McCANN RETURNS TO TRAINING AFTER 4 MONTH LAY-OFF

By Ryan Ghee
July 18 2005

Gavin McCann has finally resumed full training for Aston Villa and he has recovered in time to travel on the club's pre-season tour of Sweden. David O'Leary expressed his pleasure at this news by claiming that the return of McCann is "Like having a new player".

Gavin McCann can finally put his knee injury nightmare behind him as he prepares for a full pre-season programme with the Aston Villa squad. The return of the tenacious midfielder has brought a smile to even David O'Leary's face who claimed that Villa had "missed him a lot" and that "we don't have another player like him."
McCann himself revealed that being unable to play in Villa's most important games of the season had been "very painful". His absence was was also very painful to all Villa fans who had to sit back and watch as the dream of European qualification slipped away at the very end of last season.
With Gavin McCann back in the team, Villa will undoubtedly benefit from his agression in the middle of the park and with Eric Djemba-Djemba to play alongside him, Villa will have a central midfield pairing which will be feared by all other Premiership clubs.
If McCann stays fit and Djemba reaches his full potential, Villa will finally have a driving force in midfield which is capable of leading them to a top six finish.