The £12m MUST be used to replace Laursen moreso than Barry

June 4, 2009 by Martin Banks
Filed under: Aston Villa, Transfer News 

Villa’s cash from the sale of Gareth Barry to Man City has sparked rucks of rumours about players we will be bringing in to fill the void Barry has left in the centre of our midfield. But surely the more important thing is to use it to replace Martin Laursen as the primary objective.

In one fell swoop, the last few months have taken our captain and our ‘back up’ captain from us, never to return. But of the 2 positions I feel it is far more important that we concentrate on securing an inspirational, influential defender first. Martin Laursen was fundamental to the side and without him we failed to defendc strongly and there was no commanding presence in our box.

The loss of Laursen was catastrophic for us at the back. We have Curtis Davies, Zat Knight and Carlos Cuellar all available to play there, as well as Eric Lichaj and Ciaran Clarke if he wants to promote some of the youngsters, but of those we don’t have a leader. Martin Laursen was our captain and also a figure that lifted the other defenders along side him and in his absence we have suffered severely from this lacking.

In midfield we can fill Barry’s boots without having to shop around if the situation forced it and MON has dropped hints that this may be the case. Sidwell and NRC are both eager to take on the role and it is possible we will do just that.

Joleon Lescott appears to be the most mentioned name and personally I would be happy with that. The other name appearing to have some possibility is Thomas Vermaelen.

The important thing though is that a centre defender is brought in this summer and sooner rather than later. If push came to shove and we could only buy ONE player then it would have to be a centre back.


Comments

8 Comments on The £12m MUST be used to replace Laursen moreso than Barry

  1. FatKevs on Thu, 4th Jun 2009 11:35

    2. Unfortunaley i have to agree replacing Laursen has to be our main goal. Curtis was a waste of Good money but this may be down to the fact i thought it from Day 1 & I have not given the kid a chance.
    Our Sucesss has to be built from the back as we do not have the quality to take the game to our oppenents we have to catch them on the break.
    All the fans talking about City not having Euro we have it but our manager shown no interest last year even though he says so it will be same again this year with our spineless squad

  2. DeanJ on Thu, 4th Jun 2009 11:45

    3. I would love to see Lescott, Richards, Bentley and Owen come in this summer. I think this would be a cracking way to get over the losses recently (players i mean).

    Then after this bring in a couple of squad players if possible, and then we will have made progression this summer.

  3. hitman83 on Thu, 4th Jun 2009 12:16

    4. Vermaelen has just signed for Arsenal. We need to go in hard for Hangeland or Lescott. I dont agree though with a defender being more important than a Barry replacement. Cuellar, Davies & Knight are all capable of doing a good job, but there’s no one in the team that will do what Barry does. Petrov to some degree, but an attacking midfielder (Defour, Hleb, Juardo or all of them) needs to be brought in.
    I dont rate Richards, Sturridge will probably go to Chelsea Villa should seriously look at Martins. Great workrate and pace, great feet, and shot and leaps like salmon for such a small guy! For me Martins could be as good as Wagner Love.

  4. Aero-4-Villa on Thu, 4th Jun 2009 13:44

    5. how about a 5 million bid to Chelsea for Shevcnenko…

    i know the guy is old and flopped at Chelsea bu i have a really good feeling that given the chance he will become a goal machine once again….

    Shevchenko Carew

    Defour
    Young Petrov Milner

    Shorey Lescott L.Young

    Friedel

    I think Shorey will get his best form back in time! (pre season)

    and on my Shevchenko talk, i just thought of him and said, “id like to see what would happen there”. Dont think to much into it!

  5. Aero-4-Villa on Thu, 4th Jun 2009 13:46

    6. and that formation is only if he played. ;)

    UTV!

  6. Martin Banks on Thu, 4th Jun 2009 15:07

    7. Errr…. am I being blind here? Isn’t that only 10 players? Are you that confident in your line up that you would forfeit the 11th man ;)

  7. Danny the Villain on Thu, 4th Jun 2009 16:10

    8. Aero, that formation only has 10 players :p

  8. Danny the Villain on Thu, 4th Jun 2009 16:18

    9. More in depth, I agree that a leading central defender is much more important than replacing Barry, although I do believe another central midfielder, preferably attacking (I like the look of this Dafour fella) as well as another full back and another winger, all of good quality and then some squad players. I would quite liike to see Micah Richards, and possibly Daniel Sturridge from Man City, and I do think MON could work his motivational magic on Bentley.
    Lescott would be my ideal first signing though, with Dafour to follow shortly after. Then I would feel reasonably secure about further signings later in the window, ad about our ability to continue the fight for progression into the Champions league, despite city’s new found billions.

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