Surprise, surprise, the only real transfer gossip today surrounds Villa and England midfielder Gareth Barry. Becoming a yawn this isn’t it? Hopefully one way or the other this will be done and dusted very quickly, we can’t have another summer long tug-of-war surely?
The Daily Star claims that Barry will hold out for a move to Arsenal with Arsene Wenger willing to shell out £12million for him. They say Barry thinks he has shown loyalty but after Villa failed to finish 4th he now see’s Arsenal as his number one destination.
Meanwhile former Villa and England manager Graham Taylor has told the press that Barry needs to be wary of his England place if he decides to leave Villa as he says he won’t then be guaranteed a first team place as he is in the Villa team.
Taylor told PA Sport: ‘Gareth Barry is a regular player at Aston Villa which helps him with his England place. You can go to someone like Liverpool, and the other clubs in the top four, and you might get in the Champions League but, if Gareth is not playing regularly, he could lose his England spot. Fabio Capello has made it pretty clear you have got to play regularly for your clubs and he has carried that through. There is a lot of thinking for Gareth to do. He pretty much knows if he stays at Villa he is not going to be rotated out of the team.’
And away from the Barry saga and please note these are from gossip sites:
Apparently Villa will miss out on 26-year-old Red Star Belgrade captain Nenad Milijas with Wolves looking to sneak in with a €3million offer. His agent Zoran Stojadinovic (oh no, not agent talk!) confirmed: ‘We received a €3million offer from Wolves. They are asking for Milijas to have medical checks as soon as possible.’
And finally Fiorentina are said to be worried they might lose 25-year-old midfielder Felipe Melo, with interest from Chelsea, Arsenal and Villa, so they are offering him a new deal to stay. Again, his agent (earlier in the year apparently) said: ‘Felipe could become one of the great names of European football. Fiorentina have already taken steps to keep him by improving his contract. Apart from Arsenal, another powerhouse of European football has shown interest in Felipe. I believe that if he continues to play at these high levels then Fiorentina will have difficulty in retaining him.’
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