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Eric set for French move
Thursday 12th July 2007, 11:58AM BST.
Forgotten midfielder Eric Djemba-Djemba could soon become the eighth departure from Villa in three months with a loan move to Lille.
The Cameroon international’s agent is in discussions with the French club with a view to taking the 26-year-old next season.
But the former Manchester United man, who is currently back at Bodymoor in pre-season training with Villa, is also being tracked by three English clubs including Burnley and Cardiff.
The potential sticking point for any clubs interested in the ex-Nantes midfielder is wages, with Djemba-Djemba’s £14,000 a week salary proving a difficult negotiating point.
Read the full story in the Express & Star.
Forgotten midfielder Eric Djemba-Djemba could soon become the eighth departure from Villa in three months with a loan move to Lille.
The Cameroon international’s agent is in discussions with the French club with a view to taking the 26-year-old next season.
But the former Manchester United man, who is currently back at Bodymoor in pre-season training with Villa, is also being tracked by three English clubs including Burnley and Cardiff.
The potential sticking point for any clubs interested in the ex-Nantes midfielder is wages, with Djemba-Djemba’s £14,000 a week salary proving a difficult negotiating point.
“Lille want me on loan but they need to pay half the wages so they are working on it and we are waiting for the outcome,” said Djemba-Djemba.
“I went to Burnley for four months and it was OK and I was happy there, but I don’t know what’s going to happen with regards a move there.
“I also have another option in England and that club is talking to my agent at the moment.”
It’s understood Burnley paid around 30 per cent of Djemba-Djemba’s wages during the second half of the season.
Manager Martin O’Neill would be happy to part with the midfielder, who has two years left on his contract he signed in January 2005, either on loan or a permanent deal, despite losing Gavin McCann, Steven Davis and Lee Hendrie from his midfield.
The one-time £3.5m signing for Manchester United made just one appearance for Villa last season, as a substitute in the opening day draw at Arsenal.
Defender Liam Ridgewell remains likely to follow Davis, Aaron Hughes, McCann, Hendrie, Juan Pablo Angel, Jlloyd Samuel and Chris Sutton out of the door at Villa Park since April.
Birmingham as well as two other clubs remain keen on the 22-year-old, but O’Neill may be stalling on letting a deal go through until he has signed another defender.
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He is no real loss as he did not figure much,but with other departures and only one arrival cannot see how the squad will be stronger,if you look at every other premiership club they have all had more activity than Villa so it is worrying from a strength in depth point of view.
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i will drive him to the airport myself.
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O’Neill probably needs to replace all the peripheral earners to pay for the wages he offers.
The sooner Djemba goes the better, Hendrie gone, Sutton gone, Agathe long gone no Blues quality players left, great
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slowly clearing out o’learys rubbish.
good riddance.
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Djemba-Djemba wont be missed at villa park…but with all these players leaving us, the strength of the squad has diminished and with further departures likely we seriously need to start spending Randy’s cash. else with a couple of injurys to key players we may start to struggle. I have faith in mon to bring in 4-5 quality players before deadline day though…UP THE VILLA!!
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It’s no good having so called strength in depth if all you have are mediocre players like Djemba Djemba this onlt amounts to weakness in depth…we now have only good players fighting it out for a midfield berth. Barry,Coker, Maloney, Petrov, Young,Berger,Gardner,Osborne,
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Alex Ferguson has done some great deals in his time at Man Utd, non moreso that offloading Djemba Djemba on Villa, trouble is he has now been found out and Villa will struggle to get rid even if he is made available on a free.
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surely Djemba-Dejemba leaving will be No.s 8 & 9!!!!!!!!!!!
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ive got every faith in MON but its getting worrying now as to many players are leaving which he is getting rid of all the rubbish but hes not bringing enough quality players in only roe-coker our squad is really getting to small
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AT HE GONE LETS BUY MORE PLAYERS UP THE VILLA!!
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although he is no loss to villa, it will be yet another man down, once again handfuls of players out and a couple in. not good enough for a team that wants to break into the top 8. i gave up my season ticket last year which i had held for 15 years and i am not being encouraged to renew it with all this activity through the out door and no one oiling the rusty hinges on the players in door.
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We had Eric at Burnley last season and he was tremendous.The saying goes’One man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure, or something like that. Can we borrow yer mid-fielder please Mr. O’Neill????
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