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Lee Hendrie Still Wants To Be Villan

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Villa midfielder Lee Hendrie has told the Daily Mail he still has Villa at heart and wants to return.

The 29-year-old midfielder, currently on loan at Stoke, said:

‘I owe Tony Pulis and Stoke a lot. He has put his arm around me. He’s told me to enjoy myself and to score goals. I’m still Villa’s player and I’ll have to see what Martin O’Neill thinks. I’m 29, have six months left on my contract and Villa, as has happened in the past, haven’t come to sign a new one.’

‘I still think I can do it for a few more years in The Premiership. I’m going to give it a right go from now on.’

He also admits it hasn’t always been a smooth ride at Villa:

‘I’ve had my ups and downs like most people, but I’ve never done anything really nasty. People look at your reputation, though. I was young and everything happened so quickly. I was 21, playing Premiership football with a good contract and had played for England. You think to yourself: ‘I’ve made the right decisions until now, why should I listen to them? At times, I have deviated off the path. I’ve been wayward, but I’ve not been that bad. I just needed someone to give me a good smack back onto the right path.’

His future at Villa is certainly not clear, even with a lack of strength in depth, Martin O’Neill still hasn’t been re-called despite a 24-hour re-call clause in his loan contract.

Hendrie summed it up saying at his age, ‘I need to play. If I’m not, I start thinking about everything that goes on in my life. And, really, that’s where the problems start. If things are going well, I’m walking around with a spring in my step. That’s what it has been like these past three months. If I’m not playing, I’m miserable. I don’t want sympathy. I’ve brought all this on myself. I don’t like to bring anyone else into my problems.’

‘And the last two years have been two years I’d rather not go through again.’

I must admit I always find those sort of comments hard to take, he seriously wouldn’t like to go through the last two years ago? I know in relative terms they’ve not been good footballing wise, but he isn’t exactly on the breadline as a footballer, he must be on £20k a week, I bet some of the ex-Longbridge workers (etc etc etc) would swap positions!

What do you think, will Hendrie be part of our squad come the new season and more importantly, should he be?

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Walking Where Angels Fear To Tread