Three-year deal for Barry

£11 million quid overall. I think he has been a fabulous signing and a proven part of the jigsaw. Worth it I would say

Agreed. He’s a known quantity and clearly works well with McCarthy plus, if he’s still around in 3 years, he’s passing on his knowledge and experience to Ledson who could be virtually a first team regular by then!.

If true (and it is probably not) why would we have agreed a £2 million clause when everyone knows he will be out or contract at the end of the season? It’s presumably not first option because he could speak to clubs abroad as part of the Bosman ruling.

I think it’s the case of transfer deadline day syndrome and Man City got the best deal.

All a bit weird that we have to pay an extra £2 million. But at the end of the day if we were signing him for £2 million that would be good business and the salary amount fits our pay scale – so if true this would be excellent news.

I presume City would not have let him come on loan to us last season without this £2mil stipulation. If that is the case, so be it! I (along with many others) was proved wrong and he was a great signing last season and we’d have been significantly poorer without him. He’s got a few years left in him, and, as previously stated, he’ll be a good influence on our emerging youngsters i.e. Ledson and Lundstram.

Seems like a lot of money but if he keeps himself fit, like Distin, then it will probably turn out to be a bargain.

Gareth Barry is 33 — show me any club in the Premier League giving a 3-year deal to a 33-year-old.

Barry was great last season but is slow; we should be building for the future. If he is slow though at 33, imagine him at 36. This would be the first major mistake under Martinez. £11M could be spent better on possibly Rodwell who would have some sell-on value.

Seems like a lot of money but in reality in this day and age, it’s buttons compared to the cash other clubs splash around.

Barry probably has at least two good years left in him, maybe more; midfielder’s such as Barry never relied on pace anyway – I refer to the likes of Pirlo, Scholes, Zola, McAllister.

Barry is a disciplined football brain and can only be a positive impact on our young lads such ad Barkley.

Let’s just get it done and sign him up full time. The first of many signings hopefully this summer.

I like Barry; I thought he was one of our best players last season. But a 3-year contract for a player who turns 34 in February next is a big gamble.

He will be on at least £50,000 a week that’s £7.8 Million in wages over 3 years – while we should get another quality season out of him next year, what about the 2 years after that?

Football changes so much over a season... it would be better giving him two years with an option.

I just think that it is too long, look at some of the other older players – Neville springs to mind,... he was mega money for being a voice in the dressing room!

Naaa, I think there are better options about and would not put all our eggs in one basket.

"So, Roberto, £2m plus £3m pa for 3 years, that’s £11m of your £20m transfer pot gone"

"But Bill......"

It seems a strange agreement, the one we had with City, if true about the £2m, that is. I can only guess that this would have been all or part of the loan fee for last season. That would mean City last summer saying "we will probably lose him on a free anyway, but if YOU sign him when his contract is up, we get £2m". Perhaps the club wasn’t expecting the impact that he made, but still, if there’s a crap deal to be had, guaranteed it will be Everton who signs it.

Maybe the £2mil is something to do with off-setting his drop in salary (even for just the loan period)? Either way, I think it is a good move (if true).

I’d guess that we didn’t pay a loan fee last season so this was part of the deal if we were to sign him; no biggie.

£2m is a bargain these days. Especially for him.... If Gibson wasn’t hurt so much, I’m sure he’d have been even more impactful given the rest he clearly lacked. 3 years is a bit too much but that may be what is needed to secure his signature.

Wolves are at the doorstep...

His contract is now over with Man City. How can we possibly pay them £2M for a player who doesn’t belong to them?

It makes no sense.

I don’t understand neither, Phil. How can a contract which involves a fee for his services (registration) be both separate, and last longer than his original employment contract with Man City?? Whatever Everton signed surely wouldn’t hold up in court now? He is a free agent!

Tha’s fitba for ye!

Read the previous posts Phil and you will see how it could make sense.

City let us have him on loan last season on the condition that if we sign him permanently then we pay them £2m. Without that agreement, they refuse to let us have him on loan.

We are all agreed that it was a successful loan and so now we have to pay the £2m previously agreed to make the move permanent. That makes sense to me, and I’d happily pay £2mil for him.

£60k is probably about right for such a proven player. I would have preferred £50k and a 2-year deal but, at the end of the day, he was one of the best midfielders (stats-wise at least) in the Premier League last season and a rock in the middle for us.

His intelligence and touch are unlikely to decline over the next few years and those assets are what make him so valuable to us. Get him in.

I have to say, I cannot see any circumstance when a club can demand £2m for a player that is no longer theirs.

Any chance we conned Chelsea into a similar deal for Rom?

If he is part of a rotating squad, yes. He has been essential to everything we have done this season... but at 34 next year and the talk of £11 million, I’m not sure the 3-year deal makes total sense. Towards the end of the season, he tired in games, like Arsenal in the cup (giving away the penalty due to tired legs) and Southampton away.

His positional sense and the way he makes the likes of Baines, Coleman and McCarthy play has been invaluable but I just wonder if we could get a younger player in with the legs to match his tactical nous.

I think the £2m is the loan fee that we never paid last season. City waived the fee unless he signed for us permanently.

Anyway, this is peanuts for a player who has played about 6 thousand Premier League games. This is our most important signing this summer. I will be very happy with this if it happens.

I reckon Stones could do that job just as well. Fits in with 3 at the back. He is a ball-playing centre-back with pace and swagger. With Bryan Oviedo to return and also Gibson, we do have options.

Priorities are centre-mid and centre-forward. I think Deulofeu could well come back for another season of development after the World Cup.

Did City pay some of his wages last season? I’m guessing if they did they will have said we will pay half his wages provided that if he signs permanently for you give us £2 million of the money back. That would make sense to me anyway.

I say pay it anyway, there is budget for the wages from normal turnover, we have extra TV money so this deal shouldn’t eat into the transfer budget... eh Bill...?

Not so sure about a 3-year deal; I thought he faded towards the end of the season, especially in the game against Southampton when he looked like he had been on the ale the night before. He is important to the way we play so it has to be made permanent!

Maybe the legs thing can be sorted with the return of Darren Gibson, great player on his day, as we know, and maybe between them they can both give us 25 solid games this season. (McCarthy never needs a rest – he is still running around Goodison Park as we speak.)

Now we need to get the striker situation sorted!

Aside from the £2m, I personally think that the 3-year, £3m pa deal is too much for a player his age. We would only be offering 3 years to get an edge over the other teams that certainly won’t offer that. If Barry hasn’t enjoyed his time enough at Everton to sign a 1- or 2-year deal, then move on.

Will he be the player we had last season in 2 seasons time? Maybe... maybe not, but £60k a week is quite a gamble on that.

Also, with Barry and McCarthy in the centre, we are left with nothing creatively in the centre, when things aren’t firing for Mirallas, Barkley and Co further forward. I’d like to see us get a player who will add a bit more flair to the steel alongside McCarthy. Benega would fit that bill, as I’m sure would many other players out there.

Perhaps we got his services for next to nothing last season on the understanding we would pay £2M if we signed him permanently.

The wonders of the convoluted deals BK does are beyond comprehension!

Some players are just better playing for you than against.Barry is one example, for me. I accept that he is not a prospect, but his sheer understanding & experience is of value, until we have a mid-20s player to shove him back on the bench.

His is a pivotal role in our side, so all considered, I say get the bugger signed.

Gibbo? Well he might be finally mended, but something inside won’t let me fully believe that, unless he racks up 30-plus games next season. So, until that’s the case, get Gareth signed up.

Meantime, get the scouts searching for the dude to replace both Darron & Gareth, twice over. This doesn’t mean that I want us to overlook priorities in other areas.......just don’t miss an open goal.

He might start losing his pace.

That’s a silly deal. Yes, he was important for us but, if we buy more players, with another centre mid a priority, he won’t play every game, so that amount of money for a rotation player who is 33 is crazy.

And why pay £2M? Just wait until his contract expires. Iif he decides to go elsewhere on a free then so be it!!!

"Sign here, please, Mr Barry"

The £2m is clearly something that was written into the loan deal that we signed with City. Him being a free agent now is irrelevant as we clearly agreed to pay £2m if he was to join us at the end of his loan. Not sure why we would have agreed to that clause but undoubtedly having him last season was worth it....

Seems expensive but we’re getting (would get) a proven quality player with vast experience who already knows the club. You’re never going to find those three attributes for £2m elsewhere. You can count on one hand the number of top 4 level players we have, we need to boost this number and Barry would do that. Three years seems the dodgy bit but at least we should be guaranteed two decent years, if not the three.

The wages don’t really come into it as we’d have to pay them to someone either way, given we need to get another decent CDM in.

If true, sign him up and that’s one position less to worry about before the World Cup kicks in.....

I think that’s a good deal that unless Arsenal come in and give him £90k a week. Come on, Barry lad — sign for the Blues!

Great deal if it is true. We have to offer a 3-year deal, because he wouldn’t sign a 1- or 2-year deal, with so many other clubs supposedly interested in him. Even if he does lose his legs, he can still be a squad member for the Champions League assault in his third year!!

Maybe this is all part of Robert’s forward planning. We should get at least two more good seasons out of him, which would pave the way nicely for young Ledson to come into the team. With Barry as a mentor, it makes sense... just a thought.

It could just be a typical balls up by our Chaos Dept but I guess we probably agreed to it in return for City paying the bulk of his wages all season – so, if he didn’t impress, we got him at a knock down wage; but, if he had a great season (which he did), there was some kind of refund.

He is out of contract so all still down to Barry. And other clubs don’t get the £2m penalty so who knows where this will end?

Greg O’Keefe says the reports are wide of the mark and that Barry hasn’t made his mind up yet where to go.....

Paul (499)

Yer sound like ’Oor Wullie’.

Now, awa with ye afore I fetches PC Murdoch!

Christ, it’s not difficult... it must clearly be a deferred payment.

You can have him on loan for free if you pay his wages and we will waive the loan fee... unless you buy him and then you pay us the fee.

Everyone’s a winner, if we don’t buy him we don’t pay, if we do we are only paying what we would have paid to get him on loan the season before anyway.

Tony, I agree; it is a very simple issue when you explain it as well as you have.

I think most people’s problem with it is that today, 4 June 2014, Barry is a free agent and City don’t come into it if Everton were to approach him.

There must obviously be some legal document which they could produce should such an approach be made.

I think the figures mentioned are a bit too much for a 33.5-year-old.

Two-year contract or reduced wages and I’d be on board. Or at least a reducing wage in the second/third year.

I don’t give much thought to contract details nor transfer fees as long as the player makes a meaningful contribution during his tenure.

Barry exceeded my expectations last season and if he can maintain that for another season or two then that satisfies me.

Personally I think his form warranted a recall to the England squad ahead of certain other players.

A midfield of Gibson, Barry and McCarthy, starts the next season off to a very good start, far better than last, when Everton had none of these in the first 3 games.

Yeh, but Steavey - we did have Fellaini, & we all know what a big miss he’s been for us since he left for ... where did he go again?

If this deal goes through, it seems a little steep & I’d hope the third year is just an option – but if Martinez is happy with it I’ll trust his judgement, that’s what he’s there for.

I do not care about the £2M fee and the wages... but it should be a 2-year – not a 3-year deal. Barry’s game may not be based around speed but rather positioning, awareness and passing... but he will nonetheless drop off with age.

We will not get a player of anywhere near his quality for these numbers. It’s criminal that he’s not in the England squad ahead of Fat Frank and the 3 years on the contract will probably see an overlap with his replacement, as with Osman and Barkley.

Could easily see him joining the likes of Villa and Lampard at the newly formed NYCFC - apparently it’s a joint venture between Man City and the Yankees, so I imagine he would be well informed if there is any interest in his services.

Lampard is 35 and has 16 clubs interested in him.

Who’s to say the newspapers are correct in what they are saying? They often get it wrong.

I have no doubt in my mind Barry won’t be signing for us. If he was going to, I think a deal would have been sorted by now. We’ve had 6 months to sort it out. He’s on £120,000 a week at Man City and now we’re expecting him to take a 50% cut to sign for us when teams like Arsenal and Tottenham can offer him more money to play at the same level, or he could even go abroad and earn more.

There may’ve been a deal that if we signed him while he was on loan to us, we would have to pay a £2m fee. But on July 1st Gareth Barry will be a free agent, and City will have no binding deal with him or any clubs that sign him. Under the Bosman ruling, City cannot ask for a fee for a player who isn’t contracted to them any more, even if they have a clause in his contract.

I have no problem with a 3-year deal for him. I could see him playing for another 4-5 years as he’s in great shape and he has adjusted his game due to his lack of pace.

I want to agree with Sue (534) but I suspect Barry will have many offers of employment, including NYC. Great if Roberto can encourage him to stay.

If Barry stays with us for 3 years, he can help with the transition, as Sue points out, plus I think it would help towards a coaching career which would keep him in football for a long, long time.

55 posts on a possible deal. I’m starting to understand why you more experienced fans call it the "silly season".

Barry’s was a rock for us last season, I think its a must deal if its true.
He will be able to play to a very high standard for another 3 years, no problem.

I had him down as leaving, but I’ll be happy to be proved wrong if it does happen.

Mike Childs - "I’m starting to understand why you more experienced fans call it the "silly season".

Regarding potential signings?

Absolutely - no point in whipping yourself into a lather over newspaper talk in the summer (or anytime come to that).

Every summer newspapers fling all kinds of shite around in the hope of selling their rags and more than 99.9% of it is completely invented bollocks.

Anyone MIGHT join us, anyone COULD join us.

I’ll get interested in players WHEN they join us.

Hear,hear,

A newspaper links a club with 20 or 30 players.

Gets 1 right and it’s "As we exclusively told you on June 16th"

No mention of the 29 they got wrong

I hope this isn’t true. Who the hell is doing our negotiating? Why on earth would you pay a transfer fee for an out of contract player?

Barry is a decent player but not worth that kind of money. He is already too slow and it cost us dearly a couple of times. His idiotic challenge to give the penalty away in the FA Cup was due to a lack of pace. We should be looking to invest wisely on young players not 33 year olds!

Even with the Barry signing, Everton still need another 5 players to have a really good season: 2 more wide players; 2 proven goal scorers and another attacking midfield player like Barkley. Ideally, they don’t come on loan; but if some have to, to add more quality to the squad, so be it.

A total outlay of 11 million for a 33 year old... no thanks.

Great player.

Give him a year at 60k, one at 50 ,and one at 40 - he gets to stay in the north west and probably gets a better contract overall than he would by signing 2 years at £60k and signing for someone else as a 36 year old.

Also can play at centre half especially in a 3 if his legs go.. Get it signed!

Not sure why people are bothered how much we’re paying. He is a vital player for us. I think we signed Distin when he was about 31 for £5m. What a signing he is. Barry is quality - it’s not like he has any pace to lose anyway!

Great news, worth every penny, great influence on all around him, the deal's a no-brainer. Players like Barry improve players around them, he's a footballers footballer.

Sign him up! The best midfielder we've had for donkey's years. It would be a massive blow not to have him next season. A great example for Ross and Jimmy Mac.

Everyone saying we should not sign him obviously has a short memory.

Man City beat us both times due to the absence of Barry. Poor defence is what let us down a lot last year and I wouldn't want to think about what would have happened if we didn't sign Barry. Barry and McCarthy built a partnership that, when disrupted, provided more losses than anything else.

SIGN HIM UP ASAP!!!

The most pertinent question has to be could you gamble that £11 million on someone else and come up trumps?

My feeling is that Gareth Barry isn't necessarily irreplaceable, but I am struggling to come up with a undeniably suitable alternative off the top of my head. That may be simply because I don't have the personal resources to check out all of the central midfielders who may be available for signing. It is also important to consider the value of his experience and temperament because those factors may be harder to replace than his technical and physical abilities.

Another question is whether £11 million is a reasonable (in Premier League terms) amount to spend on a player who could easily / is likely to go from first-team regular to reliable squad member within the postulated three years. If, on balance, it is... then there is no problem; but, if it eliminates the chance of bringing in a 23- / 24-year-old on £30-40k a week who could be adequately effective from day one and blossom into a star in six months, then I would view it as a conservative choice.

I think the security of a three-year deal is what would be required to turn his head away from larger offers elsewhere especially if his family is indeed settled in the North West, but I think it effectively rules out selling him sometime in the future. (If he really fancied the US at all, I think he may as well take it now.) Of course, if he fancies a coaching role (and is any good at it), then the third year could effectively become a valuable player/coach role with a good chance of retaining someone who could benefit the club for years to come.

As things stand, I would trust the manager not to be frivolous with his funds and to not be expecting to get 40 top drawer performances a season over the three years and so, if there is any truth to the rumoured details of the deal, then there has to be a potential longer-term gain for the club.

On the subject of the rumoured £2 million signing on fee, could it not be similar to the deals that give clubs a percentage of future transfer deals in which the selling club effectively takes less money in the short-term to gamble on a pay-off in the longer term.

Could Man City not have offered to waive the loan fee for any club who wanted to sign him on loan on the proviso that if he subsequently signed for them the fee would become payable? That would be a agreement between the clubs (as is the taking of a percentage of future transfer) and not an infringement of his personal right to sign for whoever he chooses when he becomes a free agent. If so I don't see how anyone could criticize either club as the only club who really risks losing out monetarily is City.

A bit like a lend/lease deal on a car?

To all the posters worrying that £11 million is too much.
Not that the money side if things should concern anyone.

What would be an acceptable amount of money to keep Barry at the club?

My opinion is if it's a good enough deal for Roberto it's a good enough deal for me.

Si Cooper,

That's a good point.. Was a loan fee initially involved? I don't recall mention of one.

Very effective playing the role that Roberto set for him. Just in front of the centre backs on defence, and initializing the offence from the back.

We're a better side with him than we are without him. He's 33... granted. But a fitter 33, you'd be hard pressed to find.

A £2m clause into the champions of loan-to-perm moves seems very sensible on City's behalf... it also makes sense for us so Barry wasn't looking about for the latter part of the season. We've had the benefit of trying before buying and run up more miles on him and City subsidised his salary – I can't really understand why anyone would think this was bad.

By (sorry, IF) signing him on a three-year deal, we don't have to go through the whole contractual merry-go-round in 6-18 months – and add have control and receive some money if he moves elsewhere. He also might not fancy his chances of landing a contract at 35... whereas he could earn more elsewhere if he signed at the moment.

As for the sums, well that's just football. If I personally had £11 million I wouldn't sign him to come to my house most days to do some weights and keepy-ups in the garden because it would be odd and I could undoubtedly spend the money in better ways. For Everton though, as shown last season when many were nonplussed, signing him makes sense if he will take a 50% paycut.

There's a guy here wants to play Barry, Gibson and McCarthy in the one team. No goals in that three midfielders. That with the back four and keeper leaves three that we are going to get all our goals from. No way.

Let Barry go if the price is a 3-year contract and a cost of £11M. Buy Rodwell if fit and at least you could play him in a number of positions. Otherwise, buy someone in their mid-20s who would have a sell-on value.

We can't afford £11M on a player in his 30s who we may get another year out of and then he will warm the bench for 2 years, collecting £50-60k a week. Not worth the risk, move on.

I didn't rate Barry until I watched him. Cracking player, understands what Roberto wants, likes to leave his foot in and isn't shy of having a word with the ref.

No idea if the figures quoted are accurate, I just hope he signs for us.

Pat Waine – are you really saying that Barry is not worth £60k a week in the current wage market for Premier League players (that is where £9M of the £11M comes from over 3 years)? We can afford it and we should spend it unless we have better options. This is just the carrying cost of a good Premier League player, they cost £3M a year just to own at this level. Suarez and Rooney will be on £10M a year. Our wage budget must be in the region of £60M a year so we can't average £60k a player, but it's not far off average.

Pat,

I don't think you would see all 3 play in the same team.
It would be 2 out of the 3

If you think £2M for a free agent is a bit much imagine what Kenwright is thinking, would be worth it just to see his face.

Just read on BBC ceefax gossip column that QPR and Stoke are rivaling Everton for Gareth's signature.

How come every time Everton buy a player we factor in his contractual wage into the transfer figure. Yet when Southampton buy a player for £6M it is a flat fee?

Patrick #217, if Barry is under any illusion he will play a higher standard of football at QPR or Stoke then good luck to him. He would have confirmed his interests are purely financial and not of a footballing nature.

Phil, the reason why some people factor salary into transfer figures is that they are desperate to find a reason to criticise Martinez.

After the horrors of realising that he was not going to get us relegated and that our players can pass a ball, they came out with this nonsense to discredit him. Either that, or the transfer/loan system changed last summer without me realising.

File it on the same shelf as 'he was lucky to get Lukaku and Barry', 'he's too positive', 'the other top sides have all regressed so much we should have finished fourth', etc.