Martin O'Neill has warned Liverpool he is ready to set a deadline for them to meet his valuation of wantaway Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry.
O'Neill insists Villa cannot continue to be at the "behest" of the Merseyside club who have failed to offer the £18million he is seeking for the England midfielder.
The former Celtic boss is aware he has to make his own plans for the new campaign and needs to know whether he will have the services of Barry.
Already O'Neill is considering using the 27-year-old in Saturday's home Intertoto Cup clash with Odense BK.
But that would not make Barry ineligible to play Champions League football if he eventually moved to Anfield.
O'Neill, who has rejected four bids for Barry from Reds counterpart Rafael Benitez, said: "It's been unfortunate. We don't know where we stand at this minute.
"Liverpool have not officially come back to us in any form of writing. It is a really awkward position here at this minute.
"At some stage or other there will have to be a timescale on it because we cannot just keep going on like this.
"We have got our own plans to make - and we shouldn't be at the behest of Liverpool Football Club.
"We have to pick up the pieces and I could go on for forever and a day talking about it. It doesn't really matter. We have to see what develops.
"As I say, we have not heard back from them in an official capacity."
O'Neill is ready to consider Barry on Saturday even though he was the target of abuse from Villa fans during Tuesday's friendly at Walsall.
He said: "If Gareth is in the right frame of mind then we will explore everything. He will be in contention for Saturday.
"I have never not been impressed with him in two years as to his attitude on the football pitch.
"In fairness the Intertoto gives us that chance to get into the UEFA Cup, which we set out to get into by one way or another, and Gareth was a major part of that last year."
O'Neill, who is hoping to complete the signing of Blackburn goalkeeper Brad Friedel, is aware of the need to bring in new blood with the start of the Barclays Premier League campaign only three weeks away.
He said: "We've lost experienced players like Olof Mellberg and we have to replace them.
"While I am very, very pleased with some of the young players coming through the ranks at Villa, for us to be competing again we need to be competing immediately, as soon as the Premiership season kicks off.
"From day one, that is our aim."
O'Neill added: "We're in the throes of trying to improve our team and we need to. But I'd prefer to stay rather general on these points and not comment on all the reports and speculation.
"There are things that we want to do and we've got a couple of weeks to try and improve the team. Actually we've got to the end of August but ideally it would be great if the season was kicking-off and we had a number of players in position.
"We are working as hard as we possibly can do behind the scenes to improve our squad, which we need to, and that hard work will continue."
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Comment 1 - 14 of 34
buying gareth barry is about unsettling other teams and keeping stevie g happy, liverpool could end up buying gareth barry and losing half the team to pay for it in terms of finance and team morale, rafa is playing a dangerous game||
O'Niel has got what he deserves. Stalemate. He dosn't know what to do or who to buy. The idea that he thinks he can put a deadline on selling Barry is remarkably naive, however predictable as he bumbles from one outburst to the next. Barry, his club skipper is going to be well pissed off, knowing O'Niel has wrecked his opportunity to play with the big boys.
It would be funny if Barry turned around in the match with Odense BK and scored an own goal. That would teach O'Neil
not worth 10 million you can keep him steve the red
Got this tedious story. I wish it would just end. Barry will leave villa for the pool if they pay 18mil, that has always been the case, villa is owned by a multi-billionaire so they dont need to cash in on players. Barry is under contract to villa so MoN can charge what he wants for him, he thinks he is worth 18 mil, it would cost 18mil to replace him. Would any Pool fan expect Rafa to sell Torres to Chelsea or Man u (a bigger team?) for below the managers valuation? Of course not, you would be screaming blue murder and slating the manager. MoN is sticking to his guns because he can, villa are not a tiny team who need to cash in and arent going to sell their assets on the cheap.
So to clarify
Villa own Barry - Villa dont need money - Barry Would cost 18mil to replace - If you dont like the price dont slate MoN, go elsewhere
no player is worth that kind of money
in the old days players played for a few quid and were better players for it
VILLA HAVE ALREADY REACHED THEIR SUMMIT. BY THIS I MEAN THE INTER TOTO CUP. BARRY IS TOO GOOD FOR THIS @#$%. HE'LL BE A RED ONE WAY OR ANOTHER SOON BUT NOT FOR 18 MIL. BRING BACK DEADLY DOUG - AT LEAST HE KNEW HOW TO RUN A BUSINESS AND WHAT A PLAYER IS WORTH. UP THE REDS
yeah..liverpool doesnt have the money to buy players..so sad..
wardster31 villa are under no obligation to sell Barry so why should they drop the asking price? I actually wouldnt be surprised if villa finish above Liverpool this season if they manage to hang on to him. With the further development of Agbonlahor and Young Villas attack will be awesome. Liverpools on the other hand aside from Torres (who is superb admittedly) is pretty lame - especially with Ngog (1 goal in 18 games man). If Liverpool show the same inconsistancys as last season Villa could pip them to the post.
dont matter if he is 15 quid,you still aint got it.
better than our midfielders get a life. gerrard,allonso, mascaroano, i think not i bet you price at 18 mil the same as oniel the players not worth 15 mil.
stop talking out your arse you scroat,he is better than any of your midfielders at present ,cheapscate git.
Rafa, I think this Irish goit is stalking you. I suggest you sort the Barry nonsense out shortly, that way he'll have practically no reason to keep talking about you in the press. Bloody obsessive...
How dare Mr O'neill blame Liverpool, it is he who is pricing Barry at a stupid price. If Barry was worth 18 million don't you think the likes of chelsea, Man utd, and Arsenal would be knocking at the door along with a number of european teams. He needs to be realistic and drop the price by at least 3-5 million then Barry would be able to join a club that will win more trophies than Villa will under the management of O'neill.
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