Aston Villa: Wigan ready to answer Heskey's World Cup call
Oct 14 2009 by Mathew Kendrick, Birmingham Post
Emile Heskey has been thrown a potential World Cup lifeline by Wigan Athletic, even though his former club admit Aston Villa are unlikely to sell the England striker.
Latics chairman Dave Whelan admits the Latics would be interested in re-signing Heskey if Villa manager Martin O’Neill allows him to leave Villa Park in January.
Heskey is considering his future after suggesting his lack of first-team opportunities at Villa is hindering his chances of being in next summer’s World Cup squad.
Whelan, who sold Heskey to Villa in January for £3.5 million, revealed that Wigan would love to have him back, even though there is little likelihood of Villa selling.
“I find it very strange that Emile can play for England and obviously play well and he can’t get selected for Aston Villa,” said Whelan.
“I have a great deal of sympathy for him. He’s one wonderful football player. As a gentleman and a lad he’s 100 per cent. When he goes out on the park he gives 110 per cent.
“We could well be interested. I thought he was fantastic for us. He was coming to the end of his contract and obviously wanted to move on. As usual I honoured his wishes.
“He’s such a wonderful target man up front. I thought Agbonlahor would score a lot of goals off Emile. I think everybody in football would like Emile somewhere in their squad.
“We got about £3.5million for him, he’s got to be worth that. I’d be very surprised if Aston Villa sell him. He really wants to go to the World Cup in South Africa. I think he’s got a future at Villa”
Meanwhile, Steve Sidwell believes Aston Villa will go into this weekend’s match against his former club Chelsea with renewed belief after holding Manchester City to a draw.
“It says something about this club that we more than matched Manchester City and felt disappointed to not win the game,” said Sidwell.
“We’ve lost to Wigan and Blackburn, and we were frustrated with the manner of those defeats.
“But so far, we have held our own against some tough opposition and none more so than Manchester City.
“We were disappointed with both our losses in the league, but maybe they have been blessings in disguise, particularly after Wigan.
“We went on a great run after that defeat and we performed really well against Manchester City after the Blackburn loss.”
