Okay, it is a rumour and I know I said I was going to stay away from rumours but this can not be allowed to happen. If this happens, it would be an absolute disaster.
But speculation is going to mount and not just about Bannan. If Gabby keeps playing the way he is then speculation will mount over him and seeing as the manager has said that Darren Bent is going nowhere, you can be certain that speculation will increase about him too.
But, this Bannan story does wind me up. The talk is £10mn and January or the summer and Liverpool. What would annoy me more than anything, if this happens, is I will think it is how the club handled the recent incident involving Bannan that made him want to leave.
When Reo-Coker had handbags with the manager the club didn't support him and I predicted he'd see his contract out. He did and we lost out and it was a big loss. The way the club as good as said Bannan was guilty before the law did (and we don't know if he is) might just be enough for him to feel like there is no love for him at the club.
We have to remember that football isn't the real world but our club continues to think like a corner shop when so many act like a superstore. Players need to be looked after - just look at how The FA and Chelsea have rallied around John Terry and how they can do that baffles me.
Bannan is a fantastic player. He is no longer a prospect. It surprises me he doesn't start every week and while he is far from the finished article, he is good enough to start in our team and the team should be built around him. He will get better faster playing week in week out and I know it is difficult these days to hold on to players, but Spurs did it with Modric despite many thinking they wouldn't, because he signed a contract, is a Spurs player and the owners understood how important he was.
Talk the talk, walk the walk
We are a selling club, but if what the owner and CEO say is true and they want to build a sustainable future - then prized assets like Bannan can not be sold. The financial success of any football club can be directly linked to success on the pitch. We will simply stand still and tread water if we sell our best players all the time.
Instead, if the owner really wants to build a future - he should look to the next ten years, not April. Sign Bannan up, show him the love and make him want to stay at Aston Villa or these rumours are going to continue.
Right. That is off my chest but what wound me up more than anything I think was it was Liverpool. Okay, it is a step up - but not much. They're not exactly a top four side anymore and £10mn - he is worth more than that - especially if the scousers paid double for Downing.