Villa Sign Crocked Winger, But Is He Worth The Gamble?

The summer of silly spending is continuing at full steam and this time Aston Villa have got in on the act by signing winger Stuart Downing, despite him arriving in the Midlands on crutches.

In a desperate attempt to jump on the transfer bandwagon, Villa boss Martin O’Neill has gambled on the England international, even though the winger is recovering from a broken foot, inflicted in the penultimate game of last season by future team mate Stiliyan Petrov.

It seems as though O’Neill felt he could sign the damaged Downing with less competition now, than if he had waited until the January transfer window opened. However, perhaps the reason that there was so little competition for the winger is that he’s just not good enough.

Admittedly Downing has been capped 25 times for his country, which is certainly a considerable feat. It does help though when the manager of the national side who gave you the majority of your caps was your former club manager.

Perhaps a sceptical point of view, but I find myself struggling to think of the attributes that supposedly make Downing one of the best left wingers in the country.

Sure he can strike a ball well and he can kick it with his left foot, which is a confusing rarity in the Premier League, but other than that I am at a loss as to what else he can really offer.

This isn’t to say that he’s a complete waste of space; he’s a solid player who does enough. That though is probably his biggest flaw, he just does enough.

A winger you expect to be exciting, to take players on, dazzle defences with their pace and posses an ability to create something out of nothing and I just don’t see this in Downing. For most football fans he is the player who comes on for England with 15 minutes left and has little impact on the game.

He will keep hold of the ball and stick to his position, but apart from one game last season against Liverpool, where stand-in right back Martin Skrtel took leave of all his football senses, I struggle to re-call a time when Downing gave the defence a really good run around.

Often, or at the very least sometimes, you hear of fellow international wide players such as Theo Walcott or Aaron Lennon troubling defences with their pace and aggressive running with the ball, Joe Cole’s threat in the box and Ashley Young’s skill and trickery on the ball and ability to create a chance on goal, but rarely do I hear this of Downing.

£12 million is a considerable chink of change and for that money the fans will expect results, after all the Villa faithful have had Ashley Young on the left to admire and coo over for the past two seasons and he cost a few million less at £9.75 million. Expectations will be even higher if Young is tempted away by a club with Champions League football, leaving Downing to provide the threat from the flanks.

For a team that is expected to finish in the top half and challenge for a European place, Downing might do just enough to earn a start in the team, but whether it will be enough for Mr Capello, who expects nothing less than everything, will be a doubt.

Posted By Dan Mobbs - Friday July 17, 2009.
Tags: Stewart Downing, Aston Villa