Rafa Benitez is still pressing Liverpool's owners to approve his planned £18m purchase of Gareth Barry despite the insistence of George Gillett and Tom Hicks that the midfielder is overpriced.
Having sparked a public spat between Martin O'Neill and Benitez, the interminable saga has now taken a new direction to reveal precarious tensions within Anfield. Having specifically blamed Rick Parry for failing to secure Barry's signing in his press conference on Friday, Benitez has since bypassed the chief executive to plead directly with Gillett and Hicks to sanction the deal.
"I have the support of at least one of the owners. I sent e-mails to all of them, but he was clear we had the money," said Benitez on Saturday. "If the manager has an idea, and it is not a question of money, we have to make the right decision in terms of who we bring in. That has to be the decision of the manager."
The claim that one of the owners supports Benitez's attempts to sign Barry is likely to have been met with scepticism by Parry. It seems inconceivable that, having previously rebuffed Hicks' call for him to resign, Parry would have published a statement declaring that Liverpool's owners felt Barry's fee was "too high" unless it had been ratified by both Americans.
Nonetheless, Benitez is refusing to give up on signing Barry. As well as continuing to plead with Hicks and Gillett, Benitez is prepared to sell Xabi Alonso, as well as Jermaine Pennant and Andriy Voronin, in order to finance the purchase of the Aston Villa captain.
However, according to The Guardian, Liverpool are yet to receive a single firm offer for any of those players and 'even with success on that front, Benitez will need Hicks and Gillett to sign off an £18m deal that neither believes represents good value for the 27-year-old Villa captain. Without a U-turn from the Americans, and they are wary of another public spat with the popular Spaniard, or Villa reducing their valuation on a player who is now cup-tied for Europe until February, the damaging impasse will continue at Anfield.'
Having sparked a public spat between Martin O'Neill and Benitez, the interminable saga has now taken a new direction to reveal precarious tensions within Anfield. Having specifically blamed Rick Parry for failing to secure Barry's signing in his press conference on Friday, Benitez has since bypassed the chief executive to plead directly with Gillett and Hicks to sanction the deal.
"I have the support of at least one of the owners. I sent e-mails to all of them, but he was clear we had the money," said Benitez on Saturday. "If the manager has an idea, and it is not a question of money, we have to make the right decision in terms of who we bring in. That has to be the decision of the manager."
The claim that one of the owners supports Benitez's attempts to sign Barry is likely to have been met with scepticism by Parry. It seems inconceivable that, having previously rebuffed Hicks' call for him to resign, Parry would have published a statement declaring that Liverpool's owners felt Barry's fee was "too high" unless it had been ratified by both Americans.
Nonetheless, Benitez is refusing to give up on signing Barry. As well as continuing to plead with Hicks and Gillett, Benitez is prepared to sell Xabi Alonso, as well as Jermaine Pennant and Andriy Voronin, in order to finance the purchase of the Aston Villa captain.
However, according to The Guardian, Liverpool are yet to receive a single firm offer for any of those players and 'even with success on that front, Benitez will need Hicks and Gillett to sign off an £18m deal that neither believes represents good value for the 27-year-old Villa captain. Without a U-turn from the Americans, and they are wary of another public spat with the popular Spaniard, or Villa reducing their valuation on a player who is now cup-tied for Europe until February, the damaging impasse will continue at Anfield.'
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