Don’t read too much into Dean Marney training with Aston Villa
By Josh Tonti
Veteran midfielder Dean Marney is training with Aston Villa Football Club to get back in shape.
Former Burnley and Hull City central midfielder Dean Marney is training with Aston Villa at the moment. Marney, 34, is making strides after a second serious knee injury ruled him out for the last 18 months.
After 8 years at Burnley (really only 6 seasons accounting for knee injuries), Marney made 221 appearances across all competitions for the Clarets, netting 10 goals, including this stunner below against Manchester City:
A furious, workmanlike box-to-box midfielder, Marney largely filled a No. 8 role with Burnley.
Reports of him training with Villa shouldn’t be analyzed too much. Free agents constantly train with other clubs, sometimes as a favor from the manager, other times with a look to bring them on board. Marney might fall somewhere in between. Right now Aston Villa is a little shy in the midfield department. Mile Jedinak is still on holiday with a transition to centre-back on the way. Callum O’Hare is recovering from ligament damage, while Jack Grealish might not be a Villa player by the weekend. It remains a fluid situation.
Right now we quite simply should not read too much into this.
Christopher Samba trained under Steve Bruce for six months before he was offered a contract last summer. With reports alluding the club can’t even afford loan targets, it’s a question as to whether a single player might be transferred in at all. Maybe Marney sticks around, maybe he doesn’t.
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He hasn’t played Premier League football in 18 months, either. With Marney turning 35 in January, it’s impossible to even project what a club would be acquiring.