosingwa! Attacking minded, with a decent right peg and an eye for a spectacular goal lor two! Theres been word that somebody at Sampdoria has come out and said AVFC have made the bid but it is stil £2 million short of Samp's valuation!

Are we penny pinching or testing the water?
This deal smells like Doug Ellis! Squeezing every last penny out of a deal as he can!

MouthyScouser, you make some good points but forget one key point; a player's value to his club. At the moment, GB is pivotal to villa's future and is our current captain. Neither Carrick nor Hargreaves were as important to their clubs as GB is currently to villa. In my opinion if liverpool want to take such an important player from us and due to the fashion in which benitez has gone about it, then i think they'll pay higher than players of his ability and age are worth elsewhere.

I cant find it anywhere but someone at work said that barry had been nominated for england player of the season? that should push him closer to that £20mil!

MON should bite rafas hand off for that kind of cash, gudjohnson would be great but i can see his wage demands not suiting villa, so pompey will prob get him

ive also seen rumours that they are going for viera, which i think is right up there with us signing henry and man city signing ronaldinho, oh wait the other 2 probably will happen...

Viva Villa i agree with your assesment of the barry situation and maybe martin is also just trying to sqeeze as much out of the deal as possible..i dont not respect the fact that he is jumping ship though (champs lge)or not...martin is trying to build a team that is capable of getting into the top 4 .. i am sure even the most sceptical supporters can see the progress he is making and believe we are going to come pretty close to 4th next term so why cant Garath see that...the grass is not always greener on the side...but good luck to him if he goes

I'm taking a day off work if/when Gazza Bazza leaves. Even if he went for £50 million, what does it matter considering O'Neill has come out and said he can spend basically what he wants.

I've heard we have basically no limit to our transfer budget (or something aruond £40 million anyway) but what if the effing point in this if we negotiated like we did for the Robbie Keane deal all those years ago. Pointless bickering.

The Rosk

Where has O'Neill said he can spend what he wants or where is there any reference to £40mn.?

I'd be extremely surprised if we spent anything more than £25mn. net this summer and while we've all read the 'Randy will back Martin O'Neill' comments made by a certain individual - it's all PR.

I didn`t think Rafa had any money??!?! and had to sell to buy......
OMG!! Rafa`s o`leary in disguise! :p

As for Maggio he`d fit the bill at VP i`d certainly welcome him as a signing, i watch a bit of Italian footy as my GF is from Reggina, he only just missed out being called up for Euro2008 (Italy) and he has a sweet right foot!!

I for one hope the rumour is true.

As for Barry....Bored now ;)

AC Milan made a bid for maggio aswell so that will probably mean we've got no hope of getting him although i think he would be a great signing

I wouldnt let Barry go for any amount of money
20 mill, 40 mill, whatever they want to offer us isnt enough
Barry is Aston Villa

having already let 4 players go and also adding barry to that,i reckon we need to sign 10 players.Why you ask,well MON said he felt we were 5 players short of a good squad,so add that to the players who have left thats 10.so take the 25 million and double it.

clarky boy

i agree - we need to spend more, much more than the £25mn. i've suggested our net spend will be ..

but can you honestly see it under randy ellis?

that was a joke about randy ellis ... but i'm sure someone will bite and i'm also sure mr lerner will prove me wrong

I think 25 million net spend is like the real maximum, im thinking more like 15-20 million, Gudjohnson is someone ive been asking for a while now, i think he would be good with Carew and with Gabby so that would give us some flexibility, i wish we can sign him, Barry can go, we just have to make sure that we get the most money possible from bloody Liverpool and then beat them to 4th spot!!

the sweeney - was that before or after they signed zambrotta? id be surprised if milan went out and brought both, especially seeing as they've got oddo too

Don't lose the faith yet!

Lets say Barry does go. If we get:

Huddlestone: 7m, SWP: 8m, Maggio: 8m, Jussi on a free. That's an improved team on last year imo.

Total spend 23m
- fee for Barry (15-20)

Net spend: 3 - 8 million.

So if our budget is 25m, that leaves another 20m or so to get squad fillers, of which we'd need 5 or 6.

id let barry go if we get kuyt crouch finnan and 5mil to spend
as for gudjohnson sign him up!!!
finnan - im exited
as for maggio i can see him becoming good friends with laursen.

UTV ;D

Im starting to think why the hell barry would want to jion the filthy scouse gits now anyway. yeah,there in the champ league but for how long! with gillett and hicks fighting like pair of scousers over a giro check the only way liver-poo are going is down.

mike

Kuyt is one of the worst players ever if he was part of any deal I'd like to see us get more than £20mil to spend to make up for having that donkey in the team. If we only spend £20-25mil we might not even retain 6th

iv've heard nelson deal back on after Benfica apparently ofeed him a insulting contract offer

come on the dutch tonight

Barry £20 million,thats just ridiculos.Ive always thought gudjohson will make a good addition to villa.But with the money we can put some players in which we well need.

UTV ;D

Considering that Rafa splashed £18M on Mascherano in January, £20M for Barry makes sense to me. Add to the fact that O'Neill has been quoted, saying that he values Barry higher than Mascherano.

are we goimng for bullard?

If we get £15-£20m for Barry, then MON can certainly go buy someone better for that money.

While I've not wanted to see him go (as much on the principle and outrage over Liverpool's tapping up), if we get that much, pure cash, then let's do the business and have the last laugh.

The silence out of VP may have everything to do, though, with trying to line up that one big signing that would help convince others to come. I don't see it as a lack of activity, but just that there are things going behind the scenes. As you've said, Damian, I'm sure MON has a good idea who he wants in by now. Other clubs do this in the papers, but MON doesn't seem to like doing business that way.

You guys do realise that the lack of transfer activity is down to one reason, everyone is on holiday at the moment. Once pre-season training starts transfer activity will follow, in the mean time its just agents feeding stories papers in the hope of pushing prices up

Finnan isnt good at all

I'm rather enjoying all this now as more and more people are slowly coming to terms with all the bullshit emanating from Villa park. It seems that I wasn't so far off the mark and maybe I'm not pessimistic and I'm just pragmatic. Does anyone know how many players we had in the team when MON took over and how many we have now? I would rather sign a new manager than a new player. OOH that's going to upset a few sheep bleeeeeeeeeeeeet

will people realize that MON is not a big enough name to attract star players to come to play in the midlands, yes, he is known in this country but outside these shores its Martin whO'Neil. If we had an Erikson,Gullit,Manchini,Laudrup or a Klinsman in charge YES we could attract players and i'm talking top players to come here instead of the shit he's brought recently from these shores. I wish we had the ambition and i'm talking the ambition of the Man City chairman, at least this guy puts his money where his mouth is...could you ever see us being in the hunt for Rohnaldino or Jo...never in a million fcuking years.

Barry is a v.good player and if he moves to Liverpool I expect him to adapt well and do a good job working with Gerrard in the centre .... as for value, a player is worth what another club is prepared to pay. Personally I don't feel he has the pedegree to be classed in the 20m bracket, same as crouch!!! yes both england internationals etc but ... crouch is not worth anymore then about 12m (between 10 - 12) as he is in the last year of his contract ... I'd suggest Barry would be worth about 14m -15m.

Some of the players mentioned have played for some top teams and thats the difference when we are looking at players of this age group, they can command more then barry or crouch etc .... there experiences add value, so if someone has played regular CL football, it seems another couple of mill can be added to his value :-( doesn't mean he will be any good but thats how it seems to work ....

I just hope the two managers get it sorted and stop messing about ... yes both want the best deal .... it would make sense to get this sorted (yes or no) and let us all move on
!!!

Good Luck next season Villa fans

reikirebel :-)
(Liverpool Fan)

[img][b]love astonvilla[/b][/img] :)

why cant aston villa report liverpool as gareth barry under 2 yr contract , as man utd are reporting team about ronaldo saga ....

GB will be the best signing we make this summer if we can sign him that is

The other players listed would make good signing's and would push us on but i still think we need more than just them another 6 or 7 would keep the players fresh as we will be able to rest some every now and then

Last season we was haveing to field most of our main players in the leuage cup and F.A Cup against the smaller lower division teams

Players need a rest from time to time and the leauge cup and F.A Cup give you the chance to do that if you get drawn against a small club

TiK TOK Martin by the time the euro is over and u have finnished working for the bbc there wont be long left before the season starts

Looks like he is not botherd about them gellin togther as team in tranning

Anyone whats going on with martins contract i kno he only signs short contracts but surely his is due to be renewed

i know it sounds daft and i find it hard to believe but heard from someone at birmingham airport that villa have been having talks with francesco totti, he was seen in villa's executive lounge there a few weeks ago with members of the clubs board...

knowing our luck he was just there for free drinks and flying through but it would be a great signing

It's not a rumour but I wish it was: Orlando Engelaar to Villa! He (only) plays for FC Twente, he's massive so MON will like him, and just controlled the midfield as Holland stuffed Italy!

totti wouldnt leave roma, def not for villa anyway, for me thats even further fetched than henry

and after tonights basically amazing performance i think we can all put the van der vaart rumour to bed too, just like snjeider (sp) last year he's far too good for us, he'd walk into just about any team in the world why choose us?

rick smith. that is awful to lie about something like that. Totti absolutely hates England and the weather in England. He would never play in England!

Van der Vaart was fantastic today. I hope those rumors about a bid for him were true.

When are we going to see these 7 signings in one day??
City to sign ronaldinho and Jo?? What the hell are we doing. We might as well drop back down to 16th place next year. Make some bloody signings.

Damian, i think its time you realised that you're inciting panic. Villa are currently in the best shape in years. We have an excellent core of young talented players, a decent stadium, fantastic manager and Randy Lerner is a saint.

I don't understand why you insist on encouraging fickle fans and poisoning the thoughts of the real ones who use this site. Disappointed.

Your last few articles have been unnecessary negative rants or completely false and i think its time you started supporting the team (including the fans) and gain some perspective.

ProudVillaFan

What do you really know about Randy Lerner?

There is no harm in asking questions and I would suggest you read some of my comments above and a few other articles on this site.

i dont agree with ProudVillaFan, i think damo isnt being negative but rather realistic! i do however lerner is doin a good job and shouldnt be criticised for tryin to spend wisely (cmon ppl blowing the bank doesnt always get yu results, look at spurs!!)
at the end of this season, i like damo, was lookin forward to a good summer and a real push for a top 4 spot!
i just think when we start gettin linked with 80 odd players (20 odd goaslkeppers) and yu have failed to sign a single player in 4 weeks its get very frustating!!
damo hasnt been negative, and definetly not encouraging fickle fans! people will read an article in a manner to please their opinons!
as i said i dont mind the 80 links, makes good reading but i wouldnt mind a signing or two in between! if we finish this season with van der vaart, henry diego and whoever else we r linked with, wed all forgot about this but it is frustating seeing other teams do their signings early and villa laggin behind!!

wasnt making that rumour up, persoanlly i think it sounds stupid but my friend was convinced....

did garath read my blog yesterday by any chance :) bye garath and cheers mate

every1 needs to calm down! a few people have rightly said its all quiet at the momoent with everyone on summer breaks/ euros etc. i wouldnt be too surprised if MON had a surprise or 2 up his sleeve either hes been lookin a bit pleased with himself the last few days on the telly!

personally id like to see us get about 15m for barry and sign:

huddlestone, milner, boruc, michael johnson, ANY right back (as we dnt even own one!) van der vaart (but i think thats well out the question now) or a similar attack minded, creative midfield player and an out and out goal scorer plus maybe one or two other prospects/squad players?

thats not too far fetched is it and i think those few could really push us on.