Barry offered a 3-year deal

Good news despite what seems like a lot of money.

Barry has been a key member of this Everton team and it is down to Barry that we have not missed Gibson one bit.

He may not be the future but Barry plays the game with his brain, he never relied on pace even when younger.

Certain players such as Barry, in the past the likes of Gary McAllister and Teddy Sheringham can go on strong well into their 30's simply because they have that football brain and Barry's experience will remain vital for Ross Barkley on his learning curve.

I think that's about the right level of an offer - whether Barry thinks he can get more elsewhere is another matter of course. But if the lad is happy to stay at Goodison then fair enough. But that would mean that the McCarthy/Barry axis remaining for another couple of seasons and some won't like the idea of that of an itself, unless of course McCarthy can adapt his game slightly to push forward more often than he has been doing of late.

This is a reasonable strategic way to splash the (what) cash. Keeping the Barry/Macca axis for two more years at least might well be one of the more important moves for us this window. I laugh out loud on the match-forum and anywhere else for that matter when reading something along these lines: "I dunno what you lot see in him, he does nothing for me."

Yet again yesterday, the Barry/McCarthy axis bossed midfield, doing their job very nicely, thank you very much, moving the ball up to the final third to our 'flair' players who then....

Good news!!
Let's hope we can tie down Lukaku also.
He has been consistent all season, and has a great partnership with McCarthy.

If we can't get Barry then I'd quite like to have a crack at ki sung Yeung. He looks like a very complete central midfielder with lots of energy and excellent technique. At 25 he should have another decade at top level.

I like him Sam, but he's not going to break up play like Barry does so well.

Probably Barry's agent has let the story out & is fishing about to see if anyone makes a better offer.
Seems like a decent offer to me considering his age, no doubt though he will be able to get more elsewhere, the US for instance.

Who knows!

Like Patrick I think that's about the right level of offer, to replace him would cost us more up front in a transfer fee. I think only teams that would offer him more would be a QPR type club if they came up with old 'Arry doing his wheeling an dealing.

If Barry wants to join one of them good luck with the relegation battle next season but I hope he stays for football reasons.

Be happy if he stayed on for that money.

He's certainly the best defensive mid we've had in a while. We were paying Neville 50k / week and he was tripe, but Barry will do a good job for us in that position.

This is great news. Like others have said, Barry doesn't rely on pace but intelligence and experience. He's a super fit athlete who can give us another two good years at least. A player of his stature would cost us at least £16m so this is a good piece of business IMO.

I agree Raymondo... seems like a bit of a dangling.

Mental. 3 year deal for a player with virtually zero pace left already. Was very lucky to not be red carded yesterday. I will probably be in the minority but I couldn't care a less whether Barry commits to us or not.

Phil 411, that's true though in my mind McCarthy does a lot of breaking up the the play. I'd quite like to have another CM alongside him who can offer a touch more creativity whilst also covering the pitch well and controlling the middle of the park. I think possibly McCarthy and Yeung would be a more balanced pair. All pie in the sky of course.

Is there any basis for the rumour? I thought this was all to be addressed in the summer. If the information is based on any offer made in January, then it may no longer be valid. It all seems highly speculative to me.

Once again, this shows the difficulties in building a good squad when no money is made available. In an ideal world (or perhaps just in my head) you'd want Barry as competition for the holding midfielder role with McCarthy. You'd then have Gibson, Barkley or Osman for the other deep-lying spot.

Depending on how you shuffle it, a normal board would then splash out our transfer profits on either a top deep-lying creative mid, a top Number 10, or a second striker. Our board however won't do this which then leads you down the path of thinking whether it is imperative to keep Barry, or if that £8 million would be better diverted somewhere else.

It would be nice for once just to get him without worrying about the price and actually build some midfield competition so we could head into January and February one season without everyone being out of form and knackered.

Excellent shout from Sam regarding Ki Sung Yeung who I would have in anyway with or without GB. He's got a fair amount of grit as well as flair and would bring us something in a place where I still think we need something.

Just shows where the money goes; £8m on a "freebie". I have to smile reading on here "Where's the Fellaini, Anichebe etc money?" and "I'd have him for that much" as though the writer is managing the accounts. I'm sure Everton are operating on a tight budget so you can imagine the real cost paying those wages (£50k a week) as well as a big transfer fee. But an important point re Barry is that at least the money would be out there on the pitch and not on the bench every week, surely another consideration.

And James Martin; do you really think you can include Osman for much longer? I know he's a year or two younger than Barry in age but I don't think he has too much longer at this level, and by that I mean in a team trying to break into the top group of the EPL, not at the the likes of Fulham, West Brom etc. And it's not an Osman knock, same applied to Heitinga and Anichebe.

Yep I've watched Ki Sung Yung over the past year - has been Sunderland's standout player... always there to receive the outlet pass and keeps it simple, keeps the ball and also not afraid to have a shot from outside either. Would definitely suit Martinez system.

I'd be worried if it was a full three years, but two years with the extension based on whether he's still contributing regularly on the pitch makes sense.

Ideal situation is him making a positive contribution on and off the pitch in the next couple of years, and helping to bring through a couple of the younger defensive midfielders.

I agree with the posts on here regarding Ki. Let's get him in addition to trying to retain Barry. The one in and one out principle has killed our CL hopes when it was applied to the strikers in the January transfer window.

Those saying Barry might move (to the US for instance) for a few dollars more are forgetting he's got a young family, settled in the NW.

Yes, Defoe has gone to MLS (younger than Barry) but also Defoe has gone through as many "celebrity" girlfriends in UK as he can, so MLS offers a whole new scoring scene.

Some players aren't just driven by money, which given the paupers budget we operate on, is a bloody good job.

Another advantage of Ki is that he'll give us exposure to the Korean market for sponsorship and marketing deals which could be worth a few bob.

Yes Eric #468, in the same way we really exploited the Asia market with Keijan and Thai Bev deals? Or exploited the Australian market when we had Cahill (was only 8 years, these things take time). USA market with Donovan/Howard etc.

I'm not having a go at you, I just have no confidence that EFC has the wherewithal to go about this. Other clubs have marketing agents in Asia on their behalf. Chelsea even have a registered office in Singapore now (despite their main sponsor being Korean).

When I lived in Asia every bit of marketing activity I saw featuring our club was done by Thai Beverage, using their image rights component. In the USA all of the branding (taxi-cabs, subway carriages) was done by MSNBC to promote their TV coverage of all 380 games.

I'm not saying EFC's commercial arm don't have the skills, I just think the club view it as diminishing returns to scale and won't provide any budget (even though most clubs appoint marketing agents on a commission basis, and so in fact pay nothing).

Yes, we were discussing Ki a few weeks ago. Big, intelligent, talented lad who seldom makes a mistake. Sunderland wanted to buy him but Swansea didn't want tio sell.

Barry is doing a great job but three years might be stretching it a bit. That said, young players need one or two old heads to steady the ship and we don't have another genuine left sided DM in the squad. OK, his pace is nothing to brag about but I've noticed that, while team-mates are thinking of closing down, he is already halfway there.

Looking at the way Lampard, Ferdinhand, Vidic, Cole and Osman have all suddenly slowed to a crawl, the age factor has to be seriously considered. Sometimes there is no warning. Their legs seem to go overnight. Martinez and BK will have to decide if the risk is worth taking.

If this is true, you'd have to say it's pretty incredible value in the current transfer market and in light of his current wages (£150k p/week?). Players wages tend to increase throughout their career and £50k a week, though insane in the real world, is comparatively cheap in the Premier League.

I don't think that would make him our top earner, Fellaini was on more and I'm putting Baines, Jagielka, Pienaar on higher levels, with Mirallas, Distin, Howard and one or two others on similar levels.

Barry is a genuinely impactful player, capable of changing a game whilst maintaining a pretty consistent level of performance – he's exactly what you want in central midfield, taking off pressure and adding a real calmness and composure that allows Martinez's possession game to flow.

I don't even worry about his age, his position relies on awareness and experience rather than pace and he seems in relatively good nick (albeit not as evergreen as Distin – how does that guy keep going?)

Put the pen in his hand on the pre-contract deal now, take one question away from summer transfer work (that will be fraught anyway due to the World Cup) and give the club a little extra boost ahead of our FA Cup Quarter-final match, which I'd argue is the most important game of our season.

Not every player relies on pace and not every player is rendered useless once they reach their mid-30s.

As I say, Gary McAllister and Teddy Sheringham are just two examples of players like Barry who thrived on having a football brain.

It's players who were lightening fast in their younger years such as Micheal Owen who are past it once their main attribute declines.

Seems to be mixed comments reference this deal, I believe it is similar to a certain player who was deemed too old for us in 1987 and we went on to win the league, a certain Paul Power.

You don't need pace all the time as we are not a kick and rush team but you do need experience and a good footballing head which Barry has both.

Also the effect he is having on Ross and McCarthy is invaluable

Three years seems to be a long time but, in terms of experience and development this is a great deal.

I still think he's got a couple of years at the top left in him from what I've seen this season and I suspect he'd jump at a three-year contract given his age etc, plus by all accounts he seems to really enjoy playing for RM and Everton.

I was at Goodison on Friday looking at seats for next season and the bloke showing us around said GB had just purchased the end exec box towards Park End, you could see pictures of said gent on the wall, resplendent in blue.

GB would be better value than Pienaar currently is and we have to pay him 40plus grand a week for two more years! Now that is a waste of money

John Moore. Hmm. Your post suggests a done deal.

I completely agree with you Matt #469, I've been saying for years our commercial department needs an overhaul but the more opportunities that are presented to them the more chance they have if getting one right.

Eric #779, they've got to at least make the effort to get there. I was working with an agent on a couple of EPL clubs shirt sponsorship deals, and some of the Asian companies had cash to spend on branding, having finally come round to realising what branding means, and were looking at quick wins.

Believe it or not, sponsoring a Premier League football club is a great way to get a good ROMI (Return on Marketing Investment) for next to no effort. You can present the stats which are diligently prepared by a company on behalf of most EPL clubs (we're not a client I believe) which basically shows $ value in marketing exposure based on live matches, broken down by region / country etc.

Of course they all want Man Utd, and so we said fair enough, pony up £20m+ a year and you can talk to them. (It was a while ago). Then we pointed out there were other "tiers" of sponsorship at big clubs (they'll create one for you as long as your competitor isn't already in with them), or they could look at a "smaller" club in Prem which could offer better value.

Some of these companies are "blind" as to the sponsorship game, and might look at a 2-3 year sponsorship of a smaller club as a way into the game to learn the ropes. Then as a club you either foster that relationship, and try to turn it into a long-term, increasing in value deal, or you just take the money and wait for the next one.

Like everything else in and around football, it's now become a quite cut-throat business – the sheer values involved has meant bigger and bigger players have come into the game.

All of which nonsense doesn't alter my belief is we're piss poor in overseas sponsorship. The average fan may not give a crap, but when you have a stadium that limits matchday revenue, you need every drop of commercial revenue you can.