Talking Tayls with Ian Taylor

Villa favourite Ian Taylor is another echoing the call that the missing piece in the claret and blue jigsaw is a new striker in the month of the transfer window.

If Villa buy just one player in this transfer window it should be a striker. I'm still not convinced Gabby Agbonlahor can play the entire season without any senior back-up. Last year he suffered burnout in the campaign's closing months and that coincided with a dreadful end to the season. The club just cannot afford for the same to happen again.

Nathan Delfouneso impressed me again in Saturday's FA Cup win over Blackburn but, at 18 years old, he is still too young for the big games. Emile Heskey and John Carew have barely started together since Heskey arrived 12 months agom, so clearly that isn't an option that manager Martin O'Neill fancies.

A new signing would pep everyone up around the club and another regular goal contributor certainly wouldn't go amiss to take some of the weight of Gabby's shoulders.

Craig Bellamy would be the ideal signing for me, a player who might have had his fair share of controversies down the years but has been making headlines for the right reasons at Manchester City.

Mark Hughes' departure has left a big question mark over his future at Eastlands and I'm sure that won't have gone unnoticed by Martin, who managed him for a short but successful loan period at Celtic.

Bellamy is one of the few players in the Premier League who has pace like Agbonlahor and you can never fault his work-rate. The lad is a nightmare for defenders.

It looks like Martin might clear the decks with a few of his fringe players during the window, so that would all go towards the fee.

There's been some speculation over Heskey and Carew's futures but I'm convinced we need to keep hold of both of them – because they're rarely both fit at the same time!

It's been a bit of a conundrum for Martin trying to keep them happy when they are available – Heskey has the World Cup to think of while Carew has finished top scorer the last two seasons.

But, when you consider their injury records, I think he would be taking a big risk cashing in on either of them halfway through the season, as there are no guarantees the other will be available for every game.

Heskey will return to the JJB Stadium for the first time since leaving the Latics this weekend and it is a massive game. Thankfully Villa got back to winning ways in the FA Cup last weekend and that should have nipped things in the bud in terms of draining confidence. But only a win will really do on Saturday, following defeats to Arsenal and Liverpool.

While the players will have had to deal with the disappointment of this week's postponed Carling Cup semi-final first leg, in some respects it could turn into a positive.

It's given James Milner more time to recover from his foot injury, given the rest of the lads a bit of a breather and we now have two days more than them to prepare for rescheduled game.

I'm sure Villa will be determined to settle a score after their opening-day no show against Wigan. They're a different team now – the arrivals of Richard Dunne, Stephen Warnock and James Collins before the deadline have made a huge impact.

Also, credit to Martin and the boys for the way they have responded to being booed following that loss. I'm not sure how many would have forseen them being sixth in the league – just two points off fourth – and in the semi-finals of a major cup on the evidence of that performance.

Back to Manchester City, it looks like my old pal Patrick Vieira could be coming back to the Premier League. I say pal because, despite having some great battles in the centre of the park about a decade ago, we were good mates off the field.

It all came about while on holiday in Mauritius with my wife. He happened to be dining at our hotel one evening and called me over – it ended up being quite a night! I have a picture on my mantelpiece with him and I'll still get the odd text off him now and again.

Despite his fearsome reputation as a midfield enforcer, you won't meet a nicer guy. I remember one game at Highbury where he was telling me jokes!

I really hope things work out for him, because this is his last chance of a big move. Things are not going too well for him at Inter Milan right now and he will want one more challenge – and pay day – before hanging up his boots.

But I do think that Vieira is past his best and from what City have already got, I don't think they really need him. Nigel De Jong's a good player, they have Gareth Barry and Vincent Kompany is an able deputy. But new managers have new ideas and Patrick was a big part of Roberto Mancini's title-winning team in Italy.

Clearly, the player has a special bond with Arsenal supporters having been one of the pillars of their success, but I don't think joining City would damage that. If it had been Tottenham or Manchester United yes, but there isn't that same rivalry between the two clubs.

Even if he's past his heyday it would be great to see one of the Premier League's best-ever players get a well-earned swan-song. Good luck to him.

Across Manchester, Sir Alex Ferguson has made a career out of building new teams at United – and now it's time for him to construct another. Sunday's shock defeat to League One Leeds, one of their fiercest rivals, was yet further evidence of the reigning Premier League champions dwindling powers in the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez.

Not only has replacing Ronaldo proven to be the impossible task we all expected, Fergie now finds a number of the cornerstones of his successes on their last legs.

Gary Neville and Paul Scholes are both someway short of what they were, while even the seemingly evergreen Ryan Giggs won't last much longer. Rio Ferdinand must be a growing concern too. Once players reach their 30s injuries are always a bigger obstacle to overcome, as he is finding out.

It's Chelsea's title to lose this season and neither Fergie or the United board will settle for that for long. I'm expecting a summer of change at Old Trafford.