Martin O’Neill Sees The Matrix

I think Martin O’Neill might be a genius. It looked for all the world like Gareth Barry was leaving Aston Villa to go and play for Liverpool: Barry wanted to go, and Rafa Benitez wanted to sign him. And, as Peter Kenyon (of all people) pondered recently that almost always results in a transfer, no matter what the player’s contract says or what the current club’s wishes are.

But news today is that Gareth Barry is staying at Aston Villa. Why? Because Martin O’Neill sees the transfer market like Keanu Reeves sees The Matrix. Seriously.

Here’s the familiar looking equation:

Player wants move to bigger club + bigger club wants to sign player = player leaving club

Almost always.

The only way to change the inevitable outcome is to remove one of the factors. So O’Neill figured out a way to remove the “bigger club wants to sign player” part.

Here’s how:

Martin O’Neill didn’t say “we’re not selling Gareth Barry”, he just quoted Liverpool a price of £18 million and refused to settle for anything less. Liverpool tried everything – including part exchanges involcing Steve Finnan – except for actually bidding the requested £18 million.

The key to all this is that £18 million pricetag. If O’Neill had valued Barry at £100 million, that would just be silly. £18 million is still more than Gareth Barry’s worth, but it’s just on the border of realistic.

The way I see it, Liverpool’s refusal to meet the semi-realistic quoted price sends a message to Gareth Barry that they don’t really want him all that much, and removes the “bigger club wants to sign player” part. Brilliant.

Of course the transfer window is still open for a whole ‘nother month so anything could happen. And maybe if Liverpool had sold Xabi Alonso to Juventus they would have come up with the money. But as things stand, it looks like Martin O’Neill has played the game perfectly and gets to keep his captain.

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Category: English Premier League