O'Neill Threatens Reds With Deadline on Barry

Martin O'Neill's frustration over Liverpool's protracted pursuit of Gareth Barry has prompted the Aston Villa manager to warn Rafael Benítez that he is poised to set a deadline for the deal to be completed. That threat puts Liverpool under renewed pressure to meet Villa's £18m 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 £18m 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 move to Portsmouth, Benítez has made signing the Tottenham striker Robbie Keane, rather than Barry, a priority and he has insufficient funds to complete both deals unless players are sold. One deal the Liverpool manager did complete yesterday, however, was that of the 19-year-old striker David Ngog from Paris St-Germain for around £1.5m.

"It was never mentioned before about them needing to sell some players before they bought; that was never in the system at all," O'Neill added. "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 but to continue at the club where he has spent the past decade if Liverpool cannot finance the deal.

It was notable yesterday that O'Neill no longer seemed resigned to losing his captain. "It's a long-running saga and I wouldn't mind it ending one way or another," he said. "My preference - and hopefully I'm speaking for a lot of Villa fans, if not all of them - is that we would like Gareth to stay at the football club. Deep down we would love him to stay."

Villa, meanwhile, hope to complete the signing of the goalkeeper Brad Friedel from Blackburn 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 £3m, but it has yet to be accepted. Spurs, who signed him for £1.5m from Leeds United in May 2004, want a larger fee. They will not hold out for long, though, having signed Robinson's replacement, the Brazilian Heurelho Gomes, for about £7m from PSV Eindhoven.