Squad Announced for US Tour; Guzan Re-signed

In what has become a remarkable string of refreshing news, Aston Villa has announced the group of players that will travel to the United States for their cross country tour this week and - surprise - it does NOT include Alan Hutton. With rumors swirling that Hutton is not exactly one of Paul Lambert's guys this is further proof that Lambert doesn't have any plans for Hutton going forward other than to get rid of him as soon as possible.

Here is the squad for the tour:

Forwards: Agbonlahor, Bent, Delfouneso, Weimann

Midfielders: Bannan, Carruthers, Delph, K.E. Ahmadi, Gardner, Herd, Holman, Ireland, Johnson, N'Zogbia

Defenders: Baker, Clark, Collins, Dunne, Lichaj, Lowton, Stevens, Warnock

And in other outstanding news, according to Brendan McLoughlin from the Express and Star, Aston Villa has agreed on a new three-year deal with American keeper Brad Guzan. This is great news for depth at the position and word has been that Guzan will be given (heh!) a chance to compete for a lot more playing time than he's accrued in past seasons.

Meanwhile rumors still swirl around the club that new faces are ready to join up including Dutch central defender Ron Vlaar and Leeds United winger Richard Snodgrass. More on those stories when they have a bit of fact to them.