Well its nearly the end of the transfer window and we are still being linked with a couple of players even though we have bought a couple of decent players in the form of Ashley Young and John Carew, not forgetting the arrival of Phil Bardlesy on loan form Manchester United.
Up front was where we needed strengthening as the goals have been few and far between this season with outr top scorer being Gareth Barry who is on 8 goals this season but 5 of these goals have come from penalties so its nothing to write home about to be honest.
John Carew is a class act and even though he has had 5 different clubs he is still only 27 years old. He has played at the top level with clubs such as Valencia, AS Roma and Besiktas. He is just the sort of player to thrive in the Premiership as he is a big strapping 6 foot 3 inche giant of a man who should terrorise a few of the weaker defences in the league, starting with Newcastle on Wednesday night. Although he has often been looked on just as a target man he has a lot more than this to offer. He is deceptivly quick for his size and is good with both feet so should fit well into the Premiership.
Ashley Young is a youngster with bags of talent and someone who Martin O'Neil constantly watched whilst he was at Watford. He is a very quick, pacy player who is comfortable on either wing or just behind the front man. I am sure he will be given a chance in all of these positions until both he and the manager agree on the best position for him to concentrate playing. At £8M followed by an additional £1.6M the fee raised a few eyebrows but in the January transfer market there are only a few talented players around so the price always gets inflated. I think when he has settled in at the Villa, we will start to see that his fee was not over the top and may even be considered a bargain.
Phil Bardlsey has come in on loan from Manchester United where he was in the near impossible position of being understudy to Gary Neville, the current England national team right back. He is only 21 but has been on loan to Rangers in Scotland and is now looking to play at a decent level in the Premiership to further his footballing education. The right back position has been a bit of a problem for Villa as Aaron Hughes the normal incumbant has been injured and so Olof Mellberg has had to switch from his normal dominant position of centre half over to the the right back position. Now we have a decent replacement, it allows Mellberg back to where he is most effective - at the heart of defence. It is thought that O'Neil, like myself, does not rate Hughes that highly and as long as Bardsley plays well he will get to keep his place in the team.
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