Barry Bannan - To Keep Or Not To Keep?

StennyVilla alerted me to an article on Villa's on loan (to Blackpool) midfielder Barry Bannan.

Stenny said: 'Bannan really enjoying it at Blackpool see link below, but his contract is up in June and he is a must to sign up on a long contract. He will make it. He looks good enough now - a future Villa and Scotland player of class hopefully please.'

The article: www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/sports

Bannan is currently on loan until the end of January but is hoping to earn himself an extension to that. He told the Gazette:

'My contract at Villa ends in June. There is talk of a new one going on at the minute but I'm not sure. I'm just going to wait until January, see what happens and take it from there. Will I sign another half-season long loan in January? It depends how I do. If I don't do well enough then there's no chance. But if I carry on playing well hopefully that will happen and I would be more than happy to do it.'

He also says he loves it at Villa but wants regular footie as it gets frustrating sitting around.

'there is nothing better than going out and playing first team games, whether it be Championship, League One or Two.'

Stenny added when I asked him if he's seen BB play much:

'I have only seen him at Blackpool briefly on as a substitute in his fist game against Preston on TV, but I am on permanent Bannan watch with reports from Pool regulars and all the comments in the press. In those few minutes of a furious derby game he was still able to very clearly show what I believe is much more than potential. He is so comfortable receiving the ball under pressure, can spin and beat players and is creative with the eye for a killer ball - a new Gordon Cowan's in the making.

I honestly think he would grace our team now - even though moving Milner inside and Downing coming in has now injected some real variety into our play. Unless he gets a few games for Villa under his belt he will be better staying with Blackpool which is a fun and very positive place to be at the moment under Ian Holloway, playing creative football with the ball on the deck and in a very attacking style which will do Bannan the world of good to be involved in. He might end up winning his place at Villa on the back of these performances and a full Scotland call up, but he is just much too good to lose. Sign him up now please.'

I asked Sir Jack from Vital Blackpool his opinion, he said:

Barry has started fantastically well at Blackpool. He looks quite lightweight - probably why he's played wide instead of in the middle - but is well capable of holding his own in the challenge. Very tricky on the ball and has great intelligence for someone so young.

He made his first appearance in the derby game against Preston with a cameo role and from then on has really kicked into gear. A man of the match display away at Middlesbrough stood out and Ian Holloway will definitely be looking to extend his loan.

Hope that's all right - he hasn't played much!





Join Vital Villa

It's easy to register for Vital Villa, simply click the link and enjoy getting involved! Message Board. To visit the Vital Villa message board, click here.

Get involved and suggest an article. This website is your website and we are looking for people to contribute. So if you attend a game, full or reserves and have an opinion, why not write a match report, or have your say on any issue you wish Villa related. Perhaps you are a budding journalist or even just someone who is very opinionated? Well why not join our team? If this interests you please contact Vital Villa.

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.