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Aston Villa keeper Shay Given - you can be forgiven for forgetting that he is still technically a part of the club - has seen his loan spell at Championship club Middlesbrough come to an end. Surprisingly, if you watched Given play for Villa at all last season, it was a very successful trip to the lower level. Given accumulated ten clean sheets in sixteen matches, including his last this past Saturday against Leeds.
Now that he's back with Villa, Given wants to get away as quickly as he can, and it's hard to blame him. He won't be getting any playing time at the club, and it seems as if he still has value, just perhaps not at a Premier League level. While both parties will have to wait until Summer for a permanent move to occur, but there is still potential to see Given sent to a lower-league club on another loan.
At this point, in light of the way that Given is talking, it seems that he would likely be willing to take a wage-cut to get a move. And that would have to be a part of any deal, as no team is likely to take on Given's full remaining contract, which guarantees him £60,000 per week for two more years.
Having Given leave would be in the best interests of everyone involved. There should be no hard feelings towards the Irish keeper, as it's not his fault that Villa offered him an incredibly stupid deal. Instead, everything should be done to see that, come summer, Given gets his wish to leave granted. In the meantime, I hope Villa are looking to loan him out. More performances like he had at Middlesbrough would do wonders to make him a more lucrative asset.
