Olof Mellberg Looks For Silverware

Having completed 200 games for Aston Villa last weekend, Swedish international defender Olof Mellberg is looking to win some silverware in his next 100 at the mighty claret and blue.

The bearded wonder joined Villa from Racing Santander in the summer of 2001 for £5million.

He said of his 200 milestone: ‘I’m proud of the achievement. I haven’t counted the games myself and the only disappointment is I’d like to have played more games in European competitions, and the cups, which gives you even more matches. I don’t know how many of them have been in the cups but almost all of my games have been in the Premiership. Hopefully I’ll play a lot more games in the future.’

‘The previous clubs I’ve played for I’ve only been at for a couple of years. I got off to a good start when I first came here – I had a really good first season and just kept going. ‘I extended my contract after three years, but it’s been up and down and there have been a lot of changes. A lot of players and managers have come and gone, but I’ve stayed and it’s been great. ‘Now I’m looking to the future. With the start we’ve had and without many changes to the squad, I’m delighted and hopefully we can add to it in the future and be even better.’

Mellberg has one and half seasons left on his current contract but there are no worries as Martin O’Neill has already said he is aware of the situation.

Our former captain (replaced by Gareth Barry this season) added: ‘I still have a year and a half left on my contract and when I signed it my focus was on staying during that period, so we’ll just see what happens. We’ll see what the manager wants to do and take it from there. You never know in football because things can change so quickly in football, but we’re happy in England and have no other plans.’

‘Hopefully I can get to 300 games and have a medal around my neck – that would be really nice.’

Olof also names his top five highlights on the official site Click Here including his debut against Tottenham Hotspur, the derby win over Small Heath and scoring the first goal at the Emirates Stadium this season in our 1-1 draw with Arsenal.

I hope one day to get the bearded wonder to do an interview for Vital Villa, so if you are reading Ollie, contact me at editor@astonvilla.vitalfootball.co.uk !!!