N'Zogbia is not making life difficult for Villa, Aston Villa did that themselves

Let's get one thing straight here: I would like it if Charles N'Zogbia left Aston Villa. His reported wages of more than £60,000 per week are absurd, and he has contributed very little during his time with the club. He's not a good match here, and it has become increasingly clear that nothing is going to change that.

Are we all squared away on that? Cool. Now let's tackle a bigger issue.

The good folks at Read Aston Villa today published an article with the headline "N'Zogbia making life difficult for Villa." To sum it all up, it basically says that, by not leaving/cancelling his contract/refusing a loan move to Greece, N'Zogbia is screwing over the club. Writer Luke Osman is not alone in this opinion, so please do not mistake this for a personal attack on him. Rather, this is an opportunity to clear something up.

Charles N'Zogbia is under no obligation to leave and relieve Aston Villa of a stupid contract that they signed.

Read that again. Then read it a third time. If anyone has made life difficult for Aston Villa, it was the club that signed the contract in the first place. Perhaps it was the only way to keep N'Zogbia. Perhaps it seemed to be a good decision at the time. Perhaps it is only in hindsight that we realize what a horribly stupid contract it is. But it is not N'Zogbia's fault that the club made a mistake.

Imagine, for a second, that you walk into your job tomorrow and your boss says "Hey, we'd like to pay you £60,000 per week to do what you do." You'll say yes. Instantly. Now, a few years later, despite the fact that you're an upstanding corporate citizen, your boss has realized that perhaps paying a standard employee £3.12 million per year is not a good idea. Should you be expected to walk into his office and say "Hey, I know you probably regret giving me that raise, so here, have the money back"? Absolutely not!

Aston Villa offered an absurd sum to Charles N'Zogbia, and like any rational actor he said "Well yeah, I'd LOVE to have that much money." Now Villa realize they've made a mistake and are trying to fix that. It would be nice if they could, but there is no one to blame for this mistake but the club themselves. If N'Zogbia wants to see the contract out, Aston Villa are just going to have to live with that.

Don't be mad at CNZ for making tons of money. Be mad at Villa for agreeing to pay him that.