Football Gossip

Paul Ince the new Blackburn manager has confirmed his desire for David Bentley to remain at Blackburn this season.

Bentley has continually linked with big money transfer away from Blackburn, in order to continue to improve his footballing career this summer but Ince is set on retaining the midfielder.

Although there has been no official approach by any club Liverpool, Tottenham and Aston Villa are the most likely suitors.

It was discovered in Thursday’s press that the former MK Dons manager held talks with the want-a-way midfielder restating his claim to keep the England international.

In an interview Ince said:

“We are going to have to deal with a lot of speculation but I want David here next season.

”I’m looking forward to seeing him for pre-season training.”

“We are obviously going to have to deal with a lot of speculation.

“But as far as I’m concerned, I want David here next season and I’m looking forward to seeing him on 7th July for pre-season training.”

Current estimations value the player at £15million, however, with Ince unwilling to sell his best players a transfer remains unlikely.

David Bentley’s superb finish against Salzburg:

Aston Villa have rejected another bid for the England midfielder Gareth Barry. It is believed that Liverpool have had a £16million deal turned down, insisting that the player is worth £18million.

This transfer saga is has taken this prolonged course as both managers are budging sparingly.

An Aston Villa club statement read,
“The report in today’s paper of a £17 million offer for Gareth Barry is inaccurate,”

“The club have received a renewed offer from Liverpool for the player but that still falls well short of Aston Villa’s evaluation, and has subsequently been rejected.”

In the meantime Barry has been disciplined by Villa having criticised manager Martin O’Neill and pleaded for a move to Anfield.

Rafa Benitez is irritated by Aston Villa’s high valuation of the player which is the only barrier preventing the transfer of the player but is happy to bide his time as there seems to be no other competition for the midfielder’s signature.

Barry has had a great season for Aston Villa and England. Due to his great England contributions he is viewed as a future partner for Steven Gerrad in the middle of the park. These impressive performances have clearly caught the eye of Rafa Benitez ready to find replacement for the outgoing Alonso.

Gareth Barry in action:

The Aston Villa striker Marlon Harewood will stay at Aston Villa despite interest from several clubs.

The player has attracted the attention from other clubs as Harewood was peripheral to the team last season with all except one of his appearances were from the bench.

Phil Sproson Harewood’s agent will not follow up any interest in the player from other top flight clubs including Fulham, Stoke City and Rangers.

Sproson told the BBC that:

“If Marlon ever became available then I’m sure he’d probably link up with one of them,”

“He’s going nowhere at the moment but, when the time is right, and it might be this time next year, then there’s going to be four or five clubs who’d be in.”

Harewoods disappointing season can be revealed from the statistics. He only started one Premier League game for Aston Villa in his first season after joining from West Ham.

However, he is seen as a super sub coming on as a substitute on 22 occasions and scoring five goals.

Sproson says his client understands it is hard to break up the 24-goal strike force of John Carew and Gabriel Agbonlahor.

“He’s at a top eight club in the country and that comes with its own price really, and he recognises that,” said the former Port Vale and Birmingham City defender.

“There’ll be plenty of interest for Marlon Harewood when the time’s right for him to move, and maybe it’s not quite right at the moment for Villa.”

It seems that Harewood is content at staying at Aston Villa for now and try to break into the first team. If, however this endeavour is fruitless than a transfer will be inevitable as Harewood will become increasingly frustrated at the lack of starting opportunities.

Harewood’s goals for West Ham