Barry..

villanfromluton wrote:

villainies wrote:QB. If he was top 4 quality he'd be playing for a top 4 side but he isn't he's playing for er, Man City. He's been available to any of them for peanuts and until last year not one of them has even given him a look in. Liverpool wanted him as a utility player and he wouldn't have figured much besides which they didn't want to pay any money for him. As for england, I can honestly say he doesn't impress me that much. He's steady and unremarkable and its all very well doing a job against the second/ third tier but against the top 8 international teams he'll get found out everytime.

Bollox

good response dipshit.

villainies wrote:

Lionheart wrote:My much maligned Portuguese mates who always slag off our "direct" style of football - always exempted GB from their criticisms - they seriously rated him!!

I don't deny he's a good player he's just not a top 4 player.

Well for me he's good enough to play in any of those sides.Would make an ideal midfield partnership with either Gerrard or Lampard especially and the Arsenal midfield would be a helluva lot better with Barry alongside Fabregas.Man City offered the most cash to Villa and the player and IMO will break the top 4 next season

QBVILLA wrote:

villainies wrote:

Lionheart wrote:My much maligned Portuguese mates who always slag off our "direct" style of football - always exempted GB from their criticisms - they seriously rated him!!

I don't deny he's a good player he's just not a top 4 player.

Well for me he's good enough to play in any of those sides.Would make an ideal midfield partnership with either Gerrard or Lampard especially and the Arsenal midfield would be a helluva lot better with Barry alongside Fabregas.Man City offered the most cash to Villa and the player and IMO will break the top 4 next season

Well I reckon they will need to do better than barry if that's their intention. They have the money that's for sure.

They've got a cracking midfield in place now.It appears that you don't rate Barry as highly as i do, and to be honest i think fans of other clubs appreciate his talent more than a lot of Villa fansn ever have

Barry is undoubtedly a top 4 player IMO. He would surely get in the Arsenal team alongside Fabregas and I think he is as good as the likes of Carrick, Fletcher, Anderson and an ageing Scholes at Man U. Chelsea and Liverpool he would certainly be good enough to get plenty of games. Funnily enough the toughest out of the lot is probably Liverpool. As for Man City, they will have an excellent midfield next season, De Jong, Barry, SWP, Ireland, Elano, Robinho, Petrov at the moment with more to come no doubt. Havent included Kompany in that as think he will move back to centre half. They will spend massively and while that doesnt guarantee anything, I think they will certainly be challenging the top 4 next season.

villanfromluton wrote:Barry is undoubtedly a top 4 player IMO. He would surely get in the Arsenal team alongside Fabregas and I think he is as good as the likes of Carrick, Fletcher, Anderson and an ageing Scholes at Man U. Chelsea and Liverpool he would certainly be good enough to get plenty of games. Funnily enough the toughest out of the lot is probably Liverpool. As for Man City, they will have an excellent midfield next season, De Jong, Barry, SWP, Ireland, Elano, Robinho, Petrov at the moment with more to come no doubt. Havent included Kompany in that as think he will move back to centre half. They will spend massively and while that doesnt guarantee anything, I think they will certainly be challenging the top 4 next season.

On the flip side they could have a lot of pissed of players sitting on the bench.. elano..petrov..barry..ireland..swp..de jong.. company..robinhio..bellamy.. plus aleast one big money striker.. thats 10 players trying to get into six positions.. all want frist team football with a fair few egos in there.. could be a disaster waiting to happen

I hope so Adrain, but fear that aint going to happen.

So apparently Barry was offered 75k a week by Villa, but £80k by City. Does this change any minds on the money-grabbing mercenary front?

Ezekiel 25:17 wrote:So apparently Barry was offered 75k a week by Villa, but £80k by City. Does this change any minds on the money-grabbing mercenary front?

Depends on what paper you wish to believe, it's anything between £80 and £110k a week.Not forgetting the great big fcuk off signing on fee and the bonus scheme Man City use.I'd also hazard a guess that there are clauses in the contract which trigger pay rises should Man City secure European football.Not forgetting of course that he's also on a 5yr contract despite the fact he turns 29 in February.Pretty lucrative i'd say.

http://www.astonvilla-mad.co.uk/news/loadfeat.asp?cid=ED15&id=449614

Interesting read.. some points are quiet good..

^^ This is from that link

Why the Villa manager must look abroad for Barry's replacement

Whatever your view on Gareth Barry, it cannot be denied that his replacement in the centre of Villa's midfield will have to be some player to fill the current void.

But, with Randy Lerner admitting that money doesn't always guarantee success, it looks increasingly likely that Martin O'Neill will have to pick up a bargain to plug the gaping hole which was left by his former skipper.

This surely means that the Northern Irishman will have to do something that has been distinctly foreign to him during his time at Villa - with the emphasis on foreign.

O'Neill must surely now delve into the European or even global transfer market.

The fact is that English players have hugely inflated price tags. Villa found that out to their cost when bringing in James Milner for £12m from Newcastle last summer.

They were also forced to pay a substantial amount for Ashley Young, who signed from Watford in January 2007. The total fee for the winger was just under the £10m mark.

Whether you think that was value for money or not - and it looks like in the case of Young it was - the fact remains that those price tags were massively over-inflated.

Take Tottenham striker Darren Bent or his teammate David Bentley. It cost Spurs in the region of £33m to sign the pair. Are they really worth anywhere near that? Probably not.

Then have a look at the red half of North London, at Arsene Wenger and Arsenal. The French genius has continually unearthed gems from abroad during his time in England.

History

Wenger's captain and influential playmaker Cesc Fabregas was pinched from Barcelona's youth setup in 2003 and the Spaniard is now one of the top midfielders in the Premier League.

Looking back, Wenger signed his countryman and then winger Thierry Henry from Juventus in 1999 for around £10m and turned him into possibly the greatest striker in the club's illustrious history.

O'Neill now needs to take a leaf out of Wenger's book if he is to beat the Gunners boss to fourth next season.

He needs to use his scouts to full effect and take some risks.

Fans will accept that new players from foreign climbs take time to adapt to a new country and a new league but Villa have a settled squad who can help a fresh member to fit into the fold.

A star signing from abroad would do nicely. Supporters won't expect Lionel Messi to rock up at Villa Park any time soon but players like Steven Defour of Standard Liege and Antonio Apono of Malaga are realistic targets and could be obtained on the cheap.

Surely this is better than signing English players like Tom Huddlestone and Jermaine Jenas, who have also been linked with the club in recent weeks.

Scouts

There is no doubt that those two Englishmen are good squad players but they are no more than Premier League cast-offs.

Lerner and O'Neill must be fresh and innovative. The Villa boss spent in his comfort zone last summer as he bought players who he had experience of at first hand .

And while there are many benefits to employing this tactic - you are never going to break the top four by simply buying English based players unless of course you can prize Steven Gerrard or indeed John Terry away from their respective clubs.

Villa must go further afield. At times you wonder whether the club actually has any scouts.

Thankfully it was recently announced that experienced talent spotter David Wilson has been appointed to oversee the Scandinavian countries and O'Neill will be reliant on him to discover the next Martin Laursen.

The acquisition of the Danish defender, in fact, proves the point of this article. Villa's former skipper, who was forced to retire at the end of last season cost just £3.5m. What a bargain he turned out to be.

The commanding centre-back was signed from AC Milan and he is a good example of someone who was brought in for a relatively small fee and really improved the team.

There are plenty more where he came from and it is now up to O'Neill to take a risk and find a gem who can propel Villa into the top four next season.

Good luck Martin!

Did you know that Barry is 7th in the clubs all time list of appearances - in fact if he had played 10 more games he would have been above Spink into 6th

Jay, what you say makes me think I am being hard on him. My problem is he said last summer he wanted champions league football, end of story. The daily mail did a story condemning Villa fans for not letting him go. That is not the problem, it is what he has said is the problem. Strangelyy enough, I thought he was a bigger influence tonight for England, as if he belonged in that company.

Lutes, the Daily Mail needs a good slap.
I live in anticipation of the day their moral-high-ground seeking editor is discovered in a menage á 21 with 17 gerbils, Jonathan Ross, Kerrey Katona and the Queen.