O'Leary gives assurance to Ridgewell
David O’Leary has insisted defender Liam Ridgewell will not become Aston Villa’s fall guy and automatically lose his place to Martin Laursen – as long as he maintains his form.
Home-grown Ridgewell is concerned that Laursen will come straight back into the side once he is fully fit after O’Leary paid £3m (€4.3m) to AC Milan for his services last summer.
Laursen is easing his way back into contention after five months out with a knee injury via a series of reserve games and he was among the substitute’s for Saturday’s 2-1 win at Portsmouth.
But O’Leary has assured England Under-21 player Ridgewell that any player producing the goods will stay in the side.
O’Leary said: “Liam has done alright. He’s a long way to go yet but it is down to him now. He is currently holding the position.
“There is not that pressure on him at the moment because people aren’t completely fit yet. But if he plays well, he’ll stay in the team.
“People might say that bring Laursen in because I paid £3m for him and leaving Ridgewell out the easy option. That’s not the way I work. I work on having competition for places.
“If someone gets injured and are out of the side for a while and someone comes in and does well in their absence, they will stay in.”
O’Leary believes Laursen is still some way off being ready to challenge for a first team spot despite making good progress.
He said: “What Laursen needs is fitness. He needs reserve games. He’s on the bench with the first team because we’ve nobody else to put on the bench who is a defender.
“We know we can use him if we have to but he does need more reserve games to get really up to fitness.”
| Related Stories: |
|
