Gareth Barry has not allowed his disappointment of failing to move to Liverpool in the summer, to come in between his quest to give his best to Aston Villa and Martin O’Neill has hailed the midfielder as ‘excellent’.

The 27-year-old England international was determined to move to Anfield in his bid to feature in the Champions League, but Villa played tough with reported asking price of £18m that in the end proved too much for Rafa Benitez’s Reds to match. As such, the move did not materialise and Barry stayed at Villa Park.

The result of the protracted transfer saga was that Barry, who has been with Villa since 1997, lost his captaincy to Martin Laursen but his form this season, has been stupendous bringing out praise from Villa boss O’Neill.

"Gareth, to his great credit, has put aside the disappointment of not joining Liverpool during the last transfer window," he said.

"He has put his head down and got on with things and he has been excellent for us. My own view is that Gareth is now actually playing better than ever.”