Righty ho. Now we have a new manager, let the wild speculation of ridiculously out of reach targets begin!
Wait, what?
DJ Campbell, you say?
No, wait, this is much better. Julian Draxter, the Schalke wunderkid,
is rumoured to be making a loan move to Villa. To quote from the badly-translated link:
"According to entries from across the Channel, the 'Aston Villa would like to hire for next season Julian Draxler, young playmaker Schalke 04.The '93 class had debuted in the season just ended, the first team in the league, collecting 15 appearances by a seasoned network.Germany is considered one of the greatest talents have emerged in recent years."
One must consider other factors, too. With the return of Stephen Ireland, Villa fans can ***** up their ears and brains after realising that there's a new manager for him to fall out with. Joking aside, there's a player somewhere in there, and it's possible he could unlock his talent. Otherwise, Fabian Delph will likely continue in the driving midfield role he made his own towards the end of last season. Likely candidates alongside him in the centre of midfield include Jean Makoun or Stiliyan Petrov (holding role) and A.N. Other, the promising young talent brought up from the reserves (actually, likely Barry Bannan or Gary Gardner, if McLeish doesn't bring back the elder and worse Gardner from Small Heath).
Finally, and most importantly, is the defence and goalkeepers. What with Villa employing the so-far stunningly successful tactic of NO goalkeepers whatsoever (0 goals conceded!) McLeish might not consider this area worth investing in. I say might, because he would be an absolute ******* idiot not to. Top on the list is a new right-back: utility man Luke Young is ageing, and whilst he is still one of the most reliable full-backs in the league it would be worth scouting around for some new talent. As such, Villa have been linked with the mighty, er,
Wes Brown, and have also been rumoured to be looking at Alan Hutton, replacing the excellent performances of Spurs loanee Kyle Walker last season with his slightly worse all-round Tottenham teammate. On the other side of defence, McLeish is apparently considering retaining the services of near-pariah-to-Villa-fans
Stephen Warnock, an unpopular move. In the centre, things are more complicated. James Collins, whilst having an inconsistent year last season, remains young enough and good enough to have his services retained. Richard Dunne, however, is ageing and McLeish will need to make a careful decision about him. Whilst Ciaran Clark looks to follow on from his excellent last season at his favoured position of centre-back, Carlos Cuellar seems to be
certain to leave for Rangers. Frankly, it'd be hard not to sympathise with the biblically patient Spaniard, consistently overlooked in favour of the pair the Villa fans were, with typical black humour, calling "The Chuckle Brothers", and his departure would only serve to increase the vitriol coming McLeish's way.
Goalkeepers are the really important position.
Ben Foster is reportedly the top target, others such as Lee Camp, Frank Fielding and (god help us all) Robert Green have all been linked.
That's your lot for Villa gossip, I think.
