Barry joins City

More news on Gareth Barry. The speculation of Barry becoming a Liverpool player is over. He’s officially completed a move to Manchester City yesterday.

Manchester City have confirmed the £12million signing of Gareth Barry from Aston Villa, with the England midfielder penning a five-year deal.

City manager Mark Hughes is banking on the midfielder's experience in the domestic and international arena to take the club to the next level.

"Gareth is widely acknowledged as one of the top midfielders in the Premier League and that is a recommendation in itself.

"When players of his quality become available then you have to be in the market for them so we are absolutely delighted that we have been able to conclude this deal.

"The experience required to compete with the best in the Premier League is vital.

"With Gareth we get the experience of someone who has played week-in, week-out in the hardest league in the world.

"He plays at a level that has an impact on the game and we are thrilled that he is joining us." – Mark Hughes, Tribal Football.

This transfer which came as a surprise to all of us. Barry earlier been reported he’d like to join a team with Champions League football, signed for a club which has the brightest future in challenging the top four clubs in England next season.

I think this transfer has been materialised due to the fact that City was able to offer Barry a huge pay rise. City have not even qualified for next season's revamped Europa League. Who could afford to missed out on a £80,000-a-week salary?

I’m glad the chase is over now.

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YNWA,

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Liverpool losing the fight for £12M midfielder

This news came in hot today from Aston Villa’s official website. Gareth Barry is allowed to talks with Manchester City over a possible move to Eastlands.

Last summer, Liverpool and Aston Villa are in tug-of-war over the England international and this piece of news has been a shocked to many of us.

More news on this madness later.

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YNWA,

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Liverpool midfielder could be leaving Anfield soon

I can felt the players’ frustration when they are not selected for the first eleven but when you’re playing for Liverpool FC, that’s mean you must understand it will be difficult if the team are playing well at the moment.

Yossi Benayoun has vented his frustration by indicating he’ll walk out of Anfield if he still warming the bench in the coming months.

"Even if it’s Liverpool, if I don’t get to play in the next few months I will not want to be here.

“I enjoy my time in England but maybe it is time to learn a new language - maybe Italian, French or Russian.

“When I came here it wasn’t so I could tell everyone ‘Hey, I play for Liverpool’.

“My purpose was to prove myself and, in the first year, I think I did with 11 goals and 10 assists.

“I understand that I am at one of the biggest clubs in the world and that this year there are better players.

“After our win over Manchester United I lost my place. Everyone wants to play and it is no fun sitting on the bench or playing just a few minutes.

“I’m part of the rotation but I hope in the next few months it will change.” – Benayoun, Setanta Sports

I don’t know what other people think of this but for me, I’ll tells Rafa to sell him or put him in the Gareth Barry’s deal this January. The bad news are Aston Villa prepared to hold on to Barry until his contract expire.

Why hold on to a player that doesn’t have the mentality for team success?

Till then.

YNWA,
Red's Fury™

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City to outbid Hammers for Liverpool midfielder

Contrary to my opinion about bringing Gareth Barry to Anfield, Rafa Benitez still interested in the Villans' midfielder. But to realised this move, the gaffer need to sell before he can buy.

Liverpool just completed the move for Robbie Keane 24 hour ago, which saw three players were sold to capture the high profile Irishman for a club's record fee £20.3million, the second most expensive signing. Rafa will continue to reshape the Liverpool squad and the latest news coming from the Daily Mail suggests Yossi Benayoun is to be offload to the highest bidder.

Manchester City have made a £6million bid for the Israel midfielder, all but ending West Ham's hopes of re-signing Benayoun. The profit of £1million proved to be to good to reject as money are very hard to come by at Anfield this summer. The Hammers are unlikely to match City's bid, who sold Benayoun to the Reds at £5million, a year ago.

With Benayoun set to join Voronin, Pennant, Itandje and Arbeloa at the exit door. Liverpool still fall short of two pacy and creative out-and-out wingers. I strongly suggest that Rafa should move for winger rather than signing another midfielder.

Don't get me wrong, I've nothing against Barry but it wasn't just my opposition for his acquisition. The poll setup here received 47 'NO' from 108 voters, that we shouldn't sign him while Alonso is much better player than Barry.

YNWA,
Red's Fury™

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Reds' quadruplet near Liverpool exit

Liverpool's gaffer, Rafa Benitez keen to recover as much as possible from this summer transfer window after splashing £18million on Robbie Keane to financed his other targets.

Four Reds' players reportedly heading for Anfield exit to enable Rafa to pursuit at least two more players before the season start. The quadruplet who will be leaving are Andriy Voronin, Jermain Pennant, Alvaro Arbeloa and Charles Itandje.

Blackburn manager Paul Ince has made contact with Anfield official on the availability of Jermain Pennant and had offered £4million for the Liverpool's winger. The figure could rise to £6million depending on Pennant's performances at Rovers. This move was triggered by the following move of David Bentley to Tottenham and Ince needs a cover for right side of midfield as he failed to hold on to Bentley.

Charles Itandje, last season second choice goalkeeper, has moved down the pecking order since the arrival of Diego Cavalieri as Reina's cover. But his move to Galatasaray was hindered by a contract's dispute at Anfield.

Although, Voronin featured in all Liverpool's pre-season matches and are regaining his form. The arrival of Robbie Keane and David Ngog spells the end of his Anfield career. He's being courted by Olympiacos, Borussia Dortmund and Hamburg. Rafa keen to sell him at £6million after he arrived on a free from Bayer Leverkusen a year ago.

While, what surprises us is Alvaro Arbeloa wants to leave Liverpool and return to his native Spain for personal reasons. Liverpool has received a bid in the region of £6million for the fullback. This news has thwarted Rafa's pursuit of Gareth Barry as Aston Villa wants Steve Finnan included in the deal.

Liverpool will be short of cover at right-back if Finnan was sold to Villa. With Philipp Degen set to miss the early part of the season due to groin strain, the deal for Barry was put on hold until Rafa could sign a new fullback. Reds are rumoured to have courted Schalke 04 right-back, Rafinha who are unsettled at his current club.

The sales of the quadruplet would bolster Rafa's coffer to £19million and it should be enough for him to try and sign a fullback and a winger. Rafa still hopeful of signing Gareth Barry after he went silence over this deal. But he won't jeopardize his move for a winger as money was again the main stumbling block.

Should we see Rafa going for Valencia's David Silva and Schalke's Rafinha? I still doesn't see where will Gareth Barry fit into our system since Xabi Alonso still a Liverpool member. We also have Lucas and Mascherano commanding the midfield area.

YNWA,
Red's Fury™

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Robbie set for Anfield

Which Robbie? Of course not Robbie Fowler, it's Robbie Keane who is set to sign for Liverpool. Rafa Benitez hopes to hand Keane his Liverpool debut at Rangers next Saturday.

The striker’s dream transfer moved a step closer on Thursday night when he was left out of the Tottenham side for the friendly in Alicante.

Keane is expected to complete a £20million switch to Merseyside early next week. It seems unlikely the deal will be done in time for him to line up in the Reds’ next warm-up fixture at Villarreal on Wednesday.

The trip to Scotland to play against Rangers at Ibrox three days later is the more likely option, assuming there are no problems with his medical.

Rafa Benitez is refusing to panic in his efforts to land Gareth Barry despite Martin O’Neill’s attempts to place a deadline on the transfer.

Rafa Benitez has refused to budge from his stance that Barry is overpriced at £18million while a growing cash crisis at Valencia is raising the possibility of the Kop manager moving for David Silva instead.

Liverpool’s Spanish stars Fernando Torres, Pepe Reina, Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa returned to training following their Euro 2008 heroics.

Benitez believes their success can inspire everyone at Anfield. But one of his Spanish stars will be wanting for an exit. Arbeloa leaving could left Liverpool short of cover at the right-side of defence as Steve Finnan was wanted in the deal for Barry.

Could it be all over for Barry? Rafa is set for a crunch talks with Alonso over the midfielder future at Anfield soon after he returned from his holidays.

Valencia have debts of £400million and the Spaniards are looking to fund a new £250million stadium.

And owner Juan Solares is desperately trying to sell the club.

But until he does, the need to raise cash has become desperate and some of Europe’s big guns are circling Silva, David Villa and Joaquin.

Solares was furious with figurehead president Juan Villalonga for rejecting Atletico Madrid’s £17million bid for Silva which is an obvious sign he was ready to do business at that price.

The figure is lower than Rafa has expected them to demand and, with no immediate end in sight to the war which is tearing Valencia apart, Liverpool could get the Spain winger for a cut price.

David Villa is Valencia’s jewel in the crown and Real Madrid will swoop if they are forced to concede defeat in their bid to sign Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo.

One good news for Liverpool is that Tottenham are going after David Villa as a replacement while having conceded that they'll lose both Berbatov and Keane.

Well Keane is only worth £20million, captain of his country and Barry just capped a few games for England, Aston Villa wants £18million.

That's ridiculous, don't you think?

YNWA,
Red's Fury™

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Sebastian Leto keen on Greek move

Liverpool winger Sebastian Leto is eyeing a loan move to Olympiacos as his stay at Liverpool has been placed in doubt because of a passport fiasco.

The Argentinian winger has been told by Reds boss Rafa Benitez that he can leave Anfield on a temporary deal.

I spoke with the people of the club [Liverpool] and our decision is to leave the club and to play somewhere else on loan for one season. I have to play football next season.

My agents are in Athens. They speak with Olympiacos for my loan.

Their manager, Ernesto Valverde called me. He told me that he is really interested in having me at his team. He told me about his thoughts and everything. For me it’s really important to have a manager who speaks my language. - Setanta Sports

Elsewhere, Aston Villa has issued a deadline warning for Gareth Barry's transfer to Liverpool. Martin O’Neill admits he could throw boo-boy Gareth Barry into the lion’s den as Aston Villa look to come through Saturday’s Intertoto Cup clash with Odense BK.

Barry’s participation would not cup-tie the midfielder if he then moved to Liverpool, but O’Neill warned The Reds he is getting fed up with their procrastination.

Villa have reportedly demanded £17 million plus Steve Finnan for their captain, and O’Neill moaned that Liverpool’s lack of reply has hindered his own transfer plans.

Meanwhile, Rafael Benitez has completed the signing of French striker David Ngog from Paris St Germain.

The highly-rated 19-year-old has penned a four-year contract at Anfield for an undisclosed fee and he is Liverpool's fourth signing of the summer.

YNWA,
Red's Fury™

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Olympiacos in for Voronin

Olympiacos have made contact with Liverpool for striker Andriy Voronin. The Ukrainian has been linked with a move away from Anfield this summer is also interesting, Bundesliga outfits, Borussia Dortmund and Hamburg.

Rafa is keen to recover as much as possible from player sales to help fund the move for Robbie Keane and Gareth Barry. Voronin is reportedly made available for £3million. He may be the fourth player from first team roster after Crouch, Riise and Kewell to leave Anfield before the season start.

Meanwhile, Liverpool have confirmed the signing of teenage Spanish right-back Emmanuel Mendy on a three-year deal.

The Reds today said on their official website that the 18-year-old arrives on a free from Murcia Deportivo and will compete for a place in Gary Ablett's reserves. He is also known to play at left-back.

YNWA,
Red's Fury™

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Forget Barry and lets move on

The transfer saga has been dragged on whole summer and the new season is just one month away. I hope Rafa reconsider the position of Xabi Alonso as Juventus seems to have cool down on the deal. Now with Arsenal coming in for Barry, we better use the £18million on a winger.

The sales of Peter Crouch to Portsmouth has recoup £11million and Scott Carson on the verge of joining Stoke for £4million, while Danny Guthrie left Anfield for St James' Park on a undisclosed fee, should bolster Rafa coffers to move on the next target.

Transfer In:
Phillip Degen (free)
Andreas Dossena (£8million)
Diego Cavalieri (£3million)
[Winger - ???]
[Striker - ???]

Transfer Out:
Danny Guthrie (undisclosed fee) Newcastle
John Arne Riise (£4million) AS Roma
Harry Kewell (free) Galatasary
Anthony Le Tallec (undisclosed fee) Le Mans
Peter Crouch (£11million) Portsmouth
Scott Carson (£4million-pending) Stoke City

Judging from the transfer table above, Rafa has added £8million into his transfer kitty, though the co-owners made available £20million at his disposal (in my imagination). This should be enough to lure David Silva or Robbie Keane to Anfield. News linking Jermaine Pennant away from Anfield, possible a move to Blackburn in the region of £4-5million and reserve keeper, Charles Itandje, also linked with a possible move elsewhere if anybody met his transfer fee of £6million will also help the cash strap gaffer.

I don't see why we need Gareth Barry so badly, unless there are complication of registering players for the UEFA Champions League, which needs certain quotas to be met by each European clubs before the deadline, are causing this crazy demands from Aston Villa for Barry's price? Since Gunners are preparing to hijack this deal, we might as well forget it and move on.

Do we short of central midfielders? No. We do lack of wingers, but Rafa brought in two wing backs. How about a quality striker? Yes, we have one in Torres but we do need a backup. Who do you think is best suited for Reds?

YNWA,
Red's Fury™

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Aston Villa wants Finnan in Barry's deal

Martin O'Neill says Aston Villa have written to Liverpool to propose a deal for Gareth Barry.

Liverpool are desperate to sign the Villa captain and last week saw a new bid of £15million rejected.

Villa have already turned down multiple offers from their Premier League rivals, with manager O'Neill valuing his skipper in the £18million bracket.

Reports suggest that O'Neill would be willing to accept £17million, plus Reds full-back Steve Finnan in part exchange.

O'Neill has not confirmed his interest in Finnan, but has revealed that a proposal has been put to his Liverpool counterpart Rafa Benitez.

When will this rubbish will ever ends? Since Liverpool are unwilling to pay £18million for Barry. How on earth that a proposal which stated Steve Finnan plus £17million=£18.5million or £19million will be agreed by Liverpool? The Reds valued Finnan at £2million, unless Villa proposed a deal of £13million plus Finnan, then it's a win-win situation for everyone.

via Sky Sports

YNWA,
Red's Fury™

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