Steven Gerrard Manager
Steven Gerrard has spoken of the upcoming January transfer window for the first time, admitting how Aston Villa will be active should targets become available. On next month’s winter window,
Steven Gerrard said: “In terms of the January window, there’s obviously conversations at Villa and there always will be behind the scenes identifying areas where we can improve. If the right person or bodies are there for us to bring in then we’ll certainly look to try and do that but, obviously, there’s a lot of names being bandied about at the moment which we can’t control that are not true.”
Gerrard, meanwhile, admitted to being open with fringe players should they wish to leave, with striker Keinan Davis speaking of his desire this week to play regular first-team football with a Championship loan move on the cards.
Steven Gerrard added: “We’ll also be respectful and support players if they’re not getting much game time and they need to go and play and challenge themselves in different ways then we’ll try and be respectful to that as well.”
Villa have this week struck a deal with Zimbabwe to extend Marvelous Nakamba’s stay. The midfielder was set to link up with his home nation for a pre-AFCON training camp before Christmas. Nakamba, a standout player for Gerrard thus far, will now compete right up until after the Brentford fixture on January 2 before joining Zimbabwe for their tournament opener against Senegal on January 10 – the exact same day Villa travel to Manchester United in the FA Cup third round.
Steven Gerrard said: “Listen, we’ve been really impressed with Marvelous. Since we came through the door his performances have been high level. Having that dialogue and conversation with his national team and that relationship is always important. We’ll try and respect each other on that one and, if we can keep him for as long as we can, then that will be really helpful. With games coming thick and fast over the Christmas period and January, especially now with the FA Cup game, we need to try and keep people healthy and fit because we’re going to need everybody, certainly in the next four to six weeks.”
