What will happen to poor old Gareth Barry?

So then the on/off saga of Gareth Barry's transfer from Aston Villa to Liverpool is finally over. Well maybe.

Martin O'Neill dug his heels in and the Aston Villa board backed him up. They set a deadline for Liverpool to meet their valuation of the player and when they failed to do so, they very publicly told the watching world that the player would now be staying at Villa Park.

Now the newspapers are arguing over whether this hard and fast deadline is all that it seems. They are all pretty much in agreement that within half an hour of the deadline passing, Liverpool had made an offer that was acceptable to Aston Villa. The only question is whether Villa will stick by their self-imposed deadline or whether they'll let it slide to ensure the deal goes through.

It has been one of the sagas of the summer and at 5PM last night it looked all over and manager Martin O'Neill has stated how happy he is that the player is staying. Still though there are those lingering doubts. I think that if nothing is sorted by the end of the week then I'd find it very difficult to see him turning up at Anfield any time soon.

This leaves presumably two options. One is to stay at Villa and be very resentful whilst the other involves going to Arsenal. The north London club have very quietly played the waiting game and are interested in pairing up the England midfielder with Spanish starlet Cesc Fabregas.

This would result in a top notch midfield pairing for the Arsenal and they have the money to make the deal. If I was a betting man then I'd say that sensationally he'll open the season as an Aston Villa player but it could easily go any of three ways.