England winger adds to Aston Villa's woes
In the summers of 2008 and 2009, Aston Villa had to deal with the two-part drama that was the Gareth Barry saga and then last year, James Milner's unclear future prompted the shock resignation of Martin O'Neill, and the early signs are that this will be another hectic pre-season at Villa Park.
The problems were already mounting up with Ashley Young eyeing up the exit and their manager for the 2011-12 campaign yet to be confirmed due to concerns over Gerard Houllier's health, but things have got a whole lot worse with the revelation that Stewart Downing has doubts about his future.
The former Middlesbrough winger, who is part of the England squad to face Switzerland in Euro 2012 qualifying action, claimed all of Villa's major player of the year awards after a fantastic 2010-11 in which he scored seven Premier League goals and provided a further nine assists.
That form sparked rumours of interest from the likes of Liverpool, however with team-mate Young widely expected to leave, it was believed that Aston Villa's priority was to tie the 26-year-old down to a long-term contract to stop supporters from worrying about them selling all of their stars.
Downing, whose current deal expires in 2013, appears to have thwarted those plans though judging by these comments: "I know the club are keen for me to extend my contract as I only have two years left on my deal and that my agent had a recent meeting with our chief executive Paul Faulkner.
"However, I am 26 and at a major crossroads in my career so I won't be committing to a new deal at the moment...The most important thing is to play football, but I do want to play in the Champions League at some point."
Would any of the four sides considered most likely to challenge for the title next season want him: Manchester United ([3.0]), Chelsea ([4.1]), Manchester City ([4.8]) or Arsenal ([9.2])? Tell us below...
Published: 26 May 2011
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