Villa’s Downing fear

Friday, 03/06/2011

by Steven Green, Shoot's Aston Villa blogger

Last week Villa were rocked by a statement released by Player of the Season Stuart Downing claiming his reluctance to sign an extension on his current deal.

The news certainly came out of the blue considering that he seemed to signal his intent on staying put when the club were struggling in April and with it looking likely that Ashley Young will be moving in the summer it has come as a bit of a slap in the face.

Player power is now part of the modern football rulebook and it is clear that Downing has had his head turned by his agent who has been reading too much into recent speculation. It is a dangerous precedent for clubs of Villa’s size as it provides a terrible stumbling block from building a team capable of challenging for serious honours.

But why does it only seem to happen at Villa? The past few seasons has seen influential stars such as Gareth Barry and James Milner depart citing the need to challenge at the very top, plunging Villa in the category of ‘selling club’. Such things have yet to happen at Spurs and Everton.

Perhaps it is down to a club's choice in manager. Martin O’Neill had more than enough chances to build a great squad but instead squandered millions on middle of the road signings and his best players obviously knew this and decided to jump ship before it went down, anchored by mediocrity.

Either way Downing’s news is a shocking display of disloyalty. He needs to be reminded that the club paid his wages for five months whilst he was out with a broken ankle, and that doesn’t include the gamble of the hefty price tag paid for him. After a slow start he managed to really convince fans of his ability, including myself and it’s just a shame that he doesn’t recognise that.

I can’t imagine that he’ll be allowed to leave this summer anyway, he has two years left on his current deal and if Ashley Young does go everybody at the club knows that it’ll be too much of a blow to loose both.

Villa need to get the managerial position sorted as soon as possible, to steady the ship and to show some ambition in the transfer market or else we could be in for another rough season.

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