Barry saga not my fault - Benitez - Sport in brief

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The Anfield boss, preparing for Saturday's Premier League opener at Sunderland, was very clear that he still wants the Aston Villa midfielder.

"I get blamed for everything, for global warming to high petrol prices. But in this case I want to be very clear. Since I talked to Martin O'Neill about the situation in April, I have not talked to anyone at Aston Villa," he said.

And he privately dismissed as unimportant the fact that Barry is now cup-tied for the first phase of the Champions League, having played for Villa in the UEFA Cup this week.

But Benitez surprisingly turned the spotlight on chief executive Rick Parry and the club's owner - he specifically only used the singular - to mastermind a way out of the saga that has rumbled on all summer.

Benitez said: "I will try to be very clear over the (Barry) situation. Everyone has been talking and it seems that the blame is put on me.

"All the talks have been between our chief executive Rick Parry, the owner and the chief executive of Aston Villa. And those talks have all been pretty good.

"So if anyone wants to talk about Barry in the future they must talk with the owner, Rick Parry or the chief executive of Aston Villa. And as I have said, those talks I understand have been good.

"I was not involved in the talks about Barry, I was not involved in the talks about (Xabi) Alonso and Arsenal. If you want to talk about these players you must talk to the chief executive of our club who was handling the discussions.

"If you want to talk about players, then you talk to Rick Parry. If you want to talk about football, then you talk with me."