Gareth Barry is due to return to competitive action for Aston Villa at his behest this evening because he fears that he is slipping down the pecking order of Liverpool’s transfer targets. Martin O’Neill, the Villa manager, likened Barry’s transfer saga to an Agatha Christie mystery yesterday as he prepared to include the disillusioned England midfield player in the team to face Odense BK in the Intertoto Cup, in a Villa side which is likely to be captained by Martin Laursen,

Barry asked to play for the reserves away to Walsall on Tuesday, when he proved that his fitness, after a heel injury and a close season spent waiting for Liverpool to meet Villa’s £18 million asking price, was surprisingly sound. With Rafael Benítez, the Liverpool manager, prioritising a £20 million move for Robbie Keane, the Tottenham Hotspur striker, Barry is being left to work on his match sharpness and risk the wrath of the Villa Park faithful.

His professionalism in the humbling surroundings of the Banks’s Stadium on Tuesday helped to turn the initially ubiquitous outpourings of vitriol from Villa fans into a partially respectful ovation as he left the field after 60 minutes. In hindsight, O’Neill believes that playing against Walsall may have drawn the sting from the negativity that Barry’s appearance at Villa Park is likely to evoke.

“Gareth Barry will be in contention to play, if he’s in the right frame of mind,” O’Neill said. “He said his mindset is pretty decent. If he feels he’s up for it and wants to play the game — and I’ll also take the views of the rest of the team into account — then the rest is up to me.

“Gareth Barry has been a splendid footballer here for ten years and in the two years that I’ve known him he has been terrific. When I was asked before the game with Odense [the teams drew 2-2 in Denmark in last week’s first leg], when he had a sore foot, ‘do you think he threw that one in?’ I answered that I didn’t. That’s not Gareth Barry.

“He’s come back, not done much training and he needed to play on Tuesday. He wanted to play on Tuesday and, whatever the reaction was going to be, he’d have been ready for it. This has been a long saga, we still haven’t heard back from Liverpool and I don’t know where we stand.

“It’s not an ideal situation to be in, waiting to hear what Liverpool are going to do, about our player, whom we pay. It is rather strange. At some stage we’ve got some work to do here, for the good of Aston Villa. We’re looking to improve our squad and trying to do that with Gareth Barry hovering over our heads.

“He is a highly talented footballer whom we are paying and need to use at some stage, if we feel it’s the right thing to do. To be honest, Gareth concurs with that. He’s ready, he’s waiting, he’ll want to try and play.

“I assume if you ask him, his preference is still to go to Liverpool. Things can change. If Liverpool are looking at other targets, in other positions, which were not previously mentioned, that might come as a bit of a shock to people.”

Villa rejected a fourth bid, of £15 million plus Steve Finnan, several weeks ago and refused to countenance the possibility that Barry will stay — “I wouldn’t start to get carried away” — but was impressed by his showing against Walsall. “I thought he did very well in the game and 60 minutes was ideal for his fitness,” the manager said.

Jack Hobbs, 19, the Liverpool defender, has joined Leicester City, the Coca-Cola League One club, on a season-long loan.