Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill has presented his chairman Randy Lerner with his summer "wish list" during a summit to discuss the club's future progress now that European football has been assured.

And while the first item on the agenda was how to hang on to highly rated skipper Gareth Barry, it is understood O'Neill also produced a list of several "high-profile" players he wants to bring to Villa but who will require a "substantial" investment.

O'Neill and Lerner met on Monday along with Barry - who celebrates his tenth season at Aston Villa this month - in a bid to tempt the England midfielder to stay on and oversee the club's smooth passage through the InterToto tournament and then the Uefa Cup this summer.

But O'Neill also hinted he would not stand in the way of the 27-year-old if he decides to move on to Liverpool or one of the other top four sides, including Chelsea and Arsenal said to be interested in him.

Instead the Villa boss hopes, by showing the calibre of player he wants to add to his bright young squad, he may yet be able to persuade Barry to stay on at Villa Park.

Barry still has two years of his current Villa contract to run and is understood to be taking a break now to consider his options.

O'Neill said: "We've spoken to Gareth and our situation remains the same - we all want Gareth to stay. He still has two years of his contract to run and Liverpool have put in an offer that ... well it's almost debatable whether it is an offer!

"Things are very much up in the air and the main aim for the chairman and myself is to try and keep him at the football club. You can make people see out their contracts but in essence we would want a pretty amicable solution to all of this and we're still hopeful that things can be resolved in favour of Aston Villa."

O'Neill says new England coach Fabio Capello has selected Barry on the strength of his Villa performances and therefore does not need to be impressed by him in the Champions League.

He said: "Gareth has played for England because he plays regularly for Aston Villa and his England place is not in jeopardy because he's playing for Aston Villa at the moment.

"Of course anything can change but what I would say to the fans is that we're doing our utmost and we'll continue to do so. We want to show Gareth that we mean business."

The Villa boss added: "He nearly moved on a couple of years ago but he stayed and he hasn't looked back. He was at a crossroads and pretty disillusioned but Randy's arrival at the football club has galvanised it.

"The first thing I had to sort out was Gareth's future and he committed himself to the football club and went on to produce the best football he's ever played. That's a great credit to him.

"If he can continue in the same form, regardless of what happens at Aston Villa, Gareth Barry can play at the very highest level.

"The promise here is obvious. We've gone from 16th to 11th to sixth and we have the smallest squad but something we're desperately trying to improve.

"We don't want to lose our best players. To progress we need to keep him.

"The crowd love him and we want a solution that everyone is happy with. The last thing you want to do is keep an unhappy player at the club but Gareth Barry has not expressed his unhappiness here."