Should he stay or should he go now?
IN the endless summer transfer talk that's surrounded Villa, there's been one 'will he, won't he?' debate that's gone under the radar.
Scottish midfielder Shaun Maloney seems to have been linked with a return to Celtic pretty much since he arrived at the club.
But the rumours surrounding his future appear to have reached fever pitch thanks to comments from his agent suggesting that three clubs are now interested in ending Maloney's time in Birmingham.
Despite this, Celtic would still appear to sit in pole position given the player's former links with the club.
The Scottish giants have also parted company with wage-heavy midfielder Thomas Gravesen this week, leading to speculation north of the border that the savings will be used to fund a move for Maloney.
The rumour mill has suggested that a fee of anything from just over the £1million Villa paid the Parkhead club for him to around £2.75million could be required to seal any deal.
But is selling Maloney really going to represent good business?
At a time when Villa are busy trying to build a squad capable of competing on domestic and European fronts, can they really afford to lose the versatility of the Scottish star?
Much of his time at Villa has been plagued by reports of homesickness, but there have been glimpses of quality including some memorable free-kicks last season.
Surely if the battle for Europe is to be taken seriously then Villa must be looking to pad their newly-bulked up squad out further rather than decimate it?
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In line with my piece about needing a squad Maloney should stay and we certainly have not yet seen the best of the Wee man.
However from Maloney's point of view being Asley Young's understudy is not where he wants or needs to be at this stage of his career.
If MON can convince him that with the Uefa cup this season he will have a major role to play then I think he could be convinced to stay.
I've always thought Maloney is a good player but he has never been given a real run in the team! He doesn't even get off the bench half the time!
Also, I'm not exactly of the opinion he can play consistently at Premier League level.
People seem to think Maloney plays best as a winger, but whenever i've seen him play there for Villa, he has been near enough useless! He can't beat players effectivly and his crossing isn't the best either, although his set piece delivery and vision cannot be questioned!
I believe he would be best utilised a striker or even a second striker because when we drew 4-4 at Chelsea, Maloney played up front and scored twice and played really well up until that plonker Zat Knight got sent off and Maloney got subbed for a defender!
Maybe MON has issues with him? Attitude? Commitment? I don't know! I just wish MON would give everybody a chance!
But doesn't that make it all the more baffling that Martin O'Neill brought him in but hasn't given him a run?
Its like i said, MON must have some issues with him, but we don't know what goes on at Bodymoor on a daily basis do we?
As i said, MON could be holding question marks over the players attitude or commitment or he could just think he isn't good enough!
When MON brings a player in, he must see something in the player! But i think O'Neill has seen potential, but maybe Maloney just hasn't reached the heights that was expected of him from an early age.
Its not only Maloney who hasn't been given a run in the team. There is also Harewood, Salifou, Routledge, Osbourne. I think these are here purely as numbers and i think they'll be gone at the end of the season!
If it was down to me, I'd sell maloney.
He is not alone in that club though is he? Just ask Routledge, Salifou and Harewood.
SAR - if theyll all be gone at the end of the season, who do we replace them with?!?!
It's a difficult one to fathom really. Is O'Neill a bit hit-and-miss in the transfer market, but prepared to gamble the odd million here and there? Or is it down to him just having flavours of the month? Look at Osbourne, he had that run in the team and then vanished into thin air. And I still don't believe Zat Knight was any improvement on Gary Cahill, who was another one whose face didn't fit.
could we not play this dude as a right winger...his free kicks alone should be enough for mon to want to keep the wee fella?give him a run of a few game and he will come good(SWP) comes to mind!!