Championship crisis club Aston Villa are reportedly interested in re-signing Stephen Ireland following his release from Stoke City.
If fit, Stephen Ireland has the potential to be one of the most gifted central midfielders anywhere in the Championship.
That is one massive, planet-sized ‘if’, however. Ireland has suffered a relentless series of injury problems over the best part of a decade with a broken leg keeping him out for 600 days, and 65 games, between May 2016 and December 2017.
In total, the former Manchester City playmaker has started just 60 Premier League games since 2010. And, at the age of 31, Ireland now finds himself a free agent after Stoke City were relegated from the top flight.
So it’s fair to say Aston Villa would be taking a massive risk if they were to re-sign a man they paid £8 million for eight years ago. The Reading Chronicle reports that Villa are genuinely interested in bringing Ireland back to the Midlands and are rivalling Bolton and Reading for his signature.
But does this show have desperate Aston Villa really are? The Midland giants’ financial problems have been well documented in the aftermath of their play-off final defeat to Fulham late last month with The Telegraph reporting that they are under pressure to raise £50 million from player sales over the next two transfer windows.
Ireland, then, could be a cheap solution and a much-needed addition. But the fact that Villa are looking to sign a free agent who made just one league start in the entirety of 2017/18 shows just how bad things have got.
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