ARSENE WENGER wants Xabi Alonso to form a Spanish midfield axis with Cesc Fabregas at Arsenal next season, provided Liverpool dramatically lower their €22.8 million price for the marginalised playmaker.
Arsenal have made an initial approach for the 26-year-old Alonso, who has been told he can leave Anfield for the right price. His first-team prospects are threatened by the imminent arrival of Gareth Barry; Liverpool's manager, Rafael Benitez, hopes finally to complete the saga of Barry's €22.8 million transfer from Aston Villa this week, after Martin O'Neill was forced to make a U-turn over his captain's future, and has insisted on a similar fee for Alonso as he attempts to balance the books.
Benitez' price tag, however, has deterred Arsenal from returning with a firm offer for a player they value at closer to the €13.3 million Liverpool paid Real Sociedad for him four years ago. The deal will remain only a remote possibility unless Arsenal revise their stance or, despite Benitez' insistence that Alonso and Barry can operate in his already crowded central
midfield, the Liverpool manager's need to raise funds forces a compromise. "I don't think it will be easy," admitted Benitez in Glasgow on Saturday.
Liverpool had intended to sell Alonso to Juventus to finance Barry's transfer but, despite the collapse of that deal and a lack of suitors apart from Arsenal, Benitez will sign Villa's captain provided Liverpool's co-owners underwrite a loan to conclude the €22.8 million deal. Tom Hicks and George 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.
Liverpool's willingness to meet Villa's asking price led Barry and his agent, Alex Black, to insist again on the move on Friday morning. O'Neill and Randy Lerner, Villa's owner, then ended their resistance and put the onus back on Liverpool to come up with the package they had promised last week.
"I gave it some thought and realised there is little point in pretending," said the Villa manager. "Gareth would want to join Liverpool and therefore there would be no deadline. I have agreed with Gareth now. That's it, no problem: Liverpool have all the time in the world to do it if they want to raise the money."
