I'm not convinced I believe this but apparently Arsenal are interested in Gareth Barry

I totally agree. Sounds like an agents desperate last attempt to push the deal through.
MON will be wise to that tho, and i'm sure he'll make them sweat until he gets the right price.

Anyone else going to watch the Masters football tonight?
I hear Tayl's and Deano are in the side!

Up the Villa!

If this does help Liverpool finally cough up, then its a good thing. I'm with you though Damo, i can't see Wenger spending £18M on a 27-year-old, even if they are pretty sparse in the midfield dept with Flamini, Gilberto and Hleb left or leaving.

I kinda want Barry to go to Liverpool cos he will constitute a hefty wedge of their transfer kitty and hinder their other signings thus hindering their chances of finishing 4th

Bergkamp was already at Arsenal before Wenger was appointed as Arsenal's manager.

It was not Wenger who bought Bergkamp. It was the bloke between George Graham and wenger. The guy I never remembers the name on, and I'm to lazy to google his name up up.

Wenger didn't sign Bergkamp, that happened before he arrived under Rioch.

Hand up .. you're both right. I remember it now - it was at the same time as Platt - Bruce Rioch I'm thinking ..

Which, to some degree, only goes to further my point, that this isn't going to happen. Wenger will buy young quality.

Wenger did not sign Bergkamp, Bruce Rioch did. But you're right Barry is not an Arsenal signing, too expensive and too near his peak.

Rioch bought Bergkamp, but generally I think you're right. I think the message is clear that Barry and agent getting a little frustrated at the 'lack of ambition' of Snr Benitez and Liverpool. The longer the summer goes on the sweeter it becomes. All we now need is the credit crunch to squeeze Snr Benitez cajones a little more to stop him buying anyone else and 4 or 5th could be ours.

I wonder if MON has thought about a season long loan to Bummingham Titty for Mr Barry... Now that would be cool.

Pierre Choderlos de Laclos was right 'revenge is a dish best served cold'

I notice Benitez has been talking up Robbie Keane in the papers. What a pathetic little man. Why can't he just shut up and stop trying to unsettle players (and rival managers who may do him a favour if he wasn't such a ctnu!) before chucking in bids for half their value? I'm astonished there isn't some sort of rule on this. Perhaps the FA think all Premier League managers are gentlemen with business ethics?

Wenger did not sign Bergkanp, Bruce Rioch did. You're right though, this is not an Arsenal signing; too expensive and too near his peak, plus his mate Gerrard is not in the team.

Wenger did not buy bergkaamp.He was purchased by Bruce Rioch along with David Platt.
Just a little bit of info for you

It still feels uncomfortable wishing Barry ill but I guess he's certainly made it clear how he feels about the Villa and fans. I never realised a little schadenfreude could be so enjoyable. It is aimed more at Benitez though. How I would love that bastard to fall flat on his face this coming season. He has behaved so badly and shown complete disrespect to us and now Spurs. I don't see Barry going to Arsenal either, Wenger just wouldn't pay that kind of money. Clearly a desperate agent hearing the fat lady clearing her throat I think.

I wish someone would just come in and buy Barry now if he's that set on leaving.

I think 90% of us would still love him to stay but if its not going happen then lets just hurry up and flog him so we can use the money elsewhere and all move on, especially as were still paying him 50 odd grand every week!

I don't think it is a case of Wenger not liking English players more a case that they tend to be over priced. He has admitted that he put in an offer for Rooney when Man Utd were after him but could not afford more than £20m. He had no qualms with "buying" Sol Campbell! As an Arsenal fan I believe that Barry is the sort of player we need in midfield. A solid player with plenty of Premiership experience. In my mind, Fabregas & Barry would be the best central midfield partnership in the Premiership.

:D

i would take 15m from arsene rather than 18 from rafa anyday.

But i believe this has more substance than it seems, they need a flamini replacement, even better one who can pass... barry.

Wenger won't buy him for 2 reasons:

1. He's over the age of 23
2. He's English

i think MON would except less money than L'pool are offering just to fcuk off Raffa...Raffa is out of order, tapping up players blatently in the press, unsettling them and not paying the value..Barrys 9 years villa has been tarnished because of this, really sad, what a great player for us...NO WAY will i boo Barry when he comes to face us at Villa Park..just wants to move on...fair play to him...great slave to the club..

I am not so sure about Barry not going to Arsenal. Although he is older than the majority of Arsenal signings, as an English player he would be more likely to spend the remainder of his career with Arsenal. So if he signed now and was then a player for 6 to 7 years he would leave when he was 34. That seems a good investment to me. Plus Barry comes across as being one of those rare breed of English players who actually has some intelligence which seems to be what Wenger looks for in a player (Eboue excepted). I also happen to think that he would make a very good partner for Cesc.

Oh well the dreams of an Arsenal fan! Have to also say that I admire MOM for driving a hard bargin with Liverpool. Alot of talk this summer has been about the bad behaviour of Real Madrid but Liverpool have been nothing short of scandelous first with Barry and now in their pursuit of Keane.

ITs on the main site

As a slightly pedantic point, I think it's unfair to say "Wenger doesn't like English players" when he has consistently tried to nurture English talent such as:

Ashley Cole
David Bentley
Steven Sidwell
Ryan Smith
Jermaine Pennant
Jerome Thomas
Matthew Upson
Fabrice Muamba

And so on. Unfortunately they have all suffered from either injuries (Smith, Upson), impatience (Bentley, Sidwell), not being quite good enough (Thomas, Muamba), or being ungrateful, selfish little chav c***s (Pennant, Cole).

Furthermore, for much of his tenure at the Arsenal he stuck with English players, mainly in defence - Seaman, Richard Wright, Dixon, Adams, Keown, Bould, Winterburn, Sol Campbell et cetera. Even now he's trying to bring through English players such as Walcott, the Hoytes, Henri Lansbury and Mark Randall.

It [i]would[/i] be fair to say that Wenger does not like paying huge premiums on players simply because they're English, and thus has not paid ridiculous sums like £24m for Shaun W-P. Whether the alleged £18m for Barry includes an "English premium" is debatable. Personally I think Barry's an extremely good player and could work well with Fabregas but then, to agree with this piece, I doubt there's any truth in the rumours.

Whatever the outcome, here's a toast to a top-flight season without that odious "bluenose" lot.

according to the website we have agreed a fee to sign brad guzan.. some good news there

Good comments on here today. I hope it is true, I would rather see GB go to Arsenal than Liverpool and at £15-£16 Million would be a real smack in the face of Benitez :) Would love it!!

That WE agreed a fee for Guzan, I made a bad job of this post

Barry- Sack that twat as an Agent. Apparently it was him and not Barry that wanted to do the News of the World interview, and look where that lhas landed you- a former Valla God now hated by all, and did it speed up your transfer? No it has just made it so you get booed everytime you erturn to Villa park. Barry- Know you love Gerrard but don't screw over your old club to go hold his hand.

Just saw Newsnow stating the below, but the link is not working!anyone?

Keeper Deal Agreed Aston Villa - The Official Site 10:23

apparently guzan was linked with arsenal and liverpool :o.
didn't no that

well im a arsenal fan and i wouldnt mind seeing Barry play along side Fabregas. but i also dont see wenger comming up with the so called cash that liverpool are offering. so Justin Hoyte would be added as a sweetner for sure. so i would say somthing along the lines of 10-million max.

also if u saw sky sports news few days ago O'Neill said after Barry came back from internatinal with england he said he wanted to leave. Surly Gerrard and any other liverpool or Past player in the england team was Tapping him up.

Can't tell you hoe much i would love Arsenal to place a £18m bid for Barry. It would shove it right up Rafas arse! and we would get the money, maybe a player aswell (Hoyte possibly).
Doubt its going to happen though :(

I see Crouch says he was frustrated with Liverpool's rotation system and hopes a move to
Portsmouth will help him back into the England team. I hope Barry is reads those comments.

well personally i think the arsenal fans are better than scousers.

1. they moan alot
2. they always want what they want
3. arsenal fans wouldn't mind paying £18m

Well put Julian H - couldn't have put it better myself. Before people slag off Arsene for not doing the English thing they need to look at his track record of bringing through future generations of England players. Just not out fault they aren't either quite good enough for us or don't have the patience to wait.

How ever much I admire Barry as a player I don't want another yid fan playing for us. The last one Bentley had an attitude as long as your arm.

Ruddy2villa - you couldn't be more far from the truth.
1. We don't moan, we just don't put up with rubbish.
2. What's the matter with wanting what we want. It's called positive thinking and is probably outside your grasp.
3. We wont pay 18m for Barry.

Julian H - Thats the whole point, none of those players you have mentioned still play for Arsenal....

you all dont now want your talking about you Liverpool fans remember that time were be beat you two times in a week doe barry want to be on the losing team or winning team

dont matter if he sold them english players because cole was having problems with wenger so we swopped him for gallas because he nows wenger well. also arsenal finished third not villa so he also likes to finish high

I'm new on here so hi; I don't care where Barry goes now as long as he goes somewhere other than Villa Park. There, I've said it. It feels wrong but hey ho. Wenger was interested in Barry last season or the one before I seem to remember; about the same time as he was rumoured to be plotting a £15m bid for Gabby.

Very happy with Guzan and Sidwell so far though.

I love the fact MON's making them all wait, beg and sweat like cheap, subservient bitches.

Leroy - for the ones that left (before retirement) I've listed reasons. Are you suggesting that Wenger should ignore those reasons and keep English players simply because they're English?

There is, as I listed, a new generation of players who are pushing for first team places. Particularly promising are Walcott, Lansbury and Randall. If they're good enough, they'll make it.

TomC, You took the words right out my mouth fella!

Gareth who?

Agree with most blogs that Liverpool have acted as bad as real madrid this summer. Something needs to be done about clubs making statements about wanting other teams players. Clubs like Villa and Arsenal have better morals and have better respect so thats why i hope they do the business rather that liverpool.

I'd like to see him go to Arsenal, particularly if we can get Hoyte tied in, and maybe Theo Walcott on loan.

i really hope its true and barry goes 2 arsenal because i h8 liverpool!!! i dnt care if liverpool offered 20 million, if arsenal offer 18 id accept. just dont sell baryy to liverpool if theres a chance of an aresnal bid!

liverpool are the team who stand in our way for fourth place, so to sell to arsenal would make me much happier as they will be top 3 for sure next year anyway, so if we sell to arsenal that means liverpool will lose out and all the more reason for us to go to fourth, and plus i hate liverpool anyway and arsenal arent so bad

no way in hell will wenger go for him, he doesnt fit in the arsenal team in any way, he's no better than their current squad and doesnt replace flamini

plus arsenal have already said they are hard up so £18mil on barry?

that said if we could get walcott £10mil id be well happy, and the age thing doesnt seem to matter anymore, if arsenal do go for a big transfer this summer it will be 27 year old arshavin

well i think we need to offload barry now accept what there offering because if we leave it too late then he will be rotting in our side and will never play the sam for villa again and also when it comes to the next transfer window his value will decrease and we will end up selling him for more than nothing which will make no use to us.

Why dont we go for Arshavin??? Him buzzing around Big John would be an awesome strike force :)

Why dont we go for Arshavin?? Him buzzing around Big John would b awesome.


:)

Bruce Rioch bought Bergkamp. Wenger inherited him. Arsenal don't want Barry the whinger. Too old and too English. You sad bastards can keep him.

We should wait till pool sell Alonso and then offload Barry to Arsenal. Screw over Benitez as much as possible ;D

Barry looks better value than Arshavin for several reasons.
Firstly: he has a proven track record in the EPL,
Secondly: he's £6m cheaper and,
Thirdly: MON will almost certainly do a cash players deal with Wenger.
A bargain by comparison!

Must be a full moon with all this lunatic talk about Barry going to Arsenal.

There's more chance of a return to Villa by Dwight Yorke this season than Barry going to Arsenal. Barry does not fit the profile of an Arsenal purchase: 25 or younger, preferably foreign, lightning pace, bargain basement price and not complaining about his old manager when leaving a club.

Keep the boy or sell him to the scousers but most Arsenal fans really don't want him!!!!!!

Julian H - There is only one reason he sells them off, because he knows english players are valued more. So he sells them to raise funds to find the next french prodigy. So i guess i must agree with you in the end, and say Arsene Wenger loves english players, he just cant wait to sell them and bring in the next foreigner...

I thought Arsenal were selling players to pay for their new stadium.Not buying over priced ones.As much as id rather see Barry go to Arsenal it's just not going to happen.Its either lazy journalism or the work of a poor agent.
However if it did turn out to be true i think Walcott and 5m would be terrific business ;)

Barry is exactly the sort of player Arsenal want: he's experienced, talented, at his peak, Prem ready, a natural leader, and he plays in a position that they need to reinforce.

That said, i've not seen much to suggest the story is true. It seems that the story is either from his agent (who wants to push through a faltering deal), or MON (who wants to make Liverpool pay as much as possible).

I am totally ambiguous now. Obviously i want Barry to stay, but he's burnt all his bridges now so it would be a problem if the Liverpool mdeal collapsed. I doubt anyone else will pay as much anyway!

Good Shout AVFC unless the deal is done

It smells like Barry won't go to Liverpool. I think Alonso will stay on Merseyside and close the door to this transfer.
LINK

Juve just brought a new midfielder (don't remember who and where I read it sorry)and when you watch at Juve, they don't really need Alonso. I don't see Barry going to Arsenal for all the reasons already mentioned so I start thinking Barry's not going anywhere.

Then I hope the Villa fans won't be to bad to the one who is still our skipper. Try to remember what he has achieved for the club and what he may still bring before insulting him like some fans have already done.

It is a shame Martin has to conduct the GB saga thro the press, but I will say a huge thank you to him for letting us know that the shameless Liverpool have made no further offer. Full Respect for not just rolling over.
How on Earth are we going to get some sense back in the transfer market without all the leeches of society just dissecting it.
Player are happy to sign the contract guaranteeing them security yet choose to wall away & still expect a payment when they have clearly instigated the move.
I am annoyed how the Club has treated the fans giving us little respect just takeing our seats away with no thought Tell us its all to improve the club we are moving forward Blah blah So I feel they deserve what they get but this is just a joke after all it the Team i Support & always will (I no longer say Club as we are not a club its all for Randy)

Barry to Arsenal? Yes, yes, yes. I will laugh my internal organs to a pulp if he goes to Norf Lahdhan rather than Scouseland. It will be a rich reward for the blatant tapping up of Benitez. Let Barty line up with Fabregas. From a footballing point of view, Arsenal's style will probably suit Barry better, the ball will be on the ground, he will be able to show just what he can do. So Gareth, no abuse to you if you take the footballing option.......

we shud take £15mil from the gooners jus to piss of those parasites from anfield

Arsenal have showed an interest in him:

LINK

mon's way of putting pressure on the reds