Martin O'Neill has reiterated his demands for the transfer of Gareth Barry to Liverpool in a letter to the Anfield club, but Aston Villa have made concrete plans for his departure this afternoon with the sigining of Steve Sidwell from Chelsea.
The Aston Villa manger is believed to want €22.6million for his captain or €21.3m with Republic of Ireland full-back Steve Finnan in part exchange.
Liverpool believe Finnan is worth €2.5m but the 30-year-old has just entered the final year of his contract.
Villa are also insisting on 50 per cent of the money down immediately and the rest in 12 months time.
Liverpool have already offered €18.8m for the England midfielder.
"We're still waiting to hear back from Liverpool after putting that proposal to them," O'Neill said this morning. "It's really up to Liverpool. I really don't know how it's going to work out at the moment. I'm sure there will be some sort of resolution at some stage or another."
O'Neill made the comments before the €6.3m signing of Sidwell, who must yet undergo a medical, and it would now seem improbable that he could hold on to two centre midfielders that command such high wages.
Benitez is eager to end the drawn-out saga by the weekend before Liverpool's first pre-season friendly at Tranmere on Saturday.
Benitez would certainly want to have the midfielder on board for the training camp in Switzerland which starts on Sunday and includes three matches before a return to the UK ahead of the trip to play Rangers in Glasgow on July 26th.
Meanwhile, Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez claims Spain striker David Villa is on the list to replace Peter Crouch, who is expected to complete his move to Portsmouth after agreeing terms with the club.
Benitez said last night that he was sorry to see Crouch leave but understood the England striker's decision.
"He is a good professional and a nice person, and we would have wanted him to stay. We offered him a new contract.
"But sometimes you have to understand the player. He wanted to play a lot more, and with Fernando Torres now first choice, that was always going to be difficult.
"I can understand Peter's situation. But he did very well for this club and we always supported him when people doubted the decision to bring him to Anfield."
Asked if Valencia's Villa could replace Crouch, the Spaniard added: "We have (Fernando) Torres, Andriy Voronin, Dirk Kuyt, Ryan Babel and Steven Gerrard, who can play as a second striker.
"But we will try to bring in another option. Villa is a player we know all about and he is on our list. But maybe it will be difficult."
