Former Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill was not happy with Liverpool's failed bid to sign England star Gareth Barry

16:41, 26 Jul 2024Updated 16:43, 26 Jul 2024

Liverpool missed out on the chance to sign Gareth Barry

Former Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill has revealed he was left "irritated" by Liverpool's botched attempt to sign Gareth Barry - with the manager claiming the Reds were unwilling to stump up the cash for the England midfielder.



Barry joined Villa in 1997 after coming through the youth ranks at Brighton & Hove Albion and was a key player for the West Midlands club, helping them to a top six finish in the 2007/08 season.

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Under the stewardship of Rafa Benitez, the Reds were widely known to be interested in bringing the midfielder to Anfield, with Barry himself publicly criticising O'Neill and vocalising his desire to play European football.

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"My mind's made up, I want to join Liverpool," Barry said in the summer of 2008.

Lifting the lid on the failed transfer on The Football Authorities podcast, O'Neill told football commentator Clive Tyldesley that Steven Gerrard had pushed to bring his England teammate to Liverpool.

“Liverpool wanted to buy Gareth Barry,” he said.

“I’m alerted to this article in the newspaper that’s appeared, with Gareth Barry’s been very, very annoyed that me being out there while I’m not conducting his supposed transfer to Liverpool,” he said.

“I thought, ‘Wow, this is it.’ And so, yeah, I get on the phone to Gareth and said, ‘Where’s this come from?’ And I’m not happy with him, and I’m certainly not happy with Liverpool, because Liverpool have put the story out.”

Gareth Barry later played for Everton(Image: (Alex Livesey/Getty Images))

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Shedding light on what prevented the move from happening, O'Neill said: “Mr.

(Randy) Lerner and myself put a price on Gareth, and if Liverpool wanted to meet it then that would be fine, he could go.

So, that was annoying, and certainly Gareth got really irritated with Liverpool for not, as I say, pushing it through.”

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The Football Authorities is available to listen to now on Global Player or wherever you get your podcasts, with new episodes dropping weekly.
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