£20m for Gareth Barry

It seems like we are not getting any closer to signing Gareth Barry from Aston Villa. Barry has made it clear that he wants to leave Villa and come to Liverpool but Villa are said to want no less than £20m for the England midfielder. It is said we have made a bid of £13m which was rejected. Now we may go back with an improved £15m bid and I think that will also be rejected. It looks like Villa want to milk up as much as they can from this deal, but then the question is, should we part with £20m for Barry?

I do not think Barry is worth £20m. We could get a world class midfielder for £20m such as Pirlo or Deco. I would not mind seeing Barry at Liverpool but only if the price is right. I feel he would strike a great partnership with Gerrard in midfield. But looking at it from another point of view, quality players are costing a lot of money now due to all the cash in the Premiership. Hargreaves went to Manchester United for £25m. Now I do not think there is much difference between Hargreaves and Barry so maybe £20m for Barry is not a bad deal if you look at it that way.

It is no secret that we do not have £100m to spend this summer like other teams have so we have to be very careful on how we spend the little money we have. Rafa has to sell first so he can generate some cash. If Rafa can get £15m for selling Alonso to Juventus then I am sure that cash will go straight to buying Barry. Rafa should also get about £10m from selling Crouch. And put together the sales of the likes of Riise, Pennant, Finnan, Vorinin and Carsson, Rafa may get another £30m from that. At the end of the day we need to buy well this summer and Rafa needs to be given access to funds to challenge. If only the Yanks lived up to their promise, Rafa should have a £100m kitty for the summer to get the likes of Barry, Quaresma and Villa!