Aston Villa linked with center back older than John Terry
By Josh Tonti
Former West Bromwich Albion stalwart Gareth McAuley is a free agent after being released from the relegated club. Aston Villa is but one club interested in the 38-year old’s services.
Gareth McAuley is perhaps the finest defender ever to hail from Northern Ireland.
Today, at 38 years young, the former West Bromwich Albion stalwart is a free agent after the the club cut ties with its central defender. Signed back in 2011, McAuley went on to make 227 appearances across all competitions, scoring 17 goals in the process. On the international stage, the defender is still a current member of the Green and White Army’s set-up with 79 caps. Miraculously enough, almost all occurred after the age of 30.
McAuley’s international career climaxed at Euro 2016 where Northern Ireland reached the knockout stages. But it is his club career that we focus on here: McAuley, now a free agent, is linked with both Steven Gerrard’s Rangers and Aston Villa.
It is a reasonable assertion that Aston Villa is interested in any free agent capable of doing a job in the English Championship. Considering the club’s financial woes, several loan players and the odd signing or two are expected to arrive this summer (coupled with a solid contingent of outbound player sales).
Villa Verdict:
McAuley played a mere 456 minutes of Premier League football this season. However, the season prior, at a spry age of 37, he played in 36 matches, scoring 6 goals from set pieces in the process.
I genuinely do not have an opinion on Gareth McAuley. He is older than John Terry, but he has a strong track record of health and reliability. He’s a threat from set pieces, akin to Terry. Moreover, he’s left-footed, an added skill the current Aston Villa squad does not possess. It feels like the club is reaching for scraps, and that very well might be the case. It’s impossible to project what this summer entails, but Villa could probably do worse than McAuley and Mile Jedinak as the club’s No. 2 and 3 center backs.
Age of the squad, however, would be a problem.