ASTON VILLA are the latest club to show an interest in signing Scott Parker from West Ham United next month.
Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool have both been linked with Parker, who is valued at around €9 million, but it has emerged that Villa are also considering competing for the 29-year-old’s signature after monitoring his impressive performances in the centre of midfield this season.
Martin O’Neill identified the absence of an authentic holding player – the position where Parker has excelled at West Ham – among his favoured four-man midfield earlier this month. Stilian Petrov has been converted into a deep-lying midfielder with relative success but the Bulgarian is not naturally defensive-minded, while Nigel Reo-Coker, who was replaced by Parker at West Ham, has struggled to make at impact at Villa.
West Ham are extremely reluctant to allow Parker to leave, with the former Charlton Athletic, Chelsea and Newcastle United player seen as crucial to their survival hopes, but the club’s financial position could encourage Villa as well as Spurs to test their resolve.
A deal would be more likely to happen with Villa if O’Neill were able to move on one of his fringe players, although Steve Sidwell and Reo-Coker may well remain with the club until the summer.
Reo-Coker made a surprising return to the Villa side for Tuesday night’s injury-time defeat to Liverpool but he has made only six Premier League starts this season, having lost his place following a training-ground row with O’Neill in September.
The 25-year-old has attracted interest from Fulham but O’Neill would want to secure a replacement before sanctioning his departure and even then there is no guarantee the player would move.
Sidwell’s future is just as uncertain, with the midfielder a regular substitute and yet to recapture the form he showed for Reading before joining Chelsea.
Luke Young has described Villa’s defeat to Liverpool, which followed a 3-0 defeat at Arsenal 48 hours earlier, as a “massive setback”, but urged his team-mates to ensure there is no repeat of last season, when a promising campaign unravelled.
“We want this to make us stronger,” Young said. “This is a massive setback but we can learn from last season from what happened when we went on a bad run.”
Franco di Santo’s loan spell at Blackburn from Chelsea has been extended until the end of the season. The 20-year-old Argentinian forward moved to Ewood Park in August and his deal had been due to run out in January. He has scored one goal in 15 appearances for Sam Allardyce’s side.
