sport

RAFA GIVEN GREEN LIGHT TO SIGN BARRY

Liverpool's interminable pursuit of Gareth Barry should be completed this week after Aston Villa finally agreed to sell the midfielder just days after their bizarre announcement that he would stay at the club.

Despite failing to sell Xabi Alonso in order to fund Barry's transfer, Rafa Benitez is now believed to have the money required to sign the England international after Tom Hicks and George Gillett, Liverpool's co-owners, agreed to underwrite the purchase.

'Hicks and Gillett promised the money before Villa's deadline to complete the transfer last week, only for a revised payment structure to cause Liverpool to miss the cut-off point - whereupon Villa issued a statement insisting, farcically, that the deal was off,' explains The Guardian.

That statement from Villa has drawn heavy criticism from The Times, with the newspaper scathingly noting: 'Villa's decision to impose a deadline in the first place was both puzzling and futile, given that the only deadline Liverpool and Barry were going to abide by, regardless of Villa's claims about who agreed to what, was September 1 and the close of the transfer window.

'Furthermore, having informed Liverpool in writing on Tuesday that they wanted to change the terms of payment, it was unreasonable of Villa, even accounting for the way Liverpool have dragged their heels on the matter, to expect the Merseyside club to rush through an £18 million transfer in the space of 24 hours.'

After Villa's belated realisation that, in the words of Martin O'Neill, "Gareth would want to join Liverpool and therefore there would be no deadline", a deal should now be completed over the next few days. The £18m fee is expected to be paid in two instalments - the first half up front, the second paid up in a year's time.

Benitez will then begin selling players deemed surplus to requirements in order to pay back the loan from his American bosses. Jermaine Pennant and Andriy Voronin are both available for sale, but Benitez will only be able to pay back the money in full if he finds a buyer for Xabi Alonso whose £18m valuation has so far deterred any club from making a formal offer.