Keane Deal Close According To McLeish

Hope we DONT sign that McEachran on loan when we have Gardner, Bannan, Delph all waiting to get there opportunity to improve and break through and can be equally as good...Keane again is just halting progress of other players, can't see how it's going to benefit us at all except maybe an impact player from the bench. If he starts i'll be *****ed, who can he really replace?

my bad, 5 down!

Calbeanie welcome to the crazy world of ASTON VILLA football club?

McEachran chose Swansea over us FFS but I can't blame him. And how does Eck know how good Keane is in the dressing room??? Then again, he thinks that he's good in the dressing room. All hope is lost. We are doomed. How the once mighty have fallen!!! The blind are leading the blind!!!!

Calbeanie, you should read John Gregory's Autobiography ( a dam good read). In it he states that he was the one who made the decision not to sign Keane, not Deadly Doug. Gregory watched him on many occasions and decided he was to much of a risk and even Fergie decided against signing him. Besides we have since chased Keane and Defoe come to think of it and the only reason either would come to Villa is for the money at the end of their playing career. I agree with ClivetheVillian, we should not buy old players at the danger of losing our young stars. You think they would have learnt from Cahill leaving because he couldnt get regular football. I'm sure both Gardner and Delph will end up leaving eventually and then being stars elsewhere. Although we are playing Albrighton, Bannan, Herd and Clark, I feel the best potential other than Clark is with Gardner and Delph. Its crazy we are not rotating 2 per game to keep them at Villa. The only way I could see Keane fitting in is playing with Bent and Gabby in a 3 man attack, or in the hole in a 5 man midfield, but this would be instead of Ireland or Bannan, if not he has to drop Gabby to accommodate Keane - Its just crazy just for 6 games. Maybe McCleish is looking at the fixture list of our next 6-8 games and thinks maybe Keanes impact will win us an extra few wins to get towards that 40 point mark. Out of the next 6-8 games we have Man City at Home and Newcastle Away. The other 6 are all winnable. Everton (H), Wolves (a), QPR (H), Wigan (a), Blackburn (a) and Fulham (H). These games could make or break our season. Perhaps if he addresses all these games with 3 strikers, Keanes impact could be vital in our survival. I'm really also getting concerned about us losing Bent to Liverpool, especially if we dont get a replacement, this would mean relying on Gabby as as our sole striker in a 4,5,1 formation after Keane returns to the U.S.A. What happens then if Gabby gets injured, surely we could not rely on Heskey and the Fonz, we would be relegated. So much speculation and so much if and buts, but big decisions need to be made here.