Setting the Narrative: April in Paris and Dost in Space

The main story for Aston Villa this week, coming off a rather humiliating defeat at the Emirates, will be Charles N'Zogbia's continued travails. The ex-Wigan winger has been receiving treatment in his native France for a knee injury sustained in a training-ground collision with Gary Gardner. There are likely other factors at play here, as McLeish and N'Zogbia have not exactly gotten along all year, and with Aston Villa within striking distance of safety, it's probably best for all concerned that N'Zogbia stays as far away from Birmingham as he can.

Your other talking point for the week, as previously noted here, is the mooted signing of Dutch striker Bas Dost. As far as I can tell, the most notable feature of Dost is his height (6'5"), which seems to be a quality McLeish values, if the 6'7" Nikola Zigic is any indication. Certain tabloids not worth linking to are putting the transfer fee at around £7 million, which could be decent value, especially if Villa continue to offload the higher earners that have been entrenched at the club since the O'Neill days.

If Aston Villa were to sign Bas Dost, they would then have six strikers on the books (Darren Bent, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Nathan Delfouneso, Emile Heskey, Andreas Weimann and Dost.) Since that seems particularly imprudent, particularly given the current financial climate at the club, who would you be willing to lose? While Heskey might be the popular choice, I think Bent would bring in a lot more money, and he's not being used particularly well in McLeish's system.

Have your say on this, and all the issues of the week, in the comments!