I thought I’d put up a quick post for several reasons. Firstly, to announce that the club have been linked with a loan move for Venezuelan footballer José Salomón Rondón who plays for Malaga.

Rondón is a forward who has a career record of one goal in three. Reports are linking him as a short term loan replacement for Emile Heskey which could, by that rationale, clear the way for Emile to leave before the end of his contract.

In terms of believability, I’m not overly convinced. Given the fact that McLeish has said any contract negotiations with Heskey will wait till the end of the season, the only possibility of Rondón making the move would be if a club had made an early bid for Emile, with a loan making sense both in terms of numbers, and in keeping with the current financial restrictions in place.

My concern with footballers coming to England who are from Central or South America is that their success rate in settling is somewhat mixed. For every Javier Hernandez, there is a Juan Sebastián Verón, for every Juan Pablo Angel, there is a Diego Forlan.

That isn’t to say that Verón or Forlan aren’t good footballers, indeed they are both talented, but sometimes players do not suit the English style or, as is probably more likely the case, don’t suit the climate. Thus it is no surprise that the best South Americans prefer to play in La Liga or Serie A, largely because the weather is far closer to that of their home country than England ever will be.

Do I think Rondón could work? Sure. He may well have the ability to play well in the Premier League, much like Juan Pablo Angel did for part of his Villa career, but the combination of it being a loan (unless it is a loan-to-buy) and the fact that he has never played in a league any further north than Spain makes me wary.

So maybe Rondon could be calling, if you’ll pardon the clearly Clash inspired headline, but will it happen? I’m not convinced.

Competition Winner

As many of you will be aware, the entrance to our competition to win a copy of Richard Lee’s book “Graduation” finished on Wednesday. Therefore I am pleased to announce that Clifford Dubberley, known on site as “cliffdubbs” is the winner of the book. I’ve contacted the winner, as well as speaking to Richard, and hopefully the book will be sent out next week. So congratulation Cliff, and enjoy the book.

All that is left is to look forward to tomorrow’s game. I’ll be putting up a preview in the morning, so look out for that. I think Villa could spring a surprise at the Emirates, what with our record there being the best of any club in the Premier League, combined with our (comparatively) great away form.

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