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Man City in bid to lure Barry to Manchester

Tue 02 Jun, 01:52 PM


--AFP/Paul Ellis

AFP/Paul Ellis
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BIRMINGHAM (AFP) - England midfielder Gareth Barry has opened negotiations with Manchester City about a potential move to Eastlands from his current club Aston Villa.

Barry, 28, came close to joining Liverpool last year and was expected to be a target for them again this summer.

But it now seems as if the Reds will have to match any offer made by City, who have reportedly indicated that they are willing to pay 12 million pounds for a player with only one year left on his contract.

City, who are owned by the Abu Dhabi United Group, are expected to be big players in the close season transfer market and manager Mark Hughes is a long-standing admirer of Barry.

The midfielder is currently preparing for England's upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Andorra and is thought unlikely to make any decision on his future until after those matches on June 6 and 10.

Although City cannot offer him Champions League football -- which was one of the reasons he gave for requesting a transfer when Liverpool made their bid last year -- Barry could be tempted to Eastlands by the prospect of significantly increased wages and the prospect of regular first-team football in the run-up to next year's World Cup finals in South Africa.

Barry has spent his entire career at Villa, making over 400 appearances since he emerged from the youth ranks.

 

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  1. LOL, a Yahoo! timewarp there.

    From Steve, on Thu 23 Jul 10:38PM

  2. 12 million is better than getn zero next year!hes done­ his bit for us..bit of a stupid move in fairness..all­ villa can do is move forward now with that money.Lerner­ will hopefully provide another 12-15 million.....A lot­ could be done with a transfer kitty like that.All we­ need know is somone of Wengers genius to pick out some­ raw talent for next to nothing

    From Eoin, on Tue 2 Jun 4:59PM

  3. badilawal, completely agree. If he does move to Man­ City, it does just show that he really is an­ idiot.

    We're in the Europa cup next year, Villa­ are by far the better club - better manager, better­ (albeit it poorer!) chairman, yet he wants to move to­ City?

    Its either Money or he's using it as­ leverage in his negotiations with Villa. Eitherway­ we'll find out soon.

    From Steve, on Tue 2 Jun 2:32PM

  4. Just a trick to get Liverpool to come up with the cash­ - unless Liverpool are not keen anymore - in which case­ he's better of staying at Villa where he may well­ end up being 1st choice captain once more. Lets face­ it, the above reporter - 1st team action is not really­ an issue with him at Villa - he's virtually first­ on the team sheet - so how could that be a plus at Man­ City??!!
    Barry's can't be too bothered about­ his salary, or he'd not have spent 11 years there!!

    From dazza_jim, on Tue 2 Jun 2:20PM

  5. This is ridiculous! Man.City will offer him neither CL­ nor any European football atleast for another­ year,likewise it makes no difference by saying he will­ have a regular football if he joins Man.City as he is a­ first-team player at Villa already. It shows his motive­ is actually money driven and not CL football as he­ claimed in the past.

    From BADI, on Tue 2 Jun 2:08PM
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