Tuesdays Villa Transfer Talk – Owen/Distin?

Still loads of whispers about Michael Owen some saying he was in Birmingham meeting Villa reps and others claiming talks have taken place.

Now there was a response on the Official site yesterday saying that we hadn’t offered Owen a contract (Owen No Go For Villa?) but it certainly didn’t rule out a move or say that we weren’t going to offer him a chance to resurrect his career!

The Mirror today claim that Martin O’Neill has been given the green light from Villa owner Randy Lerner for a package they claim would be worth £3million a year to get the 29-year-old former Liverpool and Real Madrid striker. Owen is a free agent as of the end of this month and he can walk away from Newcastle United with reports suggesting MON is keen to get the Owen/Heskey partnership back together at Villa Park.

His record at Newcastle for being OFF the pitch is awful but if you look at the time ON the pitch, 71 games, he has 29 goals which isn’t a bad ratio at all. But how often could you keep him on the pitch and fit? The report says Villa will cover themselves just in case the old injury problems re-surface. Win win for Villa then maybe? Remember Newcastle United do seem to have had awful injury problems with many players over the last however many years with talk even going to how they train or the surface of the training pitches to find a reason.

So is Owen on the way? Who knows! I’d take the gamble because I’m not the one who is spending the money! :o)

The Daily Mail say that Villa will fight it out with Liverpool for the signing of Portsmouth defender Sylvain Distin. Would that not depend on whether Pompey are taken over by yet another rumoured billionaire? Some reports even suggest the prospective new owners want Spurs manager Harry Redknapp back…! I digress. The report claims that we are in the hunt for the 31-year-old French defender. Apparently Liverpool bid £2million for him next year.

The same report says Villa will not be following up on the rumoured interest in Wolves target Nenad Milijas, a rumour that we covered last week.

Another apparently ruled out is, as featured on Vital Villa by Vital Villan last night, Roland Juhasz. VV wrote: I’ve never heard of the player before, but apparently after our scouts saw him play the club have opted against making an offer for the Hungarian International. Roland Juhasz was lined up as a potential replacement for Martin Laursen, however after watching him in Aderlecht’s final match SSN are reporting that the club have lost interest. Juhasz himself is looking for a move, believing it would be good for his career. Full article:
Juhasz Off Our Shopping List