Ollie 'Might' Stay & MON On Rumours

Olof Mellberg has been speaking to The Independent and has said that he 'might' sign a new contract at Villa but only if we qualify for Europe this season.

Mellberg can leave on a Bosman come the summer and is allowed to talk to other clubs in January - having recently been linked to Juventus.

He told the Independent: “It would be good to qualify for Europe. If this goal is achieved, I might stay.”

Not sure those quotes will go down brilliantly with the manager or the fans although I guess there will be a few players starting to think this way. With the new owners and the wave of optimism, I do think more of a push signings wise was expected. Maybe January will be the time to push on for the missing links in the squad and as long as we stay within the top ten in the meantime, we can still push for Europe can't we?

Meanwhile, despite the transfer window being two months away, it looks like Martin O'Neill is already fed up of the rumours!!!!

He has denied the recent reports that he is set to try to sign Scott Carson on a £10m permanent deal in January having told the Birmingham Mail ''It's news to me.”

He also says there would be 'no point' talking to Liverpool about it as the keeper is on loan only, 'that's in black and white. There's nothing in any agreement for any price at all. It's almost as if people haven't written about Scott Carson for a week or two, so they write the story again.' I remember John Gregory saying the same thing. He was on BRMB once talking to Tom Ross and said that sometimes he reads the headlines from comments he'd made two or more months ago, they just re-jig the angle of the story and make it look new.

Shame mind you, would love to have seen us secure Scott Carson on a long term deal.

As for Mellberg, what do you think of the comments? He is obviously not happy being at right-back and I can understand a player coming towards his last contract wanting to play at the top level and that includes being in Europe, however talking about these things through the press isn't the best plan surely? That said, it is up to him if he wants to go to pasture new, he has always given his all for Villa, I'd certainly have nothing but praise for him whether he stays or goes.

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