I'm sure if you had the chance to play for "England’s most successful club" you would want to take it. No disrespect to Villa - But it really is a no brainer

Join Liverpool - play alongside Gerrard and Torres - play the likes of Real, AC Milan - play against the likes of Messi, Kaka etc. Or stay at Villa - play alongside Reo-joker, play the likes of FC Karuk and Krtl Diamonds in the Intertoto and play against players such as kwlcer and shitz - no brainer my friend.

I don't know how anyone can think that Villa will challenge Liverpool next season or in 5 years. You say Liverpool fell short of the pack??? The gap between Everton & Liverpool is the same as the gap to United. 11points. It's massive on both sides. Never mind about Champions league, uefa cup or inter-bob cup, the chance to play for a massive world wide club with world class players is enough to tempt any player outside the other 3 big clubs in England.

Which ridiculous rotation policy, when Torres got left out because of injury? Jason you must of seen the many articles on here proving that statement complete rubbish. Villa will not be regulars in the champions league any time soon & as Barry (27) wants to play in the big games he must move to a bigger club. Give it a rest and let the guy fulfill his potential

Barry is a vital player for villa, something he won't be at liverpool, he is also playing every game which has got him into the england squad (i'm sure he wont play every game for liverpool will he - just look at fellow england players crouch and pennant), he will get a bumper deal if he stays on at villa - possibly matching liverpools offer, and he will play in the UEFA cup too given that they beat one team in the inter toto. By no means the champions league is much betterm but is barry guarenteed to play in these matches? At villa he will, playing along a young, english side full of potential, the same side that earned him his england place

How can you pretend that a reasonable person will regect Liverpool to play for Villa. It is ammazing that this idea even come to someone`s mind.Only idiots will do that and I do not consider Barry as one! Face reality, just ask Berger who plays for both clubs.

Anyone with an ounce of sense can see that Martin O'Neill's Aston Villa are on going to overtake Liverpool in the next season or two. Only a mug or mercenary would sign for Liverpool now. Whilst Liverpool are tearing themselves apart from the boardroom down, Villa are building up from the ground with the best owner/manager combination in the League. They don't need to spend £300m on a new stadium either, they can spend it on players. Just for the record, Villa has exactly the same Premier League honours as Liverpool i.e. Runners-up once.

Remember when Gerrard nearly signed for Chelsea? A team he can win the league with which he can't do at Liverpool. What stopped him? Because he loves Liverpool. Barry, much like Gerrard, loves Villa. Has been there for 10 years and is well respected in Birmingham. As you say the gap between Villa to Liverpool and Liverpool to the top is the same, yes? then this is the same situation. don't count on Barry to jump ships just because Liverpool are a bigger club. Chelsea are the bigger club and Gerrard didn't leave. Don't be so close minded.

I have always greatly admired Liverpool, but as a Villain I'm gutted that Barry might leave and will despise Liverpool forever if they sign him. Liverpool will always be in that top four or there abouts, to be honest there is more chance of Chelsea dropping out in the next few years. There is no bottom to that club; Chelsea have never been a big club and can barely fill out Stamford Bridge. There are a number of glory-hunting 'fans' abroad but these fans aren't loyal. Abramovich looks like he's losing interest fast and when was teh last time Chelsea signed a player at the top of their game? Ballack and Shevchenko were at the end of their careers and Malouda was rated, but not at the top of most people's wish lists. Most superstars have realised that a move to Chelsea could be the deathknell of their careers. And many of their current crop are looking like leaving such as Carvalho, Drogba and Lampard. Abramovich won't carry on chucking money at this team; they are supposed to be self-sustaining at one point. In a few years he'll leave and they will have £500 million debts. That's what Villa have to be ready for- we haven't got a chance of catching up with the Man U, Arsenal and Liverpool at the moment. They ARE bigger teams with bigger trophy cabinets and genuine worldwide appeal. The only odd one out is Chelsea; and we need Barry to stay to capitalise on their ultimate downfall. Give them one or two more seasons, and then the bubble will burst because they are a smaller team with a smaller fan base and without the market appeal of their competitors.

Why will Liverpool always be in the top four? I think you're falling for their myths. They had a great season and did very well but their average over the previous 10 seasons is only 63 points.

Jason Willis-that wasn't why Gerrard didn't go at all! he actually supports Everton, and when the Chelsea move nearly went through it only didn't cos he was recieving death threats from Scouse Pikey's. Barry will stay at Villa, why would anyone wanna live in or around Liverpool? Even if you are on 60grand a week, you're still gonna be livin in a ghetto!

Why will Liverpool always be in the top four? I think you're falling for their myths. They had a great season and did very well but their average over the previous 10 seasons is only 63 points.

I dont think Barry should come to Liverpool because i can never imagen him being in a 5 time European shirt. he should just stay at his beloved Aston Villa and remain there because Rafa will im pretty sure leave Gareth Barry on the bench just like Peter Crouch.

How is it that the same people who claim Liverpool finished 'a massive' 11 points behind united also claim Villa are about to overtake Liverpool when they finished 16 points behind them? If 11 points is massive, 16 must be on another planet! Aston Villa ARE a good club and have a good team and particularly a good manager. I am the first to commend AV on their year-on-year improvements over the last 3 seasons. But keep things in perspective, GB is a class player at the forefront of the team with nobody else who is truly world class alongside him. I know the Villans will start rattling off names from the team who they think are 'class' and 'great' etc but the reality is there is no queue to buy anyone else from Villa other than GB. Villa need GB, that's a certainty. Whether GB needs Villa for his professional ambitions is another altogether. He loves the club, no question and I commend him for his loyalty over 10 years. But he is now looking at the possibility of playing alongside Gerrard, Torres, Reina and others in the biggest club competition in the world, the CL. Can Villa REALLY offer him anything close to that OTHER than playing for fans who love him and he them? You say he will get rotated. Even if he plays 75% of games for Liverpool, this could still be as much as playing 100% of games for Villa with all the extra European games we potentially could play. There is a lot to consider and if he stays at Villa I will be delighted for him and for your club. But if he chooses to move forward in his career by joining Liverpool, I find it very sad that any of his previous adoring fans would hate either him or the club he joins.

Rob I commend YOU for your un-biased comment whilst clearly having a favourite. It's not a question of Villa fans hating Barry. I've written a couple of these articles on Barry before where I've said that most Villa fans would always love him and always wish him well. My point was that he has dedicated so many years to the club that another couple won't hurt him to test the water and see how far the Villa revolution will take him.

when will the shite red side of liverpool realise that they are on there way out of the top 4. you spend 26 odd million on one striker and STILL end up way of pace of the mighty mancs. when we sign more class this summer at bargain prices and villa pack out their small squad the prem will be 4. everton 5. villa 6. liverscum HAHAHAHAHAHA

I think barry would be fantastic at liverpool. i think he is better than any liverpool player anyway. he played much better than gerrard in the england games which even the most hardcore liverpool fan must admit. i hope barry does stay at villa and he stupid scousers realize that they are never gonna break the big three. thats right THREE, not four. failing that bring him to arsenal. he would be class with fabregas.

Why will Liverpool always be in the top four? I think you're falling for their myths. They had a great season and did very well but their average over the previous 10 seasons is only 63 points.

No it isn't it's 68 and they are fourth in the All Time Premiership league table. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-time_FA_Pre mier_League_table Villa's average points tally over the last 10 years is 52. An average of 16 points a season less than Liverpool. Exactly the number of points you finished below us this year. What makes you think Villa will overturn this gap anytime soon?

You really ARE a very intelligent person evertonion. I bet you can also see if the villains will ever have players such as Torres et al in their team. Muppet

im glad you picked up on that ragish. maybe you should pick up on the fact your team always seems to be going backwards even though you spend ridiculous amounts on players. heres what you should do... get rid of the board, the manager and half your team and start again. while your doing that remember...4. everton 5. villa 6. liverscum... otherwise your just gonna stand still while the big THREE the esteemed arsenal fan above so aptly put it move further ahead and us and villa overtake you. HAHAHAHAHAHA

HILLSBOROUGH???

why would you do that evertonion? It's people like you that football fans a bad name. Most Everton fans I know are very respectful of what happened. As are Manchster City fans after the Munich disaster. You are a just a disgrace, plain as and simple.

I have read several threads like this and I am struck by the bone-headed contribution of so many Liverpool fans. Not all of them, but more than any other club. I suspect these knuckle-draggers are of the out-of-town glory hunting variety. The sort that has resulted in the Club being labelled (unfairly?) as the poor man's Manchester United because of the number of non locals claiming allegience. I really feel sorry for the majority of Liverpool fans who go to matches and talk intelligently about football who are being linked to these buffoons. Sure Villa have done nothing for years, except survive a 19th century chairman. While Liverpool were being given millions by their owners our owner was making a nice living from Aston Villa. Well things have changed and you had better get used to it. --- AND Evertonian is right - it is the big THREE!

Evertonian is right about some things but he is also a disgrace!

I should have read every contribution. Did you really say Chelsea are a bigger club than Liverpool? Get real! Chelsea are a small club with a very very rich owner. Villa, Man U, Man C, Spurs, Everton, Newcastle, Arsenal, Leeds and Liverpool are all bigger Clubs. But that means nowt if you've got a nice guy shovelling millions in as Liverpool had for years compared, with other Clubs.

If any team is going to challenge the top 4 it's going to be Spurs. Villa and Everton fans are once again eating LSD on toast

you clearly are delusional right? all you liverpool haters can go a stuff it. big three? well if thats teh case then you would have to say arsenal last year were not a big club then? or how about 5 european cups reaching the final 2 times in 3 years and narrowly missing it this year. your all a joke. u are dreaming if u think villa are going to usurp liverpool. title contention next year as soon as this board gets sorted out and another champions league trophy to our list i reckon. do you know what that is? oh yea its the best in europe. go play in your intertoto cup and let the big boys do battle. and who ever said uefa is the same level as champions league is clearly off his rocker. i dont really kno why im posting here u people are clueless. lastly, GB can do wat he wants if he wants to see the lights of a real competition in europe you guys shouldnt home him back. and gerrard didn't go to chelsea because, unlike villa, we have a real chance of competing for the title. peace

at least some people speak sense on this site !!

Ok not only should barry sign for liverpool but we will never be out of the top four. face it we will alway get better and better with signings at the same rate you will = stalemate. with the "Weak" squad we have now we finneshed 11 points behind man utd which is pretty good seeing as WE HAD A 2 MONTH SLUMP. so think about that. Dont even give me this crap about the England squad. A.players dont care about it hardly no more B.in the liverpool team he will be even more in there C.playing against and with the best players will make him better and thus england squad calls I cant believe your selfishness of trying to keep him either. you need to know your place. lets face it. A.you will NEVER qualify for champs football B.you wil get knocked out in the 3rd round cos u suck jus like everton did. C.We are getting better at the same rate you are. Arsenal are the team who will drop off. with players going and none looking to be coming that are good then try and catch them but to be serious you or everton etc can never catch us and if you do it will only be a 1 season wonder cos if any of us big 4 missed out we'd want it back. liverpool to sign malouda,barry,bentleydegan,abidal

Erm well out of the last 3 seasons we have finnished 3rd so theres that 1 and also the fact we were only a few points off over achieving arsenal this time round. If liverpool donthave a slump in form and convert draws into wins we will be high flyers. not to forget that if we had won just 4 out of out 200 drawn games then we would have won. like birminham at home and others. remember last year ars came forth on the last day and this year challenged the league so if we finnished 11 points behing just imagine what we can do with barry malouda and bentley + babel

The fact is you couldn't beat Birmingham, enough said. Wouldn't it be great for you if you got those players. I would also be great if you got Kaka and Ronaldo, dream on, you are not going to get any of them.

Sorry, but when you have the option of playing Champions League football at such a prestigious club like Liverpool, then you cannot turn it down. It just doesn't compare to the Intertoto Cup at Aston Villa.

Okay, look at it this way then all you Liverpool fans. The truth is, Liverpool's squad is as good as any of the other big 4 teams, but why are you the biggest underachiever of the lot? because of your management; it's a disaster! Villa have without a doubt the best manager chairman combination in the league, you can say Man U's is better, but look at how much turmoil the Malcolm Glazer fad brought to the club. Villa have made it from 16th-11th-6th in 3 seasons, now you can hypothesise that carrying on at the steady pace of 5 positions per season, Villa will win the prem next year. But that's not gonna happen, Villa have made steady progress with very little 'big money' signings, Liverpool have gone backwards with only big money signings; again due to your manager/chairman combo. In my honest opinion, all it will take is a few more signings for Villa, and they will overtake Liverpool.

DELUSIONAL VILLA FANS, YOUR MANAGEMENT TEAM IS ALL TALK, HOW MANY TOP CLASS PLAYERS HAVE YOU SIGNED ? HOW ABOUT ZERO, I PREDICT 10TH PLACE FINISH IN 08/09, YOU ARE THE 07/08 SPURS

villa just got lucky this year cuz tothnm and newcastle had a poor season

villa fans you dont care atall what barry wants and u are all selfish and want him all to urselves even if it means he's unhappy

don't care what barry wants? well, i'd rather he played and captained villa than bench warmed at liverpool. what would you want? and you don't need top class players to win, look at Real Madrid a few years back, signed the world and fell apart, or Barcelona now. anyway, Ashley Young made it into the best team of the prem.

well he will be starting because he can play in 4 positions - right and left wings - right and left defence so im sure he wont be sitting on the bench like crouch as were crying out for a winger of strength and quality. id rather have ryan babel and so would you for 5 million cheaper and id alo rather get stewert downing for a good 12 mil cos i cansee him actually realising the oppertunity inront of him. another point. ok maybe uve gradually got better but 6th is where it stops ok. eveton, pompey, blackburn have all done the same as you so shut up about it its boring. i dont think the fact that villa have english players mattrs to barry cos their all like 21 or w/e and i cant see them hanging out wit eachother so their jus faces to him. we could ge david silva for 14 mil!!! and u want 18 for old man barry!! its unbelievable that ur manager is soooo out of touch with reality. we could get proven winger quality who is 21 for 4 mil less than barry. carson and 5 mil is my offer and if you dont take it th ull be out of a keeper

James i don't know where you got the idea that barry can play right mid and right back. To my memory, he's never started there in his life! I can guarentee that within a couple of seasons, Liverpool will be overtaken by Villa, or Everton. Its just a matter of time. Liverpool fans think they are so great, but they will never win the league like they all think they will. The competition next season will be great: Spurs, Blackburn, Man City, Pompey as well as villa and everton - face it pool fans, next season you will be battling it with the like of us, a villa team led by gareth barry!

its not a comment i no villa need to tacke bary cuz u need crouch boo the villa

no matter what liverpool willl always be richer than u and the other wanabees so we'll always sign a torres etc. if DIC take over we'll have 3 billion to spend on just the club and they have stated they'll spend anything to get to the top so think about that. then the fact ur poor and will never have a torres etc. if we dont get barry then we'll get som1 else good like downing or silva no probs. and the fact no1 will ever want to go to ur club no matter how high u finnish so keep dreaming. we'll always have more support and money than u and also the fact you think barry is worth 18 mil clearly shows that u dont know anything about football.

and also eto might be going tott for 16 mil which makes u lot seem like a laughing stock cos u actually believe barry is worth 18. mmmmm? barry for 18 mil or eto for 16? which 1 to pick?

Okay, you've actually lost the plot man. Etoo is a Barcelona reject, Barry is the heart of Villa. The reason we are asking so much is because he is us, and don't just play to names, Etoo's rapidly gone downhill and right now, out of the two, Barry is playing the better football. And Liverpool will not always be richer than us, in the past they have not been, and what makes you think the world will love to play for you and Villa will never sign anyone of any talent? just look at Ashley Young, okay you bought Torres aswell, but Young's been just as much of a revelation as Torres has, the only real difference is that Torres is an out and out striker. And at the very end of the day, you can't state that Liverpool are better than Villa, as in Premier League history your highest ever finish is the same as ours, a royal 2nd. By the way, can you please type properly, it's hard to try and read what you're saying as all you type is mush.

Barry would not be left out of rotation at Liverpool. They need another offensive threat and someone to make Gerrard and Torres even better than they already are. Barry can provide that, he's already done so for Gerrard at the international level, doing what Lampard never could. Although Liverpool finished in 4th (they're actually better than Arsenal, in 4 games they drew 3 times and Liverpool bounced them from the CL in game 4, last year they finished above Arsenal. This season the Gunners simply overachieved, I wouldn't want to rely on that 2 years in a row if I were a pathetic Gunners fan.) the gap between Man U, and Chelsea is actually smaller than the 11 points behind that they finished. Liverpool had fewer losses than Man U, the problem was too many ties. Yes we lost twice to Man U. But that didn't doom our season. We never lost to Arsenal, and our only loss to Chelsea was in the CL second leg (and Riise's own goal prevented us from moving to the final). Too many draws against lesser teams prevented us from contending in the Premiership. If Aston Villa thinks that Barry will be the reason that they close the 16 point gap on 4th place next season, then surely he must be able to help Liverpool get another 8-11 points next season against those teams that we should be beating but are only drawing against. As for Rafa's rotation policy, you should notice that the end of the season saw him repeatedly sticking with the players that proved themselves over the season. Torres and Gerrard never sat, but they were fresh because Rafa rested them when he could afford to early in the season.

And Liverpool's best finish is not 2nd. They've won the top division more than any other team in history.

rafa wont leave barry on the bench,after putting up this much of a fight to get barry, villa fans should be fully respected for producing such a quality player,and liverpool fans do respect that,wern't for villa barry wouldn't be the player he is,villa made gareth barry one of the best midfielders in the britain, and when he moves to liverpool, villa would have then produced one of the best midfielders in europe even the world, villa should be honoured, but should respect the fact gareth barry wants to player champions league football against some of the worlds best players and alongside some of the worlds best players.

ashley young and torres theres to comparison.first season in england 33 goals.first player to ever to that how can you even compare him to torres

and if any team have a realistic chance of breaking the top 4.its everton.and they stil have a slim chance of doing that.so villa have no chance.