GB Staying?

SO Gareth Barry is staying for one more season.

Or is he?

Pardon me for being just a little sceptical but when I asked the manager about the issue yesterday morning he revealed no such promises from Barry and seemed to suggest the matter would remain up-in-the-air until midnight on Monday.

And yet today, there in black and white, is the promise of a season at Villa for Barry from his agent.

Alex Black, has released a statement saying: "Gareth made a decision to stay two weeks ago and informed Aston Villa of his intentions.

"During this time discussions have taken place to decide the best way forward for all parties.

"Any talks regarding a potential new contract and Aston Villa will not be taking place until the end of the season.

"Gareth wants to concentrate on playing to the best of his ability this season, we hope this draws a line under the matter."

So what does this mean?

Well, you can either take it at face value that despite Martin O'Neill saying that talks would take place about a whole manner of issues after the deadline closes that no such talks will now take place.

You can read it that Barry will assess his future in 12 months and may well sign a new deal at Villa Park then.

Or you can read it as a sort of ultimatum that Barry has no intention of signing and that he will try to buy out his contract using the Webster Ruling at the end of the season- a move that would cost him about £2.5million and would cost Villa about £15million on his current transfer value.

It has been a messy summer indeed for Barry.

But give him credit, he played in Iceland and his performance against Manchester City was superb.

He may not have had the best of games against Stoke City but who did? Fabio Capello got it totally wrong when he suggested the Liverpool saga had affected his performances. He obviously didn't see him against Odense.

The worry for me remains that the relationship between Barry and O'Neill is bound to have been eroded, as was commented upon by Graham Taylor recently.

And with the agent now saying contract talks are on hold until the end of the season I'm more than a little puzzled as to how that can work out.

Sunday's match promises to be ugly. Very ugly.