McLeish to endear himself to Villa fans with transfer targets
Published:Alex McLeish hasn’t enjoyed the best of starts to his Aston Villa career but things look on the up with a number of targets set to arrive next week.
Having lost Ashley Young and Stewart Downing, McLeish needs to bring in new arrivals ahead of the new season or face more wrath from the Villa faithful.
Charles N’Zogbia looks likely to be McLeish’s first major recruit of the summer after Villa tabled a £10m bid for the Wigan winger on Friday, and Shay Given was at Villa yesterday for a medical.
The Manchester City goalkeeper is all set to join Villa in £3.5m deal and his signature will be a real coup for the Villa fans who had become tired of the ageing Brad Friedal’s mistakes.
The Aston Villa board are also preparing a big for West Ham’s Scott Parker and Tottneham Hotspur’s Alan Hutton and the club are confident of tying up deals for both players next week.
Peruvian winger Juan Manuel Vargas is also high on McLeish’s shopping list and Fiorentina can expect a bid to head their way soon.
Randy Lerner has assured McLeish that all of the £20m gained from Downing’s sale will be put towards transfers, and next week looks likely to be a busy one for the club’s marketeers.
Losing Young and Downing has been a huge blow for Villa and there are plenty of punters who believe the 16/1 for Villa to be relegated is a huge price.
However is McLeish gets his targets this Villa squad looks more than capable of surviving and the target will be bettering their ninth-placed finish last season.
