MANCHESTER CITY kicked off an ambitious summer of rebuilding by completing a €13.9 million deal for Gareth Barry last night and the club will follow that with an attempt to lure Carlos Tevez from Old Trafford later this week.
Aston Villa accepted a straight cash bid for Barry yesterday morning as City officials, mindful of frustrations in the last transfer window and the ambitions of the billionaire owner, Sheikh Mansour, wasted little time in finalising a fee for the long-time Liverpool target. The 28-year-old, who last summer cited Champions League football as the motivation for exchanging Villa Park for Anfield, held talks with City yesterday afternoon and will fly to Kazakhstan with the England squad this morning having doubled his previous salary to €115,000 a week.
Next in line for City is Tevez, provided Kia Joorabchian, the head of the consortium that owns the Argentinian’s economic rights, decides to invite rival offers for the striker following his latest round of talks with Manchester United.
David Gill, the United chief executive, is scheduled to meet Joorabchian in the next 48 hours in the hope of finally resolving the impasse over Tevez’s future at Old Trafford. Gill indicated before last week’s Champions League final that United are now prepared to pay the €29.5m required to turn the striker’s two-year loan spell into a permanent deal, despite describing the sum as “a bit toppy” and initially hoping to reduce the fee by up to a third.
Joleon Lescott may also be a target for Mark Hughes although Everton are likely to rebuff any move for the England defender.
Joorabchian has resisted several offers for Tevez from rival clubs, with Chelsea and Real Madrid believed to be among them, as he allows United the chance to take the option they agreed in 2007. A representative of Tevez, however, has claimed his client has been “humiliated” by United’s reluctance to meet the original asking price and, if no agreement is reached this week, the way will be clear for City to make an official bid.
Rafael Benitez is also interested in Tevez but cannot compete financially with Chelsea, Real or City, and not even for Barry, who now escaped the Spaniard’s pursuit for a second and probably final time.
The England international has signed a five-year contract with City, who met no late competition from Liverpool, following swift negotiations with the executive chairman, Garry Cook, at the national team’s base, The Grove near Watford. He was also granted permission by the FA to leave training with England and undergo a medical.
Barry’s decision to move to City will sit uncomfortably with Villa supporters and Martin O’Neill. The former Brighton trainee indicated 12 months ago that the chance to play Champions League football was the motivation for his desire to join Liverpool.
City, however, finished 10th in the Premier League, 12 points behind Villa, and failed to qualify for the Europa League, leaving Barry open to accusations that finance rather than football has influenced his decision.
O’Neill said in the closing weeks of the season, that no one at Villa Park would “begrudge” Barry the opportunity to join a Champions League club. Villa offered the club’s longest servant – he joined 12 years ago – a new contract worth around €92,000 a week but once City tabled a €13.9 million bid for a player who could leave for nothing this time next year O’Neill advised Randy Lerner, the chairman, to sanction the deal.
City’s signing of Barry is unlikely to come as a major shock to Benitez, but it may yet complicate his summer transfer policy.
Benitez, thwarted in five bids for Barry last year, remained keen to bring the midfielder to Anfield despite the possible ramifications for Real Madrid’s target Xabi Alonso. Benitez has said his compatriot is not for sale, though Alonso could yet force the issue by declaring he wants to end his five-year stay at Liverpool. Athletic Bilbao’s central midfielder, Javi Martinez, is a possible alternative to Barry for the Liverpool manager.
- Guardian Service
