Craig Gardner set to leave Aston Villa as fee is agreed with The Clowns, apparently

It isn´t on the club site yet, but I suspect it will be very soon or tomorrow as if there was ever a deal that was nailed on to happen, this was it.

No idea what it is, but think £3.5mn and you probably won´t be too far off and well, for a player not playing, £3.5mn is a lot of money.

It´s not that I think Gardner is good enough to be playing in our midfield or that he maybe hasn´t had a good enough chance to show us what he has, as I don´t actually know if he is good enough really and if he isn´t going to get the chance, the manager must have his reasons.

It is that he is a product of the Aston Villa system and well, for all the talk, it doesn´t really seem to be working very well does it.

I want it to work and I want us to be churning out a player every season, but unless these kids get a chance at Aston Villa, we will never really know.

But, it does appear Craig Gardner will be leaving Aston Villa. There is a lot of talk that his brother is the real deal; much like Craig was a few years ago and many many players before him. I hope we get one coming through soon that is the real deal.

When this happens and if he comes back to Villa Park, playing for The Clowns, I hope he gets a good reception.