There are few phrases in football that get me thinking but I have just read one of them; 'Martin O'Neill is determined' and when it is associated with a player then I start to worry about what has gone wrong in the game.
It isn't that he gets it wrong all the time - it's that when Martin O'Neill becomes determined the money usually gets a bit silly when it really shouldn't. It also starts me wondering if the player is connected with Tony McGill.
I forget to say, the player Martin O'Neill is determined to sign is Celtic winger Aiden McGeady and I have no real opinion either way on Aiden McGeady - but he is a Republic of Ireland international and does like the goal.
You can also not really say for sure if a player can make the step up or not to the Premier League from Scotland without them getting a proper run in the team. Shaun Maloney didn't get a proper run - if this deal happens, I hope McGeady does.
Spurs Speculation
In more Sunday speculation - we are getting heavily linked to Robbie Keane again and his team mate, David Bentley. The Keane link shouldn't surprise and I know he is getting on a bit and the player we all would have loved five seasons ago - but he would still offer us something and he would still walk straight into our first team.
The David Bentley rumour also shouldn't surprise as he was the first choice for the right and we did make an offer for him before making an approach for James Milner. I also like Bentley and think he has it - but I'm not convinced there is anything in this - I don't think O'Neill goes back if he has failed with a player - but nothing O'Neill does really surprises any more.
Pass the Dutchie
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is a bit special and he isn't wanted in Italy and according to someone somewhere - he has been offered to us and seeing as he cost Milan €15mn it really does come down to the manager deciding if he is worth something similar.
Naturally, in our sell to buy policy, we would also have to complete the sale of Milner or offer up John Carew in exchange, but only if O'Neill decided he would want the player and that the rumour is true and that the player would want to come play for us.
What O'Neill will want to know is will the player run and run and we think he will, but O'Neill will need to hear it and believe it and then the player will need to be sold on Aston Villa. It is getting harder to sell Aston Villa, five seasons in, but we might have one last push in us.
So, a few rumours for Sunday and I'd quite like them all to be fair, but they wont all happen and we are sure some are just made up. But it is nice to think about them and us for a while.
Video of the Day
Only because we haven't done this in a while, {rokbox title=|Musical Youth :: Pass the Dutchie| text=|here is the video of the day.|size=|960 745| album=|demo|}http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt6V3Ic72nE&autoplay=1{/rokbox}