Villa player loan watch

[Mister E]

almost certain that Grealish will be called up to the next irish senior squad. MON was quoted as saying he was seriously considering bringing him into the squad for the recent Serbia game. Grealish was by all accounts outstanding in the preceeding u21 game and unfortunately the Irish squad is very low on quality at present. Grealish is being hyped as the next great white hope so I imagine MON will be under pressure to cap him asap.
 

MON will call him up and then play him at right back ...
Keep the young lad as far away as possible from him, would be my advice.

[Dave Cooper please]

Grealish will win a lot more caps for Ireland than he will for England, and let's face it, he has just as a much chance of winning a tournament with Ireland.

[paul_e]

almost certain that Grealish will be called up to the next irish senior squad. MON was quoted as saying he was seriously considering bringing him into the squad for the recent Serbia game. Grealish was by all accounts outstanding in the preceeding u21 game and unfortunately the Irish squad is very low on quality at present. Grealish is being hyped as the next great white hope so I imagine MON will be under pressure to cap him asap.
 

MON will call him up and then play him at right back ...
Keep the young lad as far away as possible from him, would be my advice.

Be fair, if there's 1 position on the field that MON has managed to get consistently good performances from it's his wingers.

I'll join with the king of Sweden on this, from what I've seen of him Grealish has the ability to be special, his close control is fantastic and he shifts his balance brilliantly to get past people.  What he needs to show is that he has the desire and mental strength to keep pushing on.  That's been our Achilles heel with the previous false dawns (except for Gardner where it's been plain bad luck so far), we get kids who look like world beaters but never make the step up to the reality of the premier league.  If we can get Grealish over that hurdle then he'll be a great player.

[supertom]

Just regarding Fonzie, it's really disappointed me that he hasn't been smashing them in for fun at a lower level. There seems to be something, be it determination, desire, or something else, that's holding that boy back. When he broke into MON's side he looked like a clinical finisher and seemed to have lots of potential, his goals to minute ratio under MON was actually quite good. Comfortable with the ball too.

I really hope his first goal for Cov will kick him on for the remainder of this season. However he's had so much time to impress in the Championship and come up pretty short, if he can't stand out in L1 at his age, he'll have problems. It's a shame. He seems destined to go the Moore route, more likely Stefan than Luke too.

[BoskoDjembaSalifou]

My main memory of Delfouneso will be that shot at St. Andrews that hit the bar. Gutted it didn't go in as I feel it may have given him the confidence to kick on. Oh well!

[paul_e]

His biggest problem was that MON just didn't trust him enough to give him some game time when it mattered.  He had potential and looked a great young talent but we only ever saw him in early rounds of the cups or for a couple of minutes late in the game, all whilst players like Harewood and Heskey were playing regularly.  I doubt he'd have had any complaints about being behind Gabby and Carew but seeing the club spend a fortune to bring in Heskey and push him down the list can't have been good for his confidence and that tied in with the point where he started to look disinterested.

[supertom]

O Neill definitely should have handled him better in the Premier League. I would also say that Fonzie just seems a soft touch too. I think he was easily bullied by defenders at this level. One good knock and he'd go hiding. He could hold his own, where-as Gabby has always stood up pretty well to the physical side of this level. Fonzie just lacks a touch of aggression. Similar to the Moores I guess. A couple of times in O Neills final season, Fonz actually seemed to played quite well alongside Heskey. Heskey took away a lot of physical pressure as he does for a strike partner at his best, and Fonzy enjoyed it. I'm thinking of the FA cup tie with Blackburn IIRC, and when both came on against Portsmouth. He scored in both. 
But certainly, better handling between 08-10 and more minutes in the league to get him physically ready, and he could have kicked on. He's a player with a bit more skill and technical ability perhaps than Weimann for example, but Andi's workrate and determination means he's become a key player for us. Even when he's not playing well at least he's not hiding.

[eastie]

I'm not sure Fonz has the desire or hunger to really make It at the highest level - seems too laid back to me.

[brian green]

I always felt Fonz was not (is not) hungry enough He seems to be happy to be a nearly man. Such a shame.

[Ron Manager]

Some kids forge a very good career at the lower levels. Remember Martin Carruthers who played and scored consistently for a couple of clubs when he left us. However Delfouneso gives the impression that a bit of skill and the occassional goal is all it takes. File under Stephen Cooke.

[Dante Lavelli]

Wasn't the fonz given a pretty hefty contract too? After that I'd imagine it's quite easy to lose some focus and hunger.

[dekko]

Wasn't the fonz given a pretty hefty contract too? After that I'd imagine it's quite easy to lose some focus and hunger.

I haven't read any solid info on this (although you rarely do about contracts) but he signed his last contract in July 2011.  Before that, he signed a contract in '09.  So assuming he was on O'Neill wages in '09, and that he didn't take a pay cut when he re-upped in '11, I imagine he's on fairly good money.  Maybe whatever Bannan was on, or what Clark was on before the summer.

[Handsworth Wood Villa]

Grealish will win a lot more caps for Ireland than he will for England, and let's face it, he has just as a much chance of winning a tournament with Ireland.

If he chooses Ireland he may never get to play at the World Cup.

And he is English after all.

Hopefully he is playing for us at the start of next season and he can get into the England U21s.

[adrenachrome]

Brum Mail

Villa youngster Samir Carruthers ruled out until summer with knee injury

Boss Paul Lambert confirms Bodymoor Heath graduate out for the rest of the season after suffering posterior knee problem on loan at MK Dons

Mar 13, 2014 22:31 By Mat Kendrick

Samir Carruthers has been ruled out of action for the rest of the season after suffering a serious injury on loan with MK Dons.

Carruthers was forced to cut short his season-long spell in League One and return to Aston Villa last month when he sustained the posterior knee problem.

Villa manager Paul Lambert confirmed that the 20-year-old Bodymoor Heath graduate would be sidelined at least until the summer.

“He’s got a posterior knee injury so Samir will be out for the rest of this season,” confirmed Lambert.

“It’s pretty bad. He was doing all right, I think he enjoyed being out playing men’s football, but that’s what can happen. We just have to get him back fit.”

Carruthers made 28 appearance for MK Dons, scoring twice and being booked four times for the League One play-off contenders.

The Ireland under-21 midfielder is contracted to Villa until summer 2015, having signed a new two-year deal last July.

He is yet to make a competitive first team appearance under Lambert, with his last claret and blue action coming almost two years ago in April 2012.

Carruthers was handed a debut by Alex McLeish as a substitute at Liverpool and also stepped off the bench for cameos at Manchester United and West Brom.

[SoccerHQ]

Really bad news for Carruthurs that, was looking for him and grealish to be part of our 18 next year.

The Fonz should've been loaned out for the season in 09/10 instead of just warming the bench that year especially as we were knocked out of europe in August that year.

He missed a year of playing and low and behold when we had a striker injury crisis the next season and he was thrown in he looked undercooked.