SOCCER:MARTIN O'NEILL'S frustration over Liverpool's protracted pursuit of Gareth Barry has prompted the Aston Villa manager to warn Rafael Benitez he is poised to set a deadline for the deal to be completed.
The threat of a timescale being imposed puts Liverpool under renewed pressure to meet Villa's €23 million asking price or face the prospect of losing out on the England international after failing with four offers in the past three months.
Villa had been anticipating a fifth offer for Barry, who may feature in the Intertoto Cup game against Odense tomorrow, but O'Neill revealed yesterday that Liverpool had not responded to a letter sent more than two weeks ago which outlined his club's demands.
The saga had been expected to rumble on for several more weeks but O'Neill's latest comments suggest he is ready to break off all talks with Liverpool if there is no indication that an €23 million offer will be forthcoming.
"We don't know where we stand at this minute," O'Neill said. "Liverpool have not officially come back to us in any form of writing. It is a really awkward position and at some stage there will have to be a timescale on it because we cannot just keep going on. We have got our own plans to make and we shouldn't be at the behest of Liverpool Football Club. We have got to get on with things."
The lack of communication from Anfield is hardly surprising. In the wake of the collapse of Xabi Alonso's move to Juventus and the completion of Peter Crouch's move to Portsmouth, Benitez has made signing Tottenham and Republic of Ireland striker Robbie Keane, rather than Barry, a priority and he has insufficient funds to complete both deals unless players are sold.
"It was never mentioned before about them needing to sell some players before they bought; that was never in the system at all," said O'Neill. "But seemingly it must be part of it."
The one silver lining for Villa is that with each day that passes the likelihood of Barry starting the season as their player increases. That prospect will not appeal to the 27-year-old, who has publicly expressed his desire to leave and experience Champions League football, but he will have little option if Liverpool cannot finance the deal.
Villa, meanwhile, hope to complete the signing of the goalkeeper Brad Friedel from Blackburn Rovers in the next 48 hours, subject to Paul Robinson leaving Tottenham for Ewood Park. Blackburn have made an offer for Robinson, believed to be in the region of €3.8 million, but it has yet to be accepted.
Tottenham, who signed him for €1.9 million from Leeds United in May 2004, want a larger fee for the England international. They will not hold out for long, though, having signed Robinson's replacement, the Brazilian Heurelho Gomes, for about €8.9 million from PSV Eindhoven.
Portsmouth are preparing a bid for Chelsea's Shaun Wright-Phillips after yesterday accepting an offer from Internazionale for the Ghana midfielder Sulley Muntari, said to be in the region of €11.7 million.
Muntari is keen to join the Italian champions and if the deal goes through it will almost certainly end their immediate interest in Frank Lampard.
Wright-Phillips has been a target of Harry Redknapp for some time but the Portsmouth manager has lacked the funds to move for the winger. That will not be a problem once Muntari, who Portsmouth signed from the Serie A side Udinese for €8.9 million in May last year, returns to Italy. A five-year deal is expected to be concluded with Inter before next week.
Redknapp insisted last week he had no plans to sell Muntari, describing the 23-year-old as a "top player", but the size of the offer, coupled with the African's eagerness to leave, appears to have swayed his judgment. Muntari started 31 games for Portsmouth last season, including the FA Cup final win over Cardiff City.
Part of the fee Portsmouth receive from Inter will go to Udinese as part of a sell-on agreement but enough will be left to make a more than viable offer for Wright-Phillips, who is with Chelsea on their tour of the Far East but could be tempted to leave the club having been on the fringes since arriving at Stamford Bridge from Manchester City for €26.6 million in 2005.
Aston Villa are also said to be interested in the 26-year-old.
Any reluctance the new Chelsea manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari, may have regarding losing Wright-Phillips will be eased by the knowledge that it seems all but certain he will retain Lampard for the coming season at least.
The England midfielder has been the subject of strong interest from Inter after refusing to sign a new four-year deal at Chelsea and has been courted with great vigour by Jose Mourinho ever since his former Chelsea manager took over at San Siro.
But the impending arrival of Muntari seemingly signals the end of Inter's pursuit until January at least. At that point Lampard - who scored in Chelsea's 4-0 victory over the Chinese side Guangzhou Pharmaceutical on Wednesday and is expected to again feature against Chengdu Blades in Macau tomorrow - will be free to negotiate a pre-contract agreement with whoever he likes.
Guardian Service
