Transfer Market And Aston Villa: James Collins, Jr Out, Steve Sidwell And John Carew Likely Leaving

Aston Villa are no longer a team of two James Collins--but if rumors are any indication, they remain a team of two Youngs, with no gossip about the Lesser Young heading off for greener pastures. The 20-year-old James Collins signed with Shrewsbury after being on loan with Burton for the last two months. His deal with the Shrews is for 18 months. Best of luck to the former Villan!

Meanwhile, there's some hot and heavy competition for Steve Sidwell. Aston Villa thought they'd offloaded the midfielder to West Ham (at least Siddy wouldn't get confused by a change in the color scheme) only to see him show up again at Villa Park, after completing a physical and coming to an agreement with the Irons. Now, Sidwell is wanted by Wolverhampton and Fulham, but will a contract actually be signed? Do we know, in fact, that Sidwell knows how to sign his name? This could be a major stumbling block.

And, of course, there's the news that Roberto Di Matteo "likes" John Carew. No word on whether this is a "like-like" or simply a "like", but he's hoping to entice Big John to head down the road to West Bromwich Albion. The Baggies have looked at Carew but are not sure whether he's available. Apparently his lack of ability to even make the bench these days was not enough of a clue. But then Stiliyan Petrov had to open his big mouth and say that he wanted John Carew to stick around to help the Villa avoid relegation. If Capp'y can figure out how to get Carew's help in actually scoring goals, I think every fan would love to hear it.

Oh, and apparently Gerard Houllier has confirmed that Aston Villa are in talks with Wayne Bridge, but unless those talks involve Manchester City ponying up for his ridiculous wages, I'm going to stick my head in the sand.