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 06 July 2008 00:34 BST

O'Neill plans to persuade Barry to stay at Villa

Monday, 12 May 2008 20:57
Barry has been linked with a move away from Villa Park
Manager Martin O'Neill hopes to enter talks with Gareth Barry soon to try and persuade the midfielder his future remains at Aston Villa.

Barry has been at Villa Park his whole career but has consistently been linked with a move away this season.

Liverpool are reported to be interested in the England international but O'Neill says he does not have to move on to enhance his career and claims Barry can still achieve things by staying with the Birmingham side.

O'Neill admits he is not totally sure of retaining Barry for next season but hopes talks with himself and chairman Randy Lerner will help persuade him to stay.

He said: "I wouldn't want to be saying how confident we are [of keeping Barry]. It's a different era we live in. We will see."

The Irishman says the only way his squad will improve is if he is able to retain the quality players already at the club as well as bringing in new signings.

"All I know is he has never expressed one iota of unhappiness in my time at Villa Park. He might not have stayed that long had he been really unhappy before," O'Neill insisted.

"We're going to be sitting down very shortly and discussing Gareth's future.

"I'm going to see the chairman in the next couple of days with a bit of luck and the two of us together might be able to persuade him to stay. I say persuade him - but he still has two years left on his contract."

Villa will hope that qualifying for the Intertoto Cup, which provides a route into the Uefa Cup, gives Barry another reason to stay at Villa Park.End of story


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