Ronald Koeman, to Villa fans despair, has made no secret about his admiration for the Dutch centre back in recent days, sparking outrage from the Villa faithful as ‘talking’ about another teams player is always frowned upon, even if that player was a shining star at the World Cup and has less than a year remaining on his contract.
And that last fact is what is concerning fans the most, Randy Lerner had put Aston Villa up for sale at the end of last season and is yet to receive an ‘actual’ offer, this can be the only reason that the Villains hierarchy have allowed arguably two of Villa’s best performers (in Delph and Vlaar) to get into the final year of their contracts.
In a situation where Ron Vlaar would have two or three years remaining at Villa Park and after his recent performances at the World Cup where he was regarded as one of the players of the tournament you could expect offers in the region of 16-20 million pound for the 29 year old (especially considering teams including United, Spurs and Arsenal are all on the lookout for a centre back) but with his contract winding down Aston Villa are bracing bids in the region of around 7-10 million.
Considering Vlaar signed for Villa for only 3.2 million pounds from Feyenoord in 2012, they would still be looking at a nice profit, but Lambert and Villa fans have voiced their concern and stated they all want him to stay.
Villa aren’t the only team in the premier league with financial and/or off-the-field troubles, of course, but a team that does have a lot of money to spend is Southampton. The Saints have sold the heart of their team with Lambert, Lallana, Shaw, Chambers and Lovren all leaving for ‘bigger’ clubs and it’s that man Dejan Lovren that has started this Vlaar saga.
Southampton lost to Liverpool at the weekend with not too much signs of life and could do with Vlaar to sure up their defence, whilst Vlaar himself had a very good day at the Britannia Stadium keeping a clean sheet with his new defensive partner Philippe Senderos, along with new signing Aly Cissokho at left back and the forgotten man Alan Hutton putting in good displays.
During pre-season Ron Vlaar looked very comfortable and in control of his line, guiding Villa to a 1-0 win over a very impressive Stoke side. Bearing this in mind the answer would be a resounding YES, he would be perfect player to slip into a Southampton side still licking their wounds after experiencing demolition during the current a transfer window, however, it begs the question “why?”, why would Ron Vlaar want to leave a club where he is clearly loved and wanted as not only an important player but as the club captain? Maybe because they are hotly tipped by most pundits, bookmakers and fans to be relegated this year? Maybe because they haven’t really had a good season since Vlaar signed for Villa? Maybe because of the uncertainty surrounding Villa’s future owners? But Southampton , after selling all their top players, are also ticked by a fair few for the drop, it would be a sideward’s step for Vlaar and I think he’d be better off staying at the club.
It’s unfortunate that as it stands in the English game at the minute there’s a clear gap between the top 7/8 teams and ‘the rest’ and in my opinion unless you’re happy to sit on the bench collecting you’re wages (I know I would) you have more of a chance at a ‘respected’ career by staying at a club and developing into a great player before moving on, otherwise we’re going to be seeing that same old story of Jack Rodwell, Scott Sinclair, Wilfried Zaha, Micah Richards etc not reaching the potential that they so evidently had.
In conclusion, would Ron Vlaar be a good replacement for Dejan Lovren? , yes he would, I think he could fit into any team in the league and look pretty solid, do I think he will go there? , no I don’t, it seems a pretty pointless move to me and one that wouldn’t be worth forcing through a transfer for, despite Koemann’s best efforts, does that mean I think he will be playing for Aston Villa after the transfer window shuts?, that all depends on how desperate Louis Van Gaal gets towards the end of it.
Do you think Southampton should be looking at Ron Vlaar from Aston Villa to replace Dejan Lovren, or is there a better option out there? Let us know in the comments or on twitter @TBRFootball .