Barry signs for Manchester City
Aston Villa captain Gareth Barry in talks with Manchester City
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Tuesday, 02, Jun 2009 09:44
Manchester City have confirmed the signing of Aston Villa captain Gareth Barry for a fee of £12 million.
No details have been published over the length of contract offered to Barry, although sources have told inthenews.co.uk that he has been rewarded with a "generous" wage structure.
The England midfielder, who almost left the Villans last year, is known to have demanded Champions League football of his former employers by 2010 or he would have to consider his future.
However, his choice to jump ship for Manchester City - who finished lower than Villa in this season's Premier League - is a strange one given that City will not even be playing in Europe next year.
In a brief statement on the Villa website earlier today the club confirmed talks had begun, before City rubber-stamped the move in a similar statement this evening.
It is not the first time that the 26-year-old's head has been turned by an offer elsewhere after he was the subject of intense transfer speculation that he could join Liverpool last summer.
But when the Reds were unable to agree a fee with Aston Villa, the deal fell through and Barry was forced to slot back into the rank and file of the Midlanders' squad.