Barry has pledged his future to the club until the end of the season, when he will have one year of his current contract left to run.

The England player was the subject of four failed bids from Liverpool in the summer after O'Neill placed an £18m valuation on the 27-year-old.

Barry could buy out the final 12 months of his contract but O'Neill knows a top-four finish in the Barclays Premier League may persuade him to remain with the club he has already served for more than 10 years.

O'Neill confirmed: "Gareth and myself have had a wee chat and he wants to put all the speculation aside.

"He is going to see it out here until the summer - at least - see where we all are positioned at that time and so any speculation in January will be purely that.

"I couldn't be more pleased. His form is very good. His form for England is very good at the moment.

"I know it is an old cliche but Gareth is really now just concentrating on the footballing aspect of things.

driving seat

"Sometimes I might not have been completely sure about what might happen in January because it is a window, a time where transfer speculation is rife.

"So I am so pleased Gareth wants to leave it to summer time and I couldn't be more pleased.

"Does that include contract talks? Everything. I also accept in the summer he has got a year to run.

"Any sort of options are open to him. He will be in the driving seat if he continues to perform in the manner he is doing."

O'Neill, whose side entertain Fulham on Saturday, insists he has the full backing of club owner Randy Lerner in not attempting to cash in on Barry's services in January, when he would still command a sizeable fee.

The former Celtic manager said: "Gareth can buy himself out of his final year. I understand that but it has never been a major issue with the owner of the football club.

"There has been no pressure from the owner to cash in. He has never mentioned it to me.

"It never entered his head. You accept people's value gets less as the contract runs down but it has never entered his head.

"He is happy to hear the news as well that Gareth is staying."