Gary Gardner - Retired

[villadelph]

Looks a very rash move selling albrightin now, doesn't it? Similarly the lad that went to Wales whittingham was it?

To be honest I'd still take Grealish, Traore, and Sinclair in his place on match day.

[robbo1874]

Maybe, but it would have been good to see if Sherwood could have got him back to his best. My memory isn't the best, but as I recall he seemed to be one of our better players in that spell of utter dross under lambert. Maybe Sherwood could have got the kind of improvement out of him that the likes of cleverly and Delph showed. Bye the bye now anyway. I still think we should have kept him.

I saw traores goal that someone posted on here- it looked a cracking run, but seemed fortunate to me that the shot went in- shit goalkeeping? One of those every couple of games would be very welcome though this season to make up for losing benteke.

[Dave]

i fully expect gardner to go down the albrighton, bannan, lihaj, herd, hogg, lowry, weimann route

And if he does and because of this new contract we get say, £3m for him a la Weimann, rather than nothing a la Albrighton then that makes this a good thing, right?

[oswald funkletrumpet]

i fully expect gardner to go down the albrighton, bannan, lihaj, herd, hogg, lowry, weimann route

And if he does and because of this new contract we get say, £3m for him a la Weimann, rather than nothing a la Albrighton then that makes this a good thing, right?

if we get 3 million?

because weimanm was an establishdmd albeit shit pl player and we got what 1.5 million

[Dave]

i fully expect gardner to go down the albrighton, bannan, lihaj, herd, hogg, lowry, weimann route

And if he does and because of this new contract we get say, £3m for him a la Weimann, rather than nothing a la Albrighton then that makes this a good thing, right?

if we get 3 million?

because weimanm was an establishdmd albeit shit pl player and we got what 1.5 million

£2.75m. With his contract with us ending at the end of this season.

Whatever any hypothetical future transfer fee for Gardner might be, do you think that it will be more or less than the £0 that we would get if his contract just expires?

[Dante Lavelli]

The opportunity cost being the extra (guessing 5k * 52 weeks) 250k per year.  I was surprised when I read the news but it's a good bit of business by the club.

[footyskillz]

Gards will get a chance if not success then will be just as good as brother Gary but playing prem footy regular

[RussellC]

The new contracts for the likes of baker and Gardner are just good business and footballing sense IMO. It's win-win. Either they fail to progress and we sell them at a profit, or they do progress and they remain contracted to us. This has been common-practice at clubs like Spurs for ages now, and it's good to see us finally start to look after our assets in this sense.

People seem to write footballers-off at the top level if they're not outstanding by the time they're 21. Look at Ryan Mason - 5 separate loan-spells in the lower leagues before breaking into the Spurs team at 24, and now on the door-step of the England squad. Gardner's injuries have held-him back massively, but we'd be crazy to let him go for free and then watch him develop into a Premiership player with somebody else, without us even getting a fee for him.

[Drummond]

Gards will get a chance if not success then will be just as good as brother Gary but playing prem footy regular

What does that actually mean?

[Drummond]

Looks a very rash move selling albrightin now, doesn't it? Similarly the lad that went to Wales whittingham was it?

To be honest I'd still take Grealish, Traore, and Sinclair in his place on match day.

You need to change your username, Villacunt is offensive.

[ClaretAndBlueBlood]

underwhelmed.

nothing against the kid but injury prone and nothing special whenever ive watched him. cant see him making the bench and no point loaning him out

if you've only ever seen him play for the first team, then you've never seem him play in his preferred position of centre midfield where he looked a cut above anyone else on the pitch in the NextGen games. Needs a long injury free run either with us or out on loan

[passitsideways]

underwhelmed.

nothing against the kid but injury prone and nothing special whenever ive watched him. cant see him making the bench and no point loaning him out

if you've only ever seen him play for the first team, then you've never seem him play in his preferred position of centre midfield where he looked a cut above anyone else on the pitch in the NextGen games. Needs a long injury free run either with us or out on loan

wasn't the NextGen stuff after his first knee reconstruction and before his second one? Not uncommon for players to regain their athleticism after one major knee injury but I suspect it's more dicey after the second one. Certainly, all the reports seem to suggest that he's slowed down, which makes playing a more dynamic central midfield role difficult.

[Matt Collins]

Needs a chance after his form at forest

He does look painfully slow though.

[footyskillz]

Gards will get a chance if not success then will be just as good as brother Gary but playing prem footy regular

What does that actually mean?

It means fellow that GG will have opportunity for 1st team involvement like craig and mark albrighton. And if not works out then i predict hel go on to have a succesfful career in premier league with another club at a better success then brother gary. Basically he wont be playing for blues or baggies!!

[adrenachrome]

Brum Mail

Aston Villa midfielder has shown me what a fantastic footballer he is, says Tim Sherwood

The 23-year-old midfielder could be set of a recall in the coming weeks after recovering from injury


    17:00, 20 Oct 2015
    Updated 20:16, 20 Oct 2015
    By Gregg Evans


Gary Gardner is pushing for a first-team recall after impressing boss Tim Sherwood in training.

The 23-year-old has shaken off an ankle injury sustained in the pre-season win over Swindon Town and is close to reaching full fitness.

Villa rewarded Gardner with a new contract this summer after he proved his worth on loan in the Championship last season.

And now Sherwood is seriously considering naming him in the squad in the coming weeks should his recovery continue as expected.

“He’s shown me what a fantastic footballer he is since he’s re-joined the group (in training) and he’s got every chance of featuring,” said Sherwood.

Those words have pleased the Solihull-born star who is determined to make up for lost time this year.

Last season he enjoyed spells at Brighton and Nottingham Forest and it was his form at the City Ground that particularly caught Sherwood’s eye.

The Villa boss watched Gardner score four goals in 18 appearances which prompted him to take a closer look at the middle man on the pre-season tour of Portugal.

A place in the squad was as good as guaranteed until a horror tackle sidelined him for two months.

“It’s been eight weeks now so I’m starting to forget about it,” Gardner told the Birmingham Mail.

“The manager is one of the best I’ve ever worked with and he’s said I’ll get my chance and I believe him.

“You have got to have trust in the managers these days

“I think he’s been fair to a lot of the players here.

“I have to work hard, it’s up to me. I believe that I do work hard and hopefully my chance will come.”

Gardner will compete with Ashley Westwood, Idrissa Gana and Jordan Veretout for a space in the middle of the park.

His ability to score goals and create from set pieces will further enhance his chances and he’s determined to win a place in the team on merit rather than because of a drop of form elsewhere.

“I want to come back into a winning team,” Gardner said.

“I wouldn’t want anyone to do bad, I want the team to do well.

“The talent here is very high. It’s just not going our way at the minute.

“I want to be kept on my toes and earn my place.

“I want to be there on merit. I don’t want to be there because the other players aren’t performing.

“We’ve got a lot of talent here and hopefully I can add to that.”