Time to map out a plan for Villa's future
- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
Jonas Olsson key to transfer deals
Saturday 20th November 2010, 11:29AM GMT.
West Brom's Jonas Olsson
Albion are sweating over the fitness of defender Jonas Olsson before finalising their plans for the January transfer window.
The Swedish defender is out of Roberto Di Matteo’s line-up until next month but the Baggies boss admits it could be longer.
And getting a precise “fix” on Olsson’s problem is a key element of Di Matteo’s thinking.
“Jonas’s progress is very slow and we don’t yet know when he will be fit again,” said Di Matteo of his defender, who suffered an Achilles injury in the defeat of Fulham last month.
“We are scouting players all the time but it’s a bit too early to talk about what we will do in January.
“We have to know how things are going to pan out with Olsson and then, of course, there could be other injuries before then.
“There are still so many games to play before the January window opens.
“But in an ideal world, if we were injury-free, I would love to sign maybe just one more player who could give us an extra dimension.”
West Brom have been linked with more foreign-based players this week including Bordeaux’s Czech Republic international winger Jaroslav Plasil, but Di Matteo was dismissive of the speculation which initially came from media outlets in Italy.
Chairman Jeremy Peace is notoriously reticent to invest during the new year window, although sporting and technical director Dan Ashworth is currently engaged in an exhaustive tour of scouting duty around Europe in the hope of identifying potential further targets.
More immediate is the departure on loan of a frustrated Roman Bednar, who is eager to play first team football and has Championship club Hull City, among others, on his trail.
Bednar’s agent Eliot Van Til has confirmed that Hull are one of a number – Swansea and Middlesbrough are also interested – in offering the forward game time but believes Ishmael Miller’s fitness is key to his availibility.
* Teenage striker Chris Wood has joined Brighton on loan until January 3.
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We certainly need cover if Jonas doesn’t recover in time and also need an old fashioned, big battering ram, in the box, striker, to take advantage of Ozase’s brilliant football.
BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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