Aston Villa have opened discussions with Gareth Barry in the hope of persuading the England midfielder to stay at the club.

Villa boss Martin O'Neill has got involved in a war of words with Liverpool counterpart Rafael Benitez over Barry after the Anfield club submitted a €12.5 million bid for the player.

Liverpool hope to tempt Barry to leave Villa Park with the offer of Champions League football but O'Neill is "hopeful" he and club owner Randy Lerner can impress him enough to make him stay.

Villa have not said whether their talks have led to a new contract offer but add that he has now been given time to consider his options.

O'Neill said today: "We've spoken to Gareth and our situation remains the same - that everyone at Aston Villa wishes very strongly that Gareth will stay.

"He still has two years of his contract to run and Liverpool have put in an offer that, well, it's almost debatable whether it is an offer. Things are very much up in the air and the main aim for the chairman and myself is to try and keep him at the football club. That's what we're trying to do.

"You can make people see out their contracts but in essence we would want a pretty amicable solution to all of this and we're still hopeful that things can be resolved in favour of Aston Villa."

O'Neill has made clear his indignation at the Liverpool offer, both in its timing and its valuation of the player. He has also expressed his anger at Benitez after details were made public.