Your one stop shop for all the latest Aston Villa news, rumour & opinion:
Positive news about the future of Carles-Gil is emerging after Tim Sherwood finally spoke about the 22 year old Spaniard’s future role. This is a reassuring update for a player who has been linked away from the club, after being all but excluded from the first team squad after bursting onto the scene at the turn of the year.
Sherwood is quoted as saying;
‘I see his best position as a No 10. Until we exhaust what he has to offer I don’t think it’s right to bring anyone else in to that position. He is a very technically gifted player. He has shown me a lot in this pre-season already that he can play and affect things for us.
‘Hopefully he is (like a new signing). He has done well in pre-season, he’s come back and he really knows there is an opportunity there for him.
‘I didn’t know him (last season) and we were playing a different way. It was almost like we needed to get over the line. It’s different now, hopefully we can get him on the ball in important areas of the field.
‘I’ve spoken to Carles, it’s hard for him go understand he’s not played and all of a sudden he will. That’s life.’
‘Carles Gil is going to play a lot more football this year because we’re not in that situation where it’s a relegation battle.”
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Villa are also reportedly monitoring the availability of Serbian international winger Adem Ljajic. Currently playing in Serie A for Roma, he can be viewed to your hearts content in an inevitably deceptive Youtube clip here. Complete with dodgy soundtrack.
Another link to appear is that of Malaga midfielder Sergi Darder. The combative midfielder is just 21 but has progressed to the first team ranks, coincidentally having featured against Villa last year in a pre-season friendly. Darder is attracting interest from across Europe but Villa’s ability to stump up a top fee, wages & Premier League football may prove the deal breaker.
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QPR’s Matt Phillips is continuing to be linked with a raft of top flight sides including Villa. The 24 year old has done little to quell the suspicion that when his current club agree a fee that he would be on his way stating; “I’ll give everything until I’m told otherwise.” To keep in context, this snippet is buried amongst the usual spiel about giving “100%” to QPR…blah blah blah.
And finally, it’s officially tin hat time at Villa Park in terms of Christian Benteke’s future. Innumerable media outlets, largely of dubious reliability, are reporting that the prolific Belgian striker is to join Liverpool. As strange as that move would be for his career progression, it is being reported left, right and centre.
The rationale for this appears to be Liverpool’s ability to bankroll the deal with the Sterling money received from Man City, whilst little seems to be made as to why Benteke, indeed anyone with broader ambitions, would join Liverpool. As with most things Aston Villa this summer, there may yet be a twist in all of this…Man Utd are lurking afterall…or perhaps he will do a Delph?
However – it seems that Liverpool can and will exercise the £32.5 million release clause and Christian will accept a big pile of money to carry them instead of us. As most Villa fans, I cannot thank Benteke enough for keeping us, often single handedly in the division for 3 years. We must ultimately move on, remember his fine goals and use the funds to try and rebuild our football club.
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That rebuilding increasingly looks to include Adebeyor from Spurs – a real marmite signing if it happens – that when Villa Underground asked earlier in the summer who they least wanted to see came out a clear first. We shall see.