Aston Villa vs Manchester United preview - McLeish rues Facebook revelation

Posted Saturday, December 03, 2011 by PA

Aston Villa trialist Yannick Djalo may be looking to impress at the club, but he has already made a mistake in the eyes of manager Alex McLeish - by announcing the deal on Facebook.

The Portuguese has not yet arrived at Villa's Bodymoor Heath training ground, and McLeish had been hoping to keep the move quiet.

However, any hopes of doing so were extinguished when Djalo resorted to social media, something the Villa boss is clearly disappointed with.

"We're just going to look at him on trial," McLeish said.

"Talk of signing him is very premature.

"I didn't really want it to be anybody's business, but I know the lad put it on Facebook himself, so what chance have you got?"

Djalo is currently in contractual limbo at French side Nice. He joined the French side on the last day of the summer transfer window from Sporting Lisbon, but FIFA rejected the move after league officials only registered his documents after midnight when the market was closed

McLeish was cagey when asked about Djalo's qualities as a footballer.

He said: "I can't tell you anything about him just now. I don't want to divulge anything. Look him up on Google."

Fans got wind of the deal after he posted 'I go to Aston Villa' on his Facebook page.

McLeish hinted he may go down a similar route with other players when trying to strengthen his squad, as a modest budget means he must remove as much risk as possible from his transfer dealings.

"We'll quietly look at people when we get an opportunity," he said. "There's others that are out there as well. We want to try and do things carefully and prudently, and we'll continue to do so."

Villa take on Manchester United on Saturday, and McLeish has a near fully-fit squad to pick from after Stiliyan Petrov and Stephen Ireland recovered from hamstring and foot injuries respectively.

Defender Eric Lichaj's long-term hip injury makes him the only absentee.

The game will see Ashley Young return to Villa Park for the first time after the winger's £17million switch to Old Trafford over the summer.

Meanwhile, Sir Alex Ferguson insists he is happy with Manchester United's form despite his side's struggle to score goals and their Carling Cup defeat to lower-league Crystal Palace in the Carling Cup.

United have won three and drawn one of their Premier League games since the 6-1 drubbing by Manchester City but have not scored more than a single goal in the league since October 1.

Moreover, Wayne Rooney, who started the season with a terrific scoring run, has not hit a league goal since mid-September.

Ferguson is adamant that United are in form, should have beaten Newcastle last weekend, and that a trip to Aston Villa holds few fears - United have lost only twice in 19 visits to Villa Park since the Premier League started.

Ferguson said: "Our form last Saturday was excellent, we played as well as we have played all season.

"We needed that little bit of luck around about the goalmouth - that would have made it a good result as Newcastle have been playing really well.

"We made so many chances we really should have won the game comfortably so I have no problems with that.

"We have a good record at Villa Park - it's no coincidence that our best records away from home are at Villa Park and Tottenham. To me they represent real football grounds, the atmosphere is good, the crowds are close to the touchline and we have done well down there.

"But every time we have had to play well down there to win, you can't just depend on your past record."

Dimitar Berbatov will miss the trip with an ankle injury picked up against Palace while Brazilian twins Rafael and Fabio da Silva - who also picked up knocks - will also miss out.

Danny Welbeck is still a doubt with a muscle strain while Anderson (knee), Michael Owen (thigh) and Tom Cleverley (ankle) are longer-term absentees.