Aston Villa have announced that Liverpool target Gareth Barry will be staying with the club.
The England midfielder had set his heart on making the move to Anfield and linking up with his close friend Steven Gerrard in the centre of midfield.
But Villa have announced the 27-year-old will be remaining after Liverpool failed to reach a deadline to meet their £18million valuation of the player.
Villa said in a statement: "This evening, Aston Villa can announce that Gareth Barry will be staying with the club following the interest from Liverpool over recent months.
"During discussions in the past few days, a final deadline to conclude this episode was set that all parties were aware of and agreed to. This deadline has now passed and so Gareth will remain with Villa."
Barry was desperate to experience playing Champions League football with the Reds after a decade at Villa.
Now O'Neill will hope the player will buckle down and attempt to achieve that dream at Villa, who finished sixth in the Premier League last season.
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez made it clear in May that Barry was one of his prime transfer targets for the 2008-09 campaign.
O'Neill was upset at him making details of his interest public and a war of words raged between the duo for much of the early part of the summer.
Liverpool made four separate bids to sign Barry but none of them matched O'Neill's valuation of the player.
He made it clear a couple of weeks ago that the current situation could not continue indefinitely as he made his own plans for the new campaign not knowing whether or not Barry would be part of them.
Now O'Neill appears to have taken the situation by the scruff of the neck after Liverpool were unable to conclude the deal by the deadline agreed by all parties.
There has been constant speculation that Benitez, who this week signed Tottenham striker Robbie Keane for £20million, would have to sell to finance the Barry deal.
Barry's outburst against O'Neill in a Sunday newspaper appeared to signal the end of any chance of him remaining at Villa.
He accused O'Neill of finding time to be a pundit at Euro 2008 but not to speak to him about his future and was disciplined and told to stay away from Bodymoor Heath.
Then Barry was booed by Villa fans when he appeared in a pre-season friendly at Walsall last week.
But that mood had mellowed when Barry appeared as a substitute in Saturday's Intertoto Cup tie with Odense BK at Villa Park.
GARETH BARRY FACTFILE
1981: Born, Hastings, February 23
1997: Joins Aston Villa as a trainee from Brighton for £50,000.
1998: February 23 - Signs first professional contract at Villa.
May 2 - Makes debut as substitute in 3-1 Premier League win at Sheffield Wednesday.
May 10 - Starts first game for club in 1-0 home win over Arsenal.
November 17 - Makes England Under-21 debut in friendly against Czech Republic at Portman Road. Goes on to earn 27 caps, sharing the all-time record with Jamie Carragher.
1999: April 24 - Scores first Villa goal in 2-0 Premier League win over Nottingham Forest.
2000: May 31 - Makes senior England debut as a substitute in 2-0 friendly win over Ukraine at Wembley.
June: Called up to England's European Championship squad following an injury to Jason Wilcox. Does not feature during the tournament.
September 2 - Starts first senior England game in 1-1 draw with France in Paris.
2003: June 3 - Earns his eighth England cap as a substitute in 2-1 friendly win over Serbia and Montenegro at the Walkers Stadium.
August 16 - Sent-off for the first time in Villa career in 2-1 Premier League defeat at Portsmouth on the opening day of the season.
2004: November 22 - Makes a quicker-than-expected return from a serious knee injury suffered the previous month.
2006: August 19 - Awarded Villa captaincy for opening Premier League game of the season at Arsenal and retains the armband on a permanent basis.
August 27 - Ends speculation about his future by signing a new four-year contract at Villa Park.
2007: February 2 - Earns recall to England squad for friendly against Spain.
October 28 - Becomes youngest player to make 300 Premier League appearances (aged 26 years and 247 days), beating Frank Lampard's record.
2008: May 1 - Liverpool launch their bid to buy Barry.
May 2 - Villa boss Martin O'Neill confirms Liverpool's bid, which was thought to be £10million, but which O'Neill decries as "a mish-mash of nameless player exchanges". O'Neill also criticises Liverpool for making their interest public.
May 7 - O'Neill reveals he will hold talks with Barry after the final game of the season in a bid to persuade him to stay.
June 1 - Barry scores first international goal in England's 3-0 friendly win in Trinidad and Tobago. Barry also captains his country for the first time in second half on the game.
Describes Liverpool's interest in him as "flattering".
June 12 - Villa confirm they have rejected an improved offer from Liverpool for Barry.
June 29 - Barry reveals he wants to join Liverpool and blasts O'Neill for not making enough effort to keep him at Villa Park.
June 30 - O'Neill hits back, claiming Barry is free to leave at the right price.
July 2 - Barry is fined two weeks' wages and ordered not to return for pre-season training for his criticism of O'Neill. Villa reveal they have rejected another improved offer from Liverpool.
July 16 - Barry is permitted to return to training.
July 22 - Plays for Villa in a friendly at Walsall and is booed by the travelling Villa support.
July 25 - O'Neill reveals he will set Liverpool a deadline to sign Barry or call off the deal.
July 26 - Barry comes on as a substitute in the Intertoto Cup clash with Odense and is cheered.
July 30 - After the deadline is not met, Villa confirm Barry will stay.
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Comment 1 - 10 of 10
richardhhawkinshawkins,
Villa chasing 4 th .ha ha ha you're in cloud cuckoo land MATE
I dont understand why anyone thinks alonso is better than barry.... if he is so great he wld be a regular and not have rafa trying to punt him to anyone in europe... barry is true class, better passer of the ball, tackling and heading as well. Stronger player pyhsically & looks fitter. did u see alonso trying to tackle that fella from barnsley when they scored in the last minute, i bet u pool fans werent singing his praises then. We dont need 2 sell or have to sell. keep finnan and yousi, pennant & the rest of your 2 bob players. the only playes u have that wld get in man u, arsenal of chelski teams are gerrard & torres (maybe carragher). You lot are chasing 4th place with the rest of us so deal with the fact u aint as great as u think u are
Nobody gets the title without spending money. Stop the puritanical moralizing. You either spend what it takes to get the best players, or you squirm in mediocrity (hear that, David Moyes).
Oh you mean he BUYS the title.
LOL.
Poor, poor Raffa. Another opportunity missed. Liverpool still can't decide if it wants to be #1 or is satisfied with #3 or #4 (with a few bucks left in the bank). One thing about Ferguson, he knows what it costs to be top.
What a bunch of one-eyed Liverpool pundits!
I seriously hope that you do better this season than last, for the sake of a Club that has been worth admiration over the years.
If you don't the writing is on the wall for Rafa.
From the point of view of a Villa Fan, I think the main thing that upset many of us was the timing of the approach last season whilst we were still involved in a battle for fifth place, and at one point capable of catching Liverpool. don't get me wrong boys that would have been a massive over achievement for so thin a squad.
I think you are wrong Barry would have added something to Liverpools midfield in that I think it gives Gerrard the freedom to play and he give good defensive cover to the left back.
Best of luck for the new season boys, with a bit of luck we might be able to settle this argument in the Final of the FA Cup, but I think you will need to be a bit quicker out of the blocks this season, I thought by your normal standards Liverpool were below par last season. Fwler looks a good buy though
At last we can put this to bed and finally move on. I am so glad we havn't bought Barry and hope we can hold onto Alonso. O'neil should be ashamed of himself and grow up. With the midfielders that we currently have i:e Gerrard Alonso Mashcerano Levi Beniyoun Babel etc we are able to compete with any team. Good luck to Barry but Aston Villa/o'neil have stopped you playing Champions League football and fullfilling your dream.
well done liverpool, we don't need barry at all and he is no way 18 million. Any way, Alonso is so much better than him. I genuinely do think we do need to strengthen our team with a few more players but this is definately a step foward with Keane as our new striker to partner torres.
LFC 4 LIFE!!
$$$$
at last an end!! or is it?? as a liverpool fan i don't really care! does mon now think he can decide on when the transfer window shuts?? what a @#$%!! he should just accept the player wants to test himself on a bigger stage, and that is not going to happen at villa! it's no critisism it's just the plain truth! they are not going to challenge for the title! (ok so our own ability is still under scrutiny!) but we will come closer than them,they simply don't have the squad to mount ANY kind of challenge for ANY competition! and at the end of the day, people keep praising mon for sticking to his guns, well i say well done rafa for not having your arms ripped off over a player i personally rate at no more than £10m!! and in my opinion mon has done nothing to aid our cause,just flatly refusing to budge,£15m + finnan was an awsome deal, although i'm happy for finnan to stay, muppet!! and the underlying thing hear is i think this goes to show just how committed our esteemed owners are to helping us bring back the kind of glory this great club so richly deserves and is used to!! i,e not very!
Full marks to liverpool during this messy saga, they have not got involved in any slanging match with mad dog o'neil. Really do not understand his problem, they make 3 offers ,he turns them down, end of saga. The man is just a whinger who needs to grow up.
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