Three players who have gone out on loan this season will return to Aston Villa this week and will be asked to report back to training for the remaining 2-3 weeks. Tim Sherwood wants to assess the talents of Gardner, Bennett and Robinson before making a decision on their futures. Sherwood wants to analysis their traits and decided whether or not they have a place in Aston Villa’s team next season. Gary Gardner and Joe Bennett who played for Nottingham Forest and Brighton respectfully have all returned to Aston Villa with their club seasons already concluded. Callum Robinson will feature for Preston North End in their play-off games in the coming weeks.
Both Bennett and Gardner have 1 year left on their contract, and should they not feature in Sherwood’s plans both players won’t be short of suitors. Bennett has had a decent season for struggling Brighton and Watford has been linked with Bennett. While Nottingham Forest are keen on keeping Gardner.
‘It gives me an opportunity to have a look at them. I think it helps them out, helps the club out, helps every one out, for me to be able to do that. They haven’t got to wait till pre-season for me to give them a decision.
‘I remember seeing Gary Gardner years ago, he scored twice in an 18s game I watched against Arsenal – box to box player. I’ve watched him a couple times this season, he has been playing as more of a holding midfield player.
‘He’s just like his brother, likes to shoot anywhere on the field, both feet, good ball striker, I need to assess him at close hands.
‘I will know within ten days, two weeks whether he’s for me or not. I’m hoping he is and I’m hoping Bennett is as well – and Robinson depending on when he comes back.’
‘I think it’s been a very good loan. Simon Grayson and Preston have been excellent for him. He’s played first and foremost but he’s done well.’ – Tim Sherwood
Its positive that Sherwood is willing to give the likes of Bennett and Gardner a chance to impress the the new manager and sneak themselves back into Sherwood’s plans for next season. Unfortunately neither of these players can feature for Aston Villa in our remaining few games as neither player is registered. I think that Sherwood would be keen on keeping Gardner, I still believe he is a quality player and has scored some cracking goals for Nottingham Forest and has adjusted his play to a more defensive manner. Bennett would be competing and be compared to Villa’s other 3 left-backs, Kieran Richardson, Cissokho and Luna. Where does Bennett stand between those 3? If Bennett has matured enough he may have risen above Luna, so far it doesn’t seem as though Sherwood is convinced by Cissokho. But as of now, I think Bennett will be leaving the club at the end of the season. Robinson will certainly be rated by Sherwood, he is a young striker who has talent. He will be given some game time next season.
Meanwhile Darren Bent has not been asked to return to training after his loan with Derby has expired. But the situation around Darren Bent is much more complicated. Bent’s contract expires at the end of the season and Sherwood’s recent quotes neither support or reject Bent’s chances of a new contract. Bent is currently earning £70,000 and it will remain to be seen if Sherwood would rather spend that wage money elsewhere. Talk between Bent and Sherwood have already occurred but will most likely meet one more time after Aston Villa’s campaign ends in June.
“(Some of them) will come back before the end of the season. I know all about Darren so he’ll go on holiday (now). I don’t need him back, I can’t play him any way. These other boys I need to find out about, I need to assess them at close hands. I don’t need to know anything about Darren Bent.”
Fans may interpret this quote in two different ways, the first interpretation is that Sherwood rates Bent. He knows all about Bent, he terrorised Premier League defenders not too long ago and is a natural goal scorer. There is no need for Sherwood to assess Bent and knows what sort of player he is. Bent would most likely reduce his wages if he is keen on staying on with Aston Villa. The other interpretation is that Sherwood knows that Bent is not in his plans and his presence would not be beneficial. Perhaps is a sign to other clubs that Bent is available and give Bent to opportunity to begin negotiating with other clubs. I’m not sure where Sherwood stands, but I think it’s time to let Bent go. He doesn’t add anything to Aston Villa and I rate Kozak, Agbonlahor and Benteke above Bent. Callum Robinson is an up and coming player, I’d rather see Robinson gain more playing time in favour of Bent.
Always very forthright, always shares what he thinks .. Absolutely the best tonic now for villa fans. I worry though how it will go down when he shares an opinion not liked by villa fans?
He has more than earned our respect and almost everyone bar a few extremists from the 60s or attention seekers are willing to give him a full season or park their initial concerns they had. ( assuming we stay up no disasters occur, still serious work to do)
I think one of the reasons he was loathed by some spurs fans was the belief he had in himself which has not diminished one iota at villa. And the contrast he cast from the foreign, measured, censored big reputation managers they had before him.
Ultimately it looks like they are no better off since he left.
Delighted to see some fan snobbery shown up there!
But I have to wonder how quickly his approach won’t grate on nerves once/if we hit a dry/bad patch?
It’s the reason managers don’t share their thoughts like Sherwood these days. It gives them somewhere to go or say when things don’t go well
We shall see!
Bottom line is rightly or wrongly when you are winning games you can say whatever you like if you are losing games the things you said when you were winning will start to irritate fans.
Whatever a manager says when yr losing games irritates. Hopefully TS is learning more every day. His curve is quite steep…
It is obvious from the starting selections and subs used that work-rate counts for more than flair with TS. OK, so if he applies the same logic to the players on loan then Darren Bent is a very lazy player for £70k, a week and will not feature for us next season. Bennett too isn’t a tireless worker and I am afraid he blended in perfectly with a Brighton side flirting with relegation. Robinson is young and has to take a mighty step forward if he is to get any change from EPL defenders. I doubt he will make it. Gardner looks the best prospect and I will be surprised if we sell him.
Bent is an out and out striker but that’s what we paid for that was his job to score goals. Anything else us a bonus. Tbf he did score goals and as long as the other 10 are prepared to work harder to over him I see no problem in that as long as he scores of course
I know it’s unrelated to this post but can someone please just shut Roy Keane up – an utter failure as a manager and an assistant.
Just read that, a tired club? Yea tired of Keanes bollox.
He’s got a new updated book to promote. Have to be a complete moron to buy his book IMO if iv offended anyone on here that’s put money in his pocket then apologies
Agree talks absolute shite and the worst manager/coach ever IMO.
Sour grapes methinks.
Poor Roy didn’t exactly make an impact did he? Whereas Tim definitely has.
Oh he has a book out, means he’s probably offending as many people as possible then for the publicity. Shame always rated him as a captain and a player but he’s just too full of himself nowadays and with nothing to back it up.
Really sad.
UTV
Just read Keane comments on Villa. I think he was spot on calling us a tired club. He claims as we couldn’t challenge at the top we were just happy to avoid relegation. Ooh Ahh claims he talks shite, yet it sounds very much similar to what Ooh Ahhs been saying about villa for the past few years. I do agree with Ooh Ahhsand Roy Keane on this though but hope things will change next season.
Lets take the view that the team reflect the manager and coaching staff.
Don’t think there’s anything to be read into Sherwood’s comments on Bent: of course he already knows better than most people what Bent is capable of, and at the same time would probably want to reduce that apparent £70k/week wage bill.
Two points come to my mind about the situation:
1] Suspect that Sherwood/Villa will want to know whether we can keep Benteke after the summer; if he’s definitley going to leave, then Sherwood might want to build next season’s team around Bent as a short-term replacement. If Benteke commits to stay another year or two, then imagine that Bent will be let go – unless he offers to stay around for a much-reduced salary.
2] It’s easy to judge Bent based on his last year or so under Lamber -‘lazy’,’ineffectual’, etc. – but we were mostly all saying the same about every other player in the squad before Sherwood managed to resurrect them – Agbonlahor, N’zog, even Delph and Benteke! I’ve no doubt that if Sherwood made Bent into a key part of a suitable team set-up again, we’d see a much more effective player.
What on earth do we make of this story from Sky news
http://news.sky.com/story/1479493/ex-arsenal-captain-adams-eyes-villa-takeover
Andy Gray was trying to find investment too, I don’t think anyone is giving Adams money, nor do I think Lerner would sell to him. Unless he finds someone to buy the club and then invest money on transfers, and lets him run the place. Which would be pointless. About as stupid a story as Carver claiming he’s the best manager in the league.
We are linked to Chinese investors again though, who also want to buy Malaga.
Omg have u seen this tony piss head Adams taking us over ffs http://news.sky.com/story/1479493/ex-arsenal-captain-adams-eyes-villa-takeover
He’s not going to take us over. It’ll be someone who can afford us, Tony Adams can’t come close. It’s also a former Chelsea director involved. Adams of course is the one making the headline. Lerner’s not going to sell to him. Fox isn’t going to agree it, neither will banks, unless they have a rich investor.
Just don’t want a consortium I’d rather have Lerner tbh
Depends on the type of consortiums, they’re not all bad in fairness. Neither are all yank or Asian owners.
Disagree consortiums are businessmen out there to make money end off. Even fox has hinted it won’t be any different with new owners
That last part wasn’t aimed at you, just that people think because of the likes of Lerner and Birmingham City’s owner that they’re all bad, money hungry businessman.
Hope it’s not true fox saying status quo remains the same because of FFP so no matter who takes us over we are screwed. http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-takeover-news-arsenal-9201688?
Mate, relax, breathe, calm down for a second. He’s not taking over. He won’t be our owner. If a former player like Gray can’t get investment and not even to own the club, just find someone to buy Villa, why would some rich investor buy the club for Adams?
Not the point ray ransom tried something similar
apparently its 75million up front with the rest as new debt for the club with one of the big banks sorting it out what the fuck have the glaziers brought to English football never thought i would say this “in Lerner we trust”
agree Lerner not looking a bad option now
just read another take on this it appears they are one of several bids awaiting the news that Aston villa are still a premier league club
The more I hear about different supposed ‘buyers’ the more it seems to me that we’ve gone full-circle and are back where we started when Lerner first officially announced that he was looking to sell: there’s no definite buyer doing due-diligence and just waiting to find out whether Villa are still in the Premier League next season.
May be wrong, but a couple of month ago the rumours seemed to have settled around a particular un-named investor or consortium who were well-advanced in the process; now it seems that we’re being linked with anybody and everybody?
Just add this link to the already lengthy list of possible links to buying us since Randy put us up for sale.load of speculative Bollox
Lets hope so Giddy, I can’t stand the idea of the Villa being saddled with a load of debt just because there is a different owner at the helm…. Would prefer Randolph to stay than us Gamble with a load of debt.
Disagree this is actually on sky news Bham mail and radio channels. There must be some truth
But they all lead with…”Sky News have reported…” They don’t seem to have their own sources…
£75m of shares and £75m of debt ….. better the devil you know ! me thinks
Saddened you took the words out my mouth MATE, ‘ the devil you know ‘.
We’ll know more after achieving PL survival,will the lure of the TV money be too much for Randy to hang around a bit longer.how long has Everton been up for sale now????
Really don’t know the ins and outs of this one but Pat Murphy reported it on the BBC and that might mean something….or not.
Just thinking about 3 points tomorrow and nothing else. Another crucial game but I really think we’ll do it. One more win and we should be there, especially if Everton do us a favour and beat Sunderland.
UTV
Pat totally agree priorities first MATE,3 points Saturday a must.baggies should dispose of Sunderland.I’ve got a feeling Burnley will do hull.onwards & upwards UTV
I meant Everton not the baggies FFS
Think the baggies will be in their flip flops and mentally on the beach. i can see Sunderland getting something, even a win there, despite being a shambles. A win against West Ham would be enough for us I think.
On the offer for the club, I finally feel there is some truth in the rumours. Clearly, staying up is crucial. If we get relegated Lerner will be stuck with us and vice versa.
Once our Prem status is confirmed, this will all hot up, and there may be some competition to buy us. I’m not getting too excited about it though, as i feel it is at least as likely to make things worse as better.
Bottom line is that no matter who’s in charge because of FFP there is no way of ever seriously competing again for major honours.
‘Seriously competing for major honours’????
What the f*** is the FA Cup then if not a major honour? And I think we’ll seriously compete for it.
As for the league I’d settle for a couple of seasons of mid-table mediocrity while TS builds up the team.
Might even be better though, TS has got us winning games without spending a penny what might he accomplish with 30-40 million?
Sherwood won’t sustain it. We won’t win cup not a chance and FA cup is no longer a major honour finishing 4th is more imp ESp as it will be Emirites cup next season says it all.
Ooha stop being defeatist it don’t suit you.
Realistic is the word giddy
Agree these capitalist vultures will be no better if not worse than Lerner. Expect them to spend reasonably in summer to get us all on side then it will be the usual 5-10 m to keep us up while the greedy bstards take in sky money
Last word on Roy Keane. Response from TS via the BBC a few minutes ago –
Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood has cheekily hit back at comments made by the club’s former assistant manager Roy Keane.
In his updated autobiography, Keane claims Sherwood was turning up at matches at Villa Park to position himself for the role should the club’s former manager Paul Lambert fail.
But Sherwood believes he went to 30 to 40 matches, spanning a number of clubs, and added: “If that’s a formula to get work then next time I’m out of a job I’m going to turn up at the Nou Camp or the Bernabeu.”
Touché.
Lol! Tim rocks!!!
Lerner has flown in was at bodymoor this morning and spoke to Sherwood club say it was a a pre- arranged visit the plot thickens
I am fairly certain that Tony Adams will be at Wembley. I suspect a chant is already being Ehoned by those Holte end fog-horns concerning which of the clubs he thinks is worth buying.
But on the subject of a purchase, the technology is already in place to have perimeter advertising which is coded to camera, meaning that the spectators in the stadium and those viewing television feeds on different cameras see different adverts which are all ‘there’ simultaneously. Chinese Gambling sites, Yankee insurance and Thai breweries for example. The revenue for the adverts seen on Sky, BT sport or MOTD as well as the paying fans will be controlled by the current TV deals to avoid conflicts of interest, but the adverts going abroad will be a revenue stream for each club. £150 million is peanuts, expect more bidders if that is a price at which Lerner will sell.
Bid being reported on BBC and Pat Murphy quoted as saying it’s being taken seriously in ‘the City’ – make of that what you will.
Consortium led by Paul Smith ex Chelsea Director and an expert on revenue producing deals with a high profile deal record in the Prem. Supposedly backed by blue chip investors.
Article says Adans would be brought in re ‘footballing affairs’ but no threat to TS.
Who knows except I suspect the way TS has us playing has woken the market up.