Mirror: Martin O'neill is determined to stop Gareth Barry from making a full-time return to Merseyside - ahead of tomorrow's visit to Everton. The Villa boss has ordered his men to launch an all-out attack at Goodison Park, as he battles to keep Barry. In-form Villa will wrestle the Premier League UEFA Cup spot on goal difference from fifthplaced Everton with victory there, with two matches remaining. And Villa travel to face David Moyes' men in fantastic form after smashing 15 goals in their past three outings to narrow the gap on Everton to just three points. But Villa's recent lethal displays, including a 5-1 drubbing of arch-rivals Birmingham on Sunday, have been overshadowed by Liverpool expressing an interest in skipper Barry. The midfielder, 27, who has 18 caps, is tempted by the prospect of teaming up alongside Steven Gerrard to play in the Champions League at Anfield next term. But O'Neill will pull out all the stops to offer Barry, who has two years left on his £47,000-a-week Villa Park contract, a bumper new deal with the backing of the club's US owner Randy Lerner. "Randy shares my ambition to keep Gareth Barry," insisted the Villa chief, who met Lerner this week.

Sun: ASTON VILLA owner Randy Lerner is backing Martin O'Neill's bid to dish out new long-term contracts to the club's big guns. Villa boss O'Neill wants to keep skipper Gareth Barry, who is a £12million target for Liverpool. And he also wants to tie down Ashley Young, Gabby Agbonlahor and John Carew on lengthy new deals. It will mean smashing the club's current wage structure. Barry, on £50,000 a week, is the highest earner at Villa Park but could double his basic pay at Anfield. But American chairman Lerner met O'Neill this week to discuss strategy. And the Ulsterman revealed: "Randy is well versed in these things and it did not take a long conversation to find he shares my ambition to keep Gareth. "We want to build a side here but it should not surprise me now that players are being mentioned with the big four. "If it's not Gareth this week it will be Ashley next week and Gabby the week after. Maybe John Carew. "I will give everything in the summer every consideration. We would naturally address the size of the squad. But I want to start from the position of the players who have done fantastically well here and Gareth Barry is one of them. There are others who I want to keep at the club who I believe should have extended contracts. "But it is a fact that top-quality players want top-quality football and that means the Champions League. That's what we have to aim to get to."

Guardian: Scott Carson's second season in the Premier League has meant adapting to a more sedate life in the Villa Park goal after a hectic spell at Charlton. Soldiers often refer to life on the frontline as a strange mixture of boredom and high adrenalin. It is a job description goalkeepers can identify with and the manner in which Scott Carson controls such conflicting emotions at Goodison Park tomorrow could prove pivotal in securing Aston Villa Uefa Cup qualification. With fifth place in the Premier League at stake, Villa's duel is likely to be cagey and feature protracted periods when Carson appears a virtual spectator before suddenly being thrust back into the thick of the action. "It's all about concentration and this season, for me, has been about learning to really concentrate," the 22-year-old said. Loaned out for the third time since joining Liverpool, Carson has found Villa to be quite a culture shock after spending last season at Charlton where, in the midst of a relegation battle, he found his goal under more or less constant assault. "At Charlton I had a lot of shot stopping and a lot of balls coming into the box but here I've had less saves to make and maintaining concentration has been much more important," he said. "I've learnt that sometimes I've just got to try and be patient and perhaps not come for a cross. I don't need to go for or come off my line too early just because I'm trying to justify why I'm there."

Independent: Moyes and Martin O'Neill both want to see the colour of their chairmen's money but only O'Neill can afford to joke about it. "How did the meeting with [Randy] Lerner go?" O'Neill said yesterday. "I asked for £80m and he said yes! He brought the war chest out and there it was, £80m! It was all there in dollars. Only joking." If Everton win, they go six points clear of Villa with two games each left. If they lose, Villa's better goal difference will see them overtake the Toffees in the race for fifth place - and Moyes face will be looking even longer.

Daily Mail: Randy Lerner has told Martin O'Neill he is prepared to fight tooth and nail to keep Gareth Barry at Aston Villa. The club's American owner is determined to keep hold of the England international amid growing speculation that Liverpool will be launching a summer bid. Lerner met Villa boss O'Neill this week before flying back to the United States, having made it clear that keeping the midfielder happy is his priority. And O'Neill has revealed that the billionaire will back him over new deals for Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Wilfred Bouma. "Randy shares the same view as myself regarding Gareth," he said. "I didn't need a long conversation with him to know that. We are going to make efforts to keep Gareth here. I have a decent enough rapport with him to be able to sit down and talk. We are going to make substantial efforts to keep Gareth."

Telegraph: Martin O'Neill will send free-scoring Aston Villa out to attack at Everton tomorrow in a match with a strong bearing on who claims the Uefa Cup spot for finishing fifth in the Premier League - but his sights are set firmly on a Champions League future. The Villa manager conceded yesterday that he had to bring in high-quality players and increase the size of his squad in order to qualify for Europe's most lucrative tournament. He will address that situation with Villa's American owner, Randy Lerner, at the season's end, when he must also persuade his captain, Gareth Barry, not to defect for precisely that level of competition. "Top-quality players want to be playing top-quality football," O'Neill said. "The Champions League is where Premier League players really want to be, so that's where we have to aim to be. It might take another decade - I hope not - but the whole club is striving for that. It will take as many good players as possible, and we know our squad is small."

Times: Martin O'Neill has told Randy Lerner that Aston Villa must be aggressive enough in the transfer market this summer for the club to be competing for Champions League qualification and if they want to retain not only Gareth Barry, but also Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor. The Villa manager is considering going on a spending spree during the close season to strengthen a team who play Everton tomorrow in the race for Uefa Cup qualification. While detailed plans will be shelved until next month as the club aim for their highest league position in 11 years, Lerner, the Villa chairman, has been left in no doubt that paying the going rate to keep Barry and company at Villa Park is a prerequisite for progress. The England midfield player, who earns about £47,000 a week, is attracting interest from Liverpool and is heading for a significant pay rise. "We're going to try to be a force," the manager said. "Randy shares exactly the same view as myself ? the ambition to keep Gareth Barry at this club. We want to build a side here, but it shouldn't surprise me that our players are being mentioned with the big four. If it's not Gareth this week, it will be Ashley Young next week ? then it will be Gabby [Agbonlahor], or John Carew if he keeps playing."

Sporting Life: Martin O'Neill believes Aston Villa striker John Carew is starting to show the consistency that will enable him become "a world-class player". Carew will lead the Villa attack in Sunday's vital Barclays Premier League clash at Everton looking to repeat the level of performance he showed in last weekend's 5-1 demolition of Birmingham. A brace of goals took the tally for Villa's leading scorer to 12 for the current campaign. The Norway international has sometimes been anonymous in certain games but Villa boss O'Neill feels those occasions are becoming rarer. He said: "John is exceptionally pleased with his own performances right now. His whole demeanour is oozing positivity and I am really pleased. "When he is in the sort of form he showed against Birmingham he is unplayable, and it is great to hear other managers like Alex McLeish saying he is a real handful. "Even on days when he thinks he has not been that good, other managers have still said after a game what a handful John is to their defenders. "It is hard for him to reproduce top, top performances every week but his top, top performances are starting to happen more often. "John would think himself he is capable of consistent top-quality performances. If he can add that consistency to his game then you have got a world-class player."

Coverage From Abroad

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