Gareth Barry would be a very good player for us - not on par with Mascherano, Torres, Gerrard, but every signing we make won't be. I doubt Mr Barry will be our transfer heights.

Yes if he replaces some of the less talented squad members, but again, the point being made or the question being posed - is Gareth Barry the level of player Rafa needs to sign in order to compete for top position in the league? Or does he need players at the level of Messi, Kaka or Ronaldhino in order to realistically be a contender for number one spot?

Nobody needs the likes of Messi, Kaka or Ronaldinho to realistically be a contender. Those are, have been or will be the very best players in the world, and are extremely few and far between.

United will win the league with the likes of Wes Brown and Michael Carrick as regular feature's to their first side, and none of which are 'amazing'. But they're more than competent, as they are effective. They ain't individual stars but they fit in very well.

What we do need is another match-winner, in my opinion - which would come on the left-wing (given that i'd move Babel to the right). Also we need Babel to come on next season and become more of a match-winner in himself - we've seen his capacity to do it but he's still some way off his full potential. Then we need to strengthen our defence at either full-back and replace any squad players who want to leave (Crouch specifically).

If Barry was our big signing this summer i'd probably have an issue, but i doubt he will be (even if we don't spend more on another play i'd expect us to find a bigger player perhaps in the cheap, such as Mancini or Rodriguez).

What you have to remember is Rafa can't sign his players in order of best to worst - he has to do what he can when he can. Barry may not be the 'gap-bridger', but why does he have to be?

This is the level of player that Chelsea are considering and if Liverpool are to be considered as realistic contenders to win the EPL then surely they will also need world class players in their squad.

Sure. But i was just mentioning that the ones you noted were, especially Messi and Kaka, individuals that are pretty unique (ability-wise), hence unattainable - they are the best players in the world. We don't need the best, even if we need world class players.

I think one more world class player would see us run the eventual leaders close, maybe a la Arsenal (as in points, rather than leading the league for months). I don't think we'll win the league next year but adequate additions should see us move much closer to the other three - i don't think we're that far off anyway, and we should be more stable next year.

Anyway, the ultimate point is that Barry is yes not good enough if he's to be one of our best first-team players, but he's good enough to be in our first-team definitely.

Personally i think we need a world class winger and two very good full-backs before we can challenge. If Barry was bought as that winger, we'd have a problem, but if he isn't, then we don't.

exactly barry will add good depth and is certainly better than are current options...of course thats if we sign him

I think someone like Hleb or similar would compliment Torres very well.

I don't really want Barry. I certainly don't want him to be part of a swap for Crouch + money, because Crouch should be worth more than him.

I don't want him, because he's too expensive, i can't see him wanting/doing amazingly well at left back, and i don't want him replacing Alonso in midfied. At left back we could sign someone twice as good, for half the price; namely Abidal.

We have 3 good left backs, and the very talented young Insua, so it's not like we need him for cover there. We also have 5 good midfielders who are capable of playing in the centre of midfield. Add to that Bentley or Silva if we sign them. We don't need Barry for the first team, or for cover.

Waste of money if you ask me.

Agree Sticky, he'll be sh!t at leftback. Like people see good goals and attacking play from Matt Taylor and think wow he would be a good leftback because he can attack like that too but it is retarded cos it never works like that. Even on the left his game is severely limited, to get the best out of him you need to play him in the center of midfield but Liverpool wont do that because they have so much real quality there and theyll play him in positions like leftback and leftwing, and then we'll get back to my original point of he will fail to impress in those positions and will move to West Ham in a season or two.



You can reword it all you like, Wenger will not sign Gareth Barry and i very much doubt hes even thinking about it. What youve read is media bullsh!t IMVHO ofcourse.



Cos he seems to be your number one target, Villa knowing the situation seeing as they dont need to sell him and your club has lots of money will hold out for over the odds money like 12mill and that will be a lot of your transfer budget spunked in one go. You think with the uncertainty and strife at ownership level at the moment anyones gonna give Benitez oodles of cash to spend?

The fact that Liverpool are already trying to get this sorted now says to me this is the del they want done most of all, their main target for the summer....

if gareth barry is Liverpool's main transfer target then i am their second target....



i guarntee Liverpool stregthen with bigger names than barry

PLEASSSSSSSSE RAFA SIGN QUARESMA

If their iwnership gets sorted any time soon then maybe, but whos gonna authorise 20mill on a player when they dont even know who will be in charge at the start of the season?

i know what your saying but i am confident that a solution will be reached at Liverpool in order to aide rafa in trying to catch the "big three"....

An ideal summer would be....hicks selling up and rafa siging barry/ emanuelson/ silva /QUARESMA....

If carlsberg did posts , this would probaly be the best post in the world

Maybe Alonso is leaving? Ever think about that one? And frankly, the way Alonso's been playing over the past season or so it's difficult to argue that Barry would be a step down - he's perhaps more suited to a title challenge.



In January when Hicks and Gillett acquired the refinancing deal they earned a hefty sum of money to set the building of the stadium underway - but Hicks also said that part of the loan was set aside for future transfer signings (equating to, if i remember correctly, around £40-£50m, albeit not all would be spent in the summer obviously). Whether Hicks is true to his word i don't know, but if he has any intentions of staying at Liverpool's helm then he'll be bent on backing Rafa in the summer to win the fans over. If there is money set aside then we shouldn't have any problems of 'who does Rafa go to for money'.



You're totally speculating here. Last season we got Voronin signed in about February on a free, and then Lucas for about £6m-£8m around May - both before Fernando Torres signed in July. You do what you can do when you can do it, not in order of importance.

But then again if Alonso were to leave, then perhaps you could say this is the most important deal - not because he'd be our biggest signing but because there'd be a gaping hole if Alonso wasn't replaced.