O'Neill shocked by Barry offer

Martin O'Neill has admitted he is not impressed with Liverpool's £10 million valuation of star midfielder Gareth Barry. The Aston Villa midfielder is reportedly the top target of Rafa Benitez this summer.

However, Martin O'Neill wants Barry to dedicate his future to the Villains and help the club build a brighter future surrounding him.

Fellow Villa player Patrik Berger had called on his team mate to join Liverpool, telling him it was an opportunity that was too good to miss.

When asked if he felt the £10 million offer undervalued Barry, O'Neill said: "Absolutely, without question. This lad is playing for England. I have to say that the way the whole thing was mentioned, it was hardly worth answering. I will be speaking to Randy and we will have real proper talks about it next week.

"He thinks a lot of Gareth, although the last thing you want to do is to be running around giving people guarantees.

"Gareth has got two years left of his contract to run and he has not shown to me that he is unhappy at the football club.

"Liverpool's offer would be like me bidding £20m for Lionel Messi. Barcelona would no doubt say: 'So what? That's not saying that Messi would want to come anyway.'

"The disappointing thing for me is that this whole thing is being conducted in the open.

"This has been conducted outside the way that we would normally be conducting business."