4 players and none is Heskey, cant be all bad --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Home Sport Football Football Hotline O'Neill has old Aston VIlla mates on transfer shortlist Dec 11 2011 by Alan Nixon, The People Add a commentRecommend Richard Dunne Martin OâNEILL is ready to raid his old club Aston Villa next month to kick his Sunderland *revolution into gear. The new Black Cats boss has earmarked FOUR Villa players as possible *targets in defenders Carlos Cuellar, Richard Dunne and James Collins, plus skipper Stiliyan Petrov â all of whom he signed for the Midlands club. And OâNeill is confident he can land one of the *defenders in Januaryâs *transfer window. People Sport revealed last week that OâNeill *desperately needs a new striker at the Stadium of Light, with Fulham hitman Andrew Johnson, 30, at the top of his list. Villa, too, have joined a number of clubs *interested, among them QPR and Blackburn. And we can *reveal that *representatives of Paris Saint-Germainâs 24-year-old hitman Mevlut Erdinc, have been in touch with Sunderland about a deal. But OâNeill also has to *tighten up at the back after seeing his sideâs frailty first-hand at Wolves last weekend. He signed Cuellar from Rangers for *£7.8million in August 2008. The Spaniard is out of *contract next summer and *despite *insisting he will see out the deal, Villa would prefer to *accept £2m now *rather than Cuellar going on a free in June. OâNeill bought Dunne, now 32, for Villa from Manchester City in 2009 in a £5m deal and would love the Republic of Ireland man with him on Wearside. Centre-back partner Collins, 28, joined from West Ham around the same time â and the pair made their debuts in a 1-0 derby defeat of Birmingham. Midfielder Petrov was also a key member of OâNeillâs successful side at Celtic *before *joining his old boss at Villa for £6m in 2006. McLeish wonât want to lose key players but said this week he must sell before he can buy in January. Ideally, he would prefer the likes of Cuellar and Ciaran Clark, and *midfielder Stephen Ireland, off his books. But McLeish may be tempted to sell on one of his first-team regulars if a *decent offer comes in as he tries to put his own stamp on Villa.
Can't wait! Whatever the result the atmosphere will be better than it has been recently. Interesting to see what team MON selects. James McLean, Ryan Noble, David Meyler could all be within a shout. Titus could even play if O'Shea is out...
The press must have been well miffed when Mon said him and Ellis never mentioned money when they met. They've now got to start and invent stuff to sell their rags. Nothing new there then. Their are no clues as to who we may or may not sign, so the easy option is to just print stuff about his old players at Villa. Who is available or has a contract coming to an end, then link us with them. We will be linked to muzzy izzet before long ffs. Pathetic. I'm ignoring any speculation as I'm more interested to see what he can do with the current squad and especially with those like gardener, vaughan, noble and McClean for instance. Can't wait for todays game. This is a dream appointment for me and the sight of Mon in our dugout today will be amazing. Mon red & white army.
ES and MoN had to have talked about a transfer kitty when they were discussing terms. MoN would have wanted to know how much he could work with to rebuild the squad (it's his reputation that's on the line here), and Ellis would want to know that when he appoints MoN and all his backroom staff, that MoN wouldn't kick up a stink about not being about to rebuild and move the team forward. It just makes business sense. And Ellis is a very good businessman. For him to have not talked about this, it would have been a massive oversight on his part as chairman and owner. My own personal opinion is that ES and MoN agreed to say that a transfer budget was never talked about, so that other teams can't overcharge when it comes time in Jan, and so that the focus can purely be on the squad we have now and pushing forward with winning games and moving up the table. If MoN in interviews said that it 'genuinely' wasn't talked about, that would defo shut the journo's up so they can start asking important questions instead of whats going to happen in a months time.
I'm sure all the other Premier teams will realise this as well. However, whilst I'm sure MON will buy some new faces in January, a couple of good results (startng today) will show he is not 'desperate' to sign players, so hopefully we will not be held to ransom!
Does anyone believe the sorry lazy journo rubbish...........do you really think that oneil thinks that our defence is the priority...i dont think so (maybe a left back if hes got the dosh)its a quality striker x2 and two attacking midfielders thats where the dyke needs plugging not the bloody defence......we have a top 8 goal difference and if we loose its by an odd goal usually caused by lack of concentration.I think that our goalkeeper ,defence and defensive midfield players are up to standard for a top half finish............we are creating chances but just not putting them away simples
I have just said the same to my OH! Can not wait. On a side note I caught the last 15 mins of Sunday Supplement and was not impressed. Not sure who Paul Smith (?) is but he talked about MON and Sunderland like a typical lazy southern journo. Did you know that MON cannot deliver if he doesnt spend £40 million and no players want to come to Sunderland anyway??? Nearly drove me to swear at the telly!!
For all that it's usual journo horse ****, i'd love us to sign Collins. The most underrated defender, maybe even player, in the league, cracking CB.
