The Week In Villa #46 (3/7/09 - 9/7/09)

Friday, 3rd July

So Michael Owen is a Man U player then. Huh. Mad.

Ashley Young hopes to hit double figures on the goal front next season. I think he is more than capable of doing that.

Barry Bannan says he wants a new contract as he only has 12 months to run on his current deal. The only problem I have with this is why this hasn`t been sorted already. Not that I expect a whole flurry of activity with clubs coming in for him, but I just think this is a lad that is good enough to contribute for us already, and therefore should be on a new and improved deal.

We are linked with Marcus Berg, William Gallas and Michel Bastos. Marlon is again linked with a move to Hull.

A clip of Sol Campbell comes out where he looks like he has a grin when linked to the Villa. Wouldn`t blame ya for wanting to join us Sol, we`re wonderful!

So will we make a signing this week? Hmm…

Saturday, 4th July

The Daily Mail claims that we have been given permission to speak to Bayern Munich`s German midfielder Tim Borowski.

Surely, that could well mean a signing this week then?

Sunday, 5th July

Stan Petrov is targeting silverware with us next season. I assume he means trophies and NOT new cutlery in the Bodymoor canteen.

The ever-popular Emile Heskey talks about how the youngsters will have learnt from last season and will be stronger this season. Well it makes sense, doesn`t it? Some players don`t improve though. See 'Darius Vassell`, 'Lee Hendrie` and 'The Moore brothers` for reference.

Links from today does not involve anything new, just the same old Bentley/Berg/Veloso etc.

Well, nobody makes a signing on a Sunday anyway…

Monday, 6th July

Vital Villa gets a new addition with the 'Monthly Musings` of some ruggedly handsome chap ;o)

Now, shall we look at Bill Howell and his work today? Good ol` Bill, who I obviously respect as a, AHEM, journalist (!), says we are potentially looking to sign Edinson Cavani and Radamel Falcao. HELL YEAH! Um… In addition, he also links us to Upson, Distin and Wes Brown. Oh and David Bentley too. Well done Bill. You really are an inspiration to all us budding writers.

Okay, there is still plenty of the week left.

Tuesday, 7th July

Today we have been linked with Brede Hangeland and Peter Crouch. The former I would be absolutely delighted with. The latter, I have no issue with but I just don`t see the point. We have John Carew and Emile Heskey, why look at Crouch?

Right, there are now new rumours. Activity any day now…

Wednesday, 8th July

Lots of sources suggest we are interested in bringing Boro`s Stewart Downing and Tuncay to B6. I quite like the idea. I prefer Tuncay out of the two, but I think Downing offers the opportunity to give Young a bit more flexibility. So for me, both please! While nothing is confirmed, there does seem to be an awful lot of places reporting this so, you know, no smoke without fire and all that jazz…

Amir Zaki claims we made an £11m bid for him in January. Maybe it is true, maybe it isn`t. I can not say I am sad we missed out on him though, despite his superb early-season form.

In bad news Brede Hangeland unfortunately plays down links of a move to Villa and Marcus Berg seems to be set for a move to Hamburg.

There also appears to be a rumour that Spurs bid for John Carew but we turned it down. I wouldn`t imagine any other scenario if true, either.

So we will sign someone tomorrow, yes?

Thursday, 9th July

Yesterdays 'Boro links continue and the Fabian Delph rumour comes back with a vengeance. They appear to have mileage in them too. Gareth Southgate confirms they have had enquiries but no official bid, while the Leeds website confirms that they have turned down offers from 'two Premiership clubs`, and you would imagine we were one - albeit there is no guarantee.

Sky & ESPN confirm their games and that means home games against Fulham, Man City (shock!), Chelsea and Spurs are all moved, and away games against Liverpool and our friendly neighbours Blues and Wolves are also shifted. However that has NO affect on when we would have played Blues anyway - and is just a good thing really as it means everyone gets to see it - and little affect on the Wolves game.

So, we`re going to sign someone overnight, right? RIGHT?

Oh well, there is always next week.... *sigh*… Up the Villa!

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