£12m For Baros And More For Barry?

According to the weekend reports, Villa have told German club Hamburg they will have to pay £12million to secure the signing of Czech Republic international striker Milan Baros.

It is understood that Hamburg have had a bid of around £5m already turned down for the 24-year-old who cost Villa £6.5m last season from Liverpool.

Baros has apparently said he would like to move to Hamburg after being offered a £2million a year deal. Errm, how would he know what deal was on the table if Villa haven’t given him permission to speak to the club?

Ellis told the official site, following a meeting: ‘Hamburg’s valuation of Milan falls way short of anything that is remotely acceptable. We are certainly not going to sell Milan Baros on the cheap.’ Adding Hamburg officials had ‘now gone back to Germany. We’ll wait to see if there are any further developments.’
Ellis has refuted claims that Baros is unhappy and ‘really wants to leave’ saying ‘Milan has two years left on his contract and his agent has assured us that he is happy at Villa and not looking to leave.’

According to the Sunday People (yes, I know) Doug Ellis has told Portsmouth that they will have to double their money if they wish to sign midfielder Gareth Barry. It would come as a major shock, especially to David O’Leary, if Barry was sold – he has also been linked several times to Tottenham Hotspur – as he is one of two players (Steven Davis being the other) that Villa’s manager has said must be kept to build the team around.