Shocking early transfer and goodbye Carlos

Here at Villa we’re used to last day deals/panic buys, so it’s mightily refreshing to see us actually sign a player on the real first day of the transfer window. The name won’t be a surprise, for it looked a done deal last week, but still it’s nice to be able to properly welcome Karim El Ahmadi to the club.

He’s been speaking to the official club website, and while these types of interviews always follow the same sort of pattern, it’s still nice to see players saying nice things about our club:

“I’m very excited about coming here to a massive club and I’m looking forward to playing here,”

“I’m very happy that the manager wants me and that the club wants me and I’m looking forward to starting training again.

“It’s nice that I am the manager’s first transfer and I am looking forward to doing good things with the team and with the club this year.

“This club should be competing in the top half of the table and I am looking forward to achieving that with the team.

This is the first signing of the Lambert era, and I like this bit of business a lot. As alluded to previously I didn’t know a thing about the player, but after reading about and hearing from people who’ve seen him in action it seems he’ll bring a lot to the team. He addresses an area of real need, and it seems we brought him in quite cheaply, so no complaints. The player himself has given a bit of insight into how he likes to play, and what he describes is exactly what we’ve needed for a while at Villa. Let’s just hope he sticks to his word!

“As a player, I always want to have the ball and that is my main quality. I always want the ball and to dictate the game. That’s what I did at Feyenoord and hopefully I can show the fans, the club and the manager my quality.”

He also talks up fellow new signing Brett Holman, and I think both of these players could work out very well here. A positive start to this new era.

We’ve also seen confirmation this morning that fan favourite Carlos Cuellar has left. Sunderland was just about the only club I didn’t want the King to go to, and it’s only increased my hatred of Mr O’Neill. I’m a bit confused by it all seen as though MON rarely played Carlos in his right position but there we go.

I’m sure he’ll get a good reception on his return, and despite us fans loving him, I imagine that he’s on ridiculous wages and three managers never really gave him a chance here. Make of that what you will. Still I do like the bloke, mainly because he seemed genuinely nice and it’s good to have a link to our players on Twitter and the like.

Best of luck King Carlos!

UTV.