Aston Villa: Weekend transfer rumors round-up

Aston Villa continues to work the phones for several Premier League starters. Steve Bruce looks for improvements that fit Dr. Tony Xia’s budget plan. Moreover, an interesting tidbit on ex-manager Rémi Garde made the papers.

Southampton valued 21-year old striker Sam Gallagher at £7 million. If Bruce was interested, the sale of Jordan Amavi or Jordan Veretout could more than fund a potential transfer. Our partners over at Saints Marching explained it’s a do-or-die season for Gallagher with Claude Puel.

As we covered here before, Peter Crouch would an interesting fit in the Aston Villa squad. The Birmingham Mail say betting took place for a Crouch to Bodymoor Heath move. Jermain Defoe and Phil Jagielka were named as well, but the former will certainly return to the Premier League.

Defoe could have half of the PL interested in the England striker. He is hellbent on making England’s World Cup squad so staying in the top flight is wise for his career. Jagielka, however, is an interesting link. On paper, the 34-year old would fit in well with the claret and blues.

There is a problem with Jagielka’s age coupled with his right-footedness. He’s not an improvement over James Chester and at this point, maybe not even the left-footed Nathan Baker either.

The most interesting piece of news from the weekend comes from ex-Villa manager Rémi Garde. Garde, who took over from the fired Tim Sherwood 18 months ago, turned down the French Football Federation. The FFF offered Garde the National Technical Direcotr job above head coach Didier Deschamps.

That’s crazy new given the importance of the job. France currently has the most loaded network of young players in the entire world. Rémi Garde being offered the job speaks to his talent in nurturing and organizing youth players.

Next: Steve Bruce should pass on Ahmed Elmohamady

Finally, Aston Villa released their squad for the Hong Kong Soccer 7s.