Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez has revealed his frustration at the failure, thus far, to sign Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry.
Benitez first expressed an interest in signing Barry, 27, in April, but four months on he remains a Villa player.
“All talks have been between our chief executive Rick Parry, the owner and the chief executive of Aston Villa,” he said. “The talks have been pretty good.
“So if anyone wants to talk about Barry they must talk with Rick Parry or the chief executive of Aston Villa.”
Liverpool have so far refused to meet Villa’s £18m valuation and it has been reported that Benitez has come into conflict with owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks over the move.
“I was not involved in the talks about Barry, I was not involved in the talks about Xabi Alonso and Arsenal,” added Benitez, referring to the possible sale of the Spanish international during the close season.
“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.
“If you want to talk about these players you must talk to the chief executive of our club who was handling the discussions,” he added.
“Everyone has been talking and it seems that the blame is put on me.
“If you want to talk about players, you talk to Rick Parry. If you want to talk about football, you talk with me.
The failure to sign Barry has left Benitez concerned about the balance of his side.
“The squad is better but we now have problems on the left because we have lost John Arne Riise, Harry Kewell and Sebastian Leto,” added the Spaniard.
“We will see what happens in the future with that situation, but clearly our squad is better.”
