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Mile Jedinak and Glenn Whelan are both out of contract at the end of the season, and the club should look to cut ties with them this January and get some return for the veterans.
Words by Regan Foy (@FindFoy)
With a number of veteran players at the club currently, including Alan Hutton, Mile Jedinak and Glenn Whelan, the tides look to be turning this year as all three are out of contract once the season concludes.
In regards to Alan Hutton, he’s still proving useful to the Villans and should be kept at the club until his contract expires at the end of the season, but the other veterans should be offloaded so that the club can receive some kind of return for them.
Both of the midfielders were signed with the aim of them aiding the club in their hunt for promotion, and ultimately, that has failed.
At 34-years-old, Glenn Whelan has played over 800 minutes of football this season and has scored one goal, and assisted two. He’s still in the plans of manager Dean Smith, but with his contract expiring in just a few months, it might be worthwhile cutting ties with the former Republic of Ireland international whilst the club can still get a relatively decent sum of money for him.
Ultimately, he’s not done bad in claret and blue and has proved himself as a capable Sky Bet Championship footballer – but he seems to be losing his engine and struggling with the style of football that Dean Smith is attempting to employ at Aston Villa.
The same goes with Mile Jedinak, who has appeared nine times in the league for Aston Villa this season – most recently in deployed as a centre-half under Steve Bruce’s tenure – a move which was not appreciated by the vast majority of fans.
The former Australian international retired from the international set-up earlier this season in order to prolong his playing career, but a number of injuries have meant that he’s not even been close to the match-day squad under Dean Smith.
There have been a few links this window suggesting that Mile could be moving back to his native Australia to end his career in his homeland, but nothing has been set in stone as of yet.
Jedinak has been a faithful servant for the club during his time here, and perhaps his most memorable moment was his play-off semi-final winning goal against Middlesbrough last season – as well as a stellar defensive performance across both legs.
Whilst we’re not suggesting that either of them need to be offloaded – they were both purchased with the aim of them providing a pathway to the Premier League – and that simply hasn’t happened.
If they were to be sold in this window, the club could make back some of the money spent in bringing them into the club and their big wages, and even re-invest it before the window closes.
With both of the veteran midfielders out of contract in a few months, is it too much to suggest that they’re offloaded for money before they leave for nothing?
Spot on with Whelan and Jedinak but please add Taylor to this list. I feel our main need is a very aggressive captain who takes charge once the team are out on the pitch. Someone who will boss the show and not allow us to be a 45 minute team at best, Even when Grealish is back alongside
McGinn and Houranie there is still no “boss” out there who will give them hell when they go off the pace. Lansbury doesn’t fit the bill not even Thor. JT played this role last season and Chester responded but without JT Chester is struggling along. Someone must be out there who can fill this need someone to praise then when its going well but give em a real rollicking when they go and hide.