Chelsea in £15m race for Barry
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Chelsea are planning a sensational £15million raid for Aston Villa and England star Gareth Barry.
Boss Avram Grant will be cleared to make an offer in the January transfer window after the Stamford Bridge scouting staff pushed Barry's claims. Barry's stock has never been higher after replacing Frank Lampard in the England side - and the fact that Chelsea are keen on him suggests that contract rebel Lampard may be leaving, probably for Spain.
Owner Roman Abramovich is willing to back Grant, basking in yesterday's 6-0 thrashing of Manchester City, in his spending although he is also plotting moves for Barcelona idol Ronaldinho and Milan play-maker Kaka.
Barry signed a new contract with Villa recently, but Chelsea's money will talk. The Villa star has formed an impressive understanding with Steven Gerrard in the heart of England's midfield.
While Lampard's Stamford Bridge future is in doubt, the move for Barry also poses questions about Steve Sidwell's place in the Chelsea squad.
Sidwell - or Shaun Wright-Phillips - may be offered to Villa during the upcoming negotiations. Villa manager Martin O'Neill has fancied both in the past. -
to replace lampard?coz he moving else where?..
but barry isn't a play maker of any sort... -
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Sidwell - or Shaun Wright-Phillips - may be offered to Villa during the upcoming negotiations. look like he choose the wrong club, that time Arsenal offer him he should take it, now he's like a ball being kick around. There's no future in Chelsea at all.
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Originally posted by T.Ryousuke:
x2
[b]Sidwell - or Shaun Wright-Phillips - may be offered to Villa during the upcoming negotiations. look like he choose the wrong club, that time Arsenal offer him he should take it, now he's like a ball being kick around. There's no future in Chelsea at all.[/b] -
*Villa warn Blues off Barry*
Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill has warned Chelsea off making a move for Gareth Barry.
Reports over the weekend claimed Chelsea were lining up a bid for the England international in the January transfer window.
O'Neill has rubbished the rumours and is determined to keep his captain at Villa Park.
Paper talk
"I don't think we would be welcoming it," O'Neill told The Times. "I don't know whether it's just paper talk and no one has contacted us about this at all.
"He's playing for England now and he's playing for England because of how he's played for Aston Villa. That's something we're quite pleased with.
"I assume he's making enough progress for clubs such as Chelsea to be alerted to him. But we're hoping to stave off those kind of things and the best way to do that is to make progress [as a club] ourselves.
"I would hope we're building a team not, not dismantling one." -
no!! Barry must stay at Villa. my fav Villa player.
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i'm confident he'll stay at villa...
he hasn't actually played as well as last season....seems a little too comfortable now passing the ball than going forward....