From 'not for sale' to 'fee agreed' doesn't take long in football these days and the Liverpool FC website is tonight claiming that they have agreed a fee with us for Stewart Downing. I guess he was for sale after all.
Liverpool now have permission to discuss terms and to arrange a medical with the player. Expect it to be done very soon and then our spending to start.
Now, you might think me cynical when I write this next bit, but if the player wasn't for sale last week, why say he wasn't for sale if he really was. Sure, you could say it was to hike up the price, but if he really was for sale and everyone knew it, why say anything?
This isn't good for the manager. One week saying a player, with two years left on his contract, isn't for sale, then he gets sold. Anyone would think this was the owner doing the business, much like last summer.
Now for new players
However, this will likely mean we start to get in some new players because talk is this is all the money he is going to get to spend this summer. That probably doesn't include The Fonz though as he signed a contract extension today, but it might very well include a player from The Clowns and a keeper from Manchester City.
If I'm honest, I'm not surprised Downing is going, it has been on the cards for a while now, but I am surprised that our manager came out last week and said what he said. It makes him look weak out of the gate and at a time when he needed to 'appear' strong. It's almost as if someone mugged him off.
Instead of saying he isn't for sale, he should have said that he only wants players at Aston Villa that are committed to Aston Villa. I mean, can we believe anything he says from now on and if he wasn't for sale and the owner has sold him from under him, surely he has to walk?
He is either his own man or he isn't but it isn't looking good for him at the moment.