There was much delight amongst the Spurs blogging community at the news that Stewart Downing looks certain to join Villa. Though linked to us during every summer since we sold Cliff Jones to Fulham, Downing has never been someone that the majority of Tottenham fans have wanted at White Hart Lane.
So with Downing now safely at Villa Park, will this mean that Ashley Young will be allowed to leave? Not necessarily. Downing is injured until November and even when he comes back, Young is capable of operating in the middle of the pitch, just behind the striker. Martin O’Neill will also be mindful that Villa’s collapse last season, was in large part due to their small squad.
Even if Young does leave, Chelsea are rumoured to be interested (though you would think they already have enough options in his position). So we’ll see. Personally I’d love Young at Spurs, though I’d be perfectly happy for Modric to carry on playing on the left, as I felt that he was really growing into the role. The biggest shame is that we didn’t sign Young from Watford when we had the chance.
Another player that we’ve been linked with is Peter Crouch. The lanky striker now seems likely to join Sunderland and if that transfer goes through, I would expect us to sign Kenwyne Jones. Let’s face it, a Crouch/Jones strike partnership is never going to work, so Crouch is clearly being bought as a replacement.
It’s been claimed that we’ve turned down a £14m bid from Sunderland for Darren Bent, so some kind of swap deal seems likely. I’m a fan of Jones, though it does appear that he has a bit of an attitude problem. Still, this probably won’t manifest itself until Manchester City start sniffing around him in a couple of years, so in the meantime he should do the business for us.
