Two Villa transfer rumours that are BIG RISKS!

June 9, 2009 by Martin Banks
Filed under: Aston Villa, Transfer News 

The two biggest rumours that are doing the rounds this morning are Michael Owen and Silvain Distin. Both these signings would be big risks for Villa. Ones that could turn out well or could backfire and leave us back at square one.

I’ll start with Distin and leave the excitement of Owen still to come. Silvain Distin is the Portsmouth captain but made his name at Man City. Since joining Pompey, Distin has not been as good as his glory days, giving away a lot of fouls and making mistakes that we aren’t accustomed to with him. I’m not saying that he has ‘lost it’ but he is not the top class centre back that he once was and he isn’t as good as Laursen, who we would prefer (and need) to replace like-for-like.

Distin is also approaching 32, so doesn’t have a great deal of time left at this level, so to spend £2m on him, albeit not expensive for a player these days, I see it as a waste. I also don’t see it as a solution to our Laursen Condundrum.

If MON could get him back to his best then maybe I would come round to this idea, but for now I’m not on board. Maybe I’m aiming too high.

Michael Owen

Onto the big news; the England star has been linked with us for a donkey’s yonk but now it seems like the rumours are beginning to take on some reality. It looks like a bid for Owen is close, but the discussions about his wages will not be conducted quickly, unless either a) he is ready and willing to earn a lot less or b) Lerner is prepared to smash our wage structure (£60,000 a week for an injury prone player is not our usual style). It’s not that we are tight with wages, but we aren’t Man City and we don’t just throw money at players to try and get their attention.

The BIG risk with Owen though, even if we get everything else sorted out, is his fitness. The small-man’s time at Newcastle was fraught with injuries and if we are to buy a goal scorer, we are going to need him available every week.

Owen has spent 4 seasons with Newcastle and only made 71 appearances, even though the Toon have played over 150 games in the league alone since his arrival. A player that will miss more than half the games, and on top of that cost us a lot in wages, isn’t top of my list and certainly won’t be top of Lerner’s.

It’s not that easy to write Owen off though. The temptation of him is always there. He has scored 29 goals for the Magpies in 71 games, an impressive tally when you remember two things; 1) he hasn’t exactly had great supply, as Newcastle have not been enjoying good times much during the last 4 years, and 2) he has constantly been coming back from time out, so adjusting back to the pace of the game and the Premier League.

All in all, I guess the jury is out for me on Owen. I’d love the Owen of old. The Owen Liverpool and England had all those years ago. But I wouldn’t want the Owen Newcastle had, draining the resources and sitting on the physio table.


Comments

15 Comments on Two Villa transfer rumours that are BIG RISKS!

  1. Huz on Tue, 9th Jun 2009 12:46

    2. Hiya,

    I personally have a great deal of admiration for what O’Neil and Lerner have achieved. Aston Villa have become a club that Toon fans such as myself can only dream of. You have a team with a great deal of power and pace, while defensively O’Neill has kept you adrift with suspect defenders such as Zak Knight. Knight looks the part in a good Villa defence. I would thoroughly recommend that you do not sign Micheal Owen, in the last 4 years at newcastle he has sat on the injury table and taken his big fat wages. The worst part is yet to come, he is/ was our club captain yet while we were in turmoil (before and after relegation) never once has he come out to apologise or even create some of sort of dialogue with the fans. In my opinion he has really fallen out of love with the game, and I think his attitude would be detrimental to the Villa dressing room; where success hungry players lie in the shape of Agbonlahor and Young. I wish Villa all the best for next season and genuinely hope you do well, however if you sign Micheal Owen who i view as an enemy of the game – i fear for you.

  2. valle on Tue, 9th Jun 2009 12:48

    3. I hope you guys do get Owen… You deserve him

  3. Longman1980 on Tue, 9th Jun 2009 12:50

    4. The question is, could we get him fit and get him on a run of games. 29 goals in 71 games is pretty impressive for the reasons you have given, but it is a risk. The question is is this a risk we are going to have to take. We are not in a position to sign no risk world class players because we do not yet have the Kudos or the wage structure to accomodate, but, we do need some world class talent to push us to the next level. A fit Michael Owen is world class without doubt and may just be the gamble we need to take.

    Saying that, I change my mind on him daily!

  4. kieran on Tue, 9th Jun 2009 12:55

    5. Lets play it safe and go for james beattie instead then.

  5. FatKevs on Tue, 9th Jun 2009 13:30

    6. Totally against the Owen Move as i was for Heskey & Davies.
    This is not money well spent with a huge sgning on fee & wages.
    He is reported to not be interested in apperance/goal incentives or an injury clause.
    He will bring more problems than, what 11goals a season, with time out is worth

  6. Andy Locchead in the Air on Tue, 9th Jun 2009 13:36

    7. If we get Owen on a free + £6m wages then I can’t see much of a downside. This is still less than we have shelled out for rubbish down the years, eg. Balaban, Harewood, Collemore. The upside is very exciting.

    Its world cup year and he will 100% committed to getting a last chance to play in a final. How many seasons have we cried out for someone who is deadly in the box – Owen is the man. Gabby and Fonzy can only learn from having him around, too.

  7. villarobin on Tue, 9th Jun 2009 14:02

    8. even if he comes of the bench he is a good player to have. Villa create so many chances, and miss half of them. Someone like owen doesnt miss those chances. It is a gamble, but we are getting him for free, so why the hell not !!

  8. Kiwivillan on Tue, 9th Jun 2009 14:44

    9. Why are people being negative. Look how the Heskey signing turned out. More exciting times at VP

  9. mak on Tue, 9th Jun 2009 15:32

    10. that makes sense buy a player that helped relegate newcastle, based on last year we should be looking to raise our standards not lower them

  10. James Piggford on Tue, 9th Jun 2009 16:29

    11. Be fair to him in his first year at newcastle he only made 11 appearances, and then his second season (06/07) he spent almost the entire season recovering from the crucuate injury he picked up at the world cup.
    In the last 2 seasons he has made a total of 62 appearances and scored 23 goals.
    Over that same period Carew has made 65 appearances (for a far superior Villa) and 28 goals.
    He played 27 league games this season (just gone) he only got 8 goals but I reckon if he could play that many games for us next year he would be a superb addition to the squad.

  11. Tony on Tue, 9th Jun 2009 17:35

    12. We need a striker that is going to play. Sturridge and/or Vagner Love me. Fonz out on loan for a season to get him up to speed and then he can replace Emil at the end of next year.

    As for Distin, I can see the logic in getting an experienced CB in to play alongside Cuellar or Davies. I think they are both useful CBs but Davies is too young to play without an expereinced (in the EPL) partner and Cuellar, similarly, needs a run with an experienced CB alongside. Having said that I would prefer either Scharner or Hangeland or better still both with Knight moving on.

  12. Si on Tue, 9th Jun 2009 17:40

    13. Sign him – there’s no signing on fee so give him a decent wage. I say a three year deal so we can ditch him if it goes to pot.

  13. expert on Tue, 9th Jun 2009 21:31

    14. It is important to take into account that we have an extremely small squad and that players signed should not be expected to play every game, I think Micheal Owen will be a good addition to the squad as we need experienced players on the bench for European matches and also as cover for injuries. We have fallen short this season not because of the ability of the first team but the lack of cover when injuries and tired legs crept in

  14. Juan Pablo Angel on Tue, 9th Jun 2009 23:37

    15. owen on a free with a massive wage cut could be very shrewd. we know he plays well with heskey and even if he doesn’t play every game he’d make a good impact player and an excellent source of experienced knowledge for players like young, agbonlahor and delfouneso who play in the same way with balls in behind. i’d be happy to see him at villa park over spending 6m on an average striker. I simply think that owen hasn’t been happy since he left liverpool. He didn’t play enough in madrid and didn”t even want to go to newcastle, he would have gone to man u, arsenal or back to liverpool for less money if you remember the rumours. the reason he’s on ridiculous money is because newcastle in their wisdom offered it to him!! Owen needs to enjoy playing football again and will probably appreciate the good team spirit at villa park under the tutelage of one of the best managers we seen in the last 20 yrs.

    On the other note i think Distin would be ok at 2m. I remember when O’leary tried to sign him and was a little gutted when he didn’t come. he’d be a good teacher for the likes of Davies etc. He also has a decent turn of pace for a 32 yr old and i think at that age he still has a couple of good seasons in him (Laursen was coming up for his 32nd birthday!) even if he isn’t perfect, he’d improve the current squad at a very rasonable price and provide a more clanger proof alternative to Knight, who I respect for his determination to improve if not for his questionable decision making. Hopefully there is still room for improvement though, look at the turnaround Bramble has made for Wigan…he mopped up at their end of season awards and so maybe hope for little old Zat yet. perhaps Bramble could be another option for MON?? Don’t sneer, just think about it.

  15. Steven Burton on Sun, 26th Jul 2009 1:49

    16. I wouldn’t mind gettin distin he’s not a bad defender but it doesn’t really show much ambition from MON, there are defenders out there who are 10yrs younger and are just as good e.g. micah richards, why not go for him. I get really frustrated during the transfer window cus I always expect some really exciting signing or atleast some ambitious efforts but MON seems to play it sensible and not pay over the odds, whereas in todays game you cant afford to do that if you want to get anywhere. I just wish MON would just shell out the cash for once and if we need to pay a bit more than the player is worth then so be it, just look at ashley young, we need more signings like that where everyone said we’d paid too much for him and he’s easily worth double that now.

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