Itandje – Only Spin or Villa Keeper?

At least when Aston Villa are linked with players that we know something about we can make a decision as to whether they’d fit into the squad – but what about when an obscure player from the continent is linked?

Apologies in advance to French readers of Vital Villa, and also to those who have a far deeper understanding of the French game than myself, but I doubt many know much about Lens goalkeeper Charles Itandje.

According to L’Equipe, a French newspaper that contains more links than Google, Aston Villa are now the favourites to sign the 24-year-old – though given Itandje now appears to be Lens’ third-choice shot-stopper it seems unlikely.

Add that to the claim by Sky Sports that Birmingham, Derby, Racing Santander and Real Zaragoza are just some of a number of clubs chasing Itandje’s signature, it seems this speculation has more to do with an agent engineering a move than any real interest shown by Villa.

However, it once again shows the swings-and-roundabouts nature of the summer transfer season. Only yesterday fans were debating whether Martin O’Neill should make an offer of around £9million for Hearts’ Scotland international keeper Craig Gordon and now this…a third-choice Frenchman of seemingly little acclaim.

It should be noted that yesterday’s talk of Gordon moving to Sunderland may have been premature, and perhaps Villa could still make a move. Though getting an under-contract player out of Tynecastle is about as easy as getting a declaration of expenses report out of an MP.

But let’s forget about it all for a while and enjoy the United States of America…Land of the Free (transfers, perhaps…)!