Martin O'Neill admits he will "sit down and have a think" about Emile Heskey's claims he may have to quit Aston Villa to keep his World Cup hopes alive before making any public comment.
Heskey admitted his lack of starts for Villa since his £3.5million move from Wigan in January was giving him cause for concern after Saturday's World Cup qualifier in Ukraine.
O'Neill said: "You can ask me as much as you want about it, but I won't have anything to say at this moment (about Heskey's comments). I've been away from my desk for a couple of days, so I will genuinely have to sit down and have a think about it before I make any comment on that."
He added: "But players need to remember themselves here. The World Cup is not next week, not before Christmas and not even before Easter. It's a long, long way away.
"The side picked, if the World Cup was just round the corner, might be a lot different to the one picked for next summer. There could be five changes or more with things like injuries or loss of form."
"There's players at this football club with proper ambitions to be in the England reckoning next summer - and so they should - like Ashley Young, James Milner, Stewart Downing, Gabby Agbonlahor and Emile Heskey.
"But I wouldn't get overly concerned about all that just yet if I were them."
Comment 1 - 10 of 10
please heskey leave so we can get a proper striker and not a donkey like you!!
good luck all 'round. for african football news & views , visit africaplays.come
still baffles me how he even gets selected for england.why why why. can anyone try to explain.please
I'm a Villa fan and I have to say I cannot understand why he gets picked for England and to be honest, why MON bought him in the first place, Martin, get rid of the useless fake and buy someone that is worthy and will at least try for his squad and country!.
heskey, or should i say (on your ar*e) heskey cos thats where he allways is, he is one useless bag of @#$%e, can someone tell me when he last scored a goal, for anybody....as i cant think that far back......
the @#$% is always injured. how the hell can he be picked regulary when he has constant muscle strains. even when available for picking he is then unfit due to spells on sidelines. get real Emile, you are a no mark nowadays. good riddance on poorly spent money !!
Who does Heskey think he is? If John Carew were English does Heskey think he would be ahead of him in Englands pecking order? I doubt Fabio Capello would see it that way. Heskeys agility, ball control, reactions, shooting and speed are all poor for an international player, his main plus point is his strength and he dosnt use that enough.
Maybe if he actually put more effort into actually making himself a worthy cause to be picked than he did throwing his toys for attention for not getting picked, he wouldn't be in the situation he's in.
I'll be glad to see the back of him at Villa. Come to think of it, if he's a candidate for England's World Cup team, what chance have we got winning that???
Now let’s get down to the real topic: O'Neill is right and I think Emile Heskey’s work rate is very good but his final distribution is poor. If he really wants to get a regular place in the Villa team and England, maybe he should be more selfish and take more responsibility to score gaols.
Sorry, sherry.stone98 but your boyfriend is gay, does not know the first thing about football and neither do you. So please get off this sight for real football fans.
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