Football agents don’t have the greatest of reputations, although it may well be a case of a few rotten apples, etc, etc. I particularly don’t like agents running to the papers with stories before or during contract negotiations in order to leverage their client’s position.

Today it’s Curtis Davies’ agent complaining about the club sticking to an agreement, a clause if you like, in the player’s current contract. From the way Martin O’Neill has been speaking recently, I suspect that he accepts this is a part of the modern game, but I doubt he has much respect for it.

However, we fans do get to learn an interesting nugget from this story. Apparently, when Curtis signed with Aston Villa, it was agreed that he would automatically become eligible to discuss new contract terms when he’s played 60 games. These are exactly the sort of details that we’re not usually privy to when we’re vocalising our opinions of what the manager should or shouldn’t be doing from the comfort of our armchairs!!

But since Curtis’ agent, someone called Phil Sproson, has been flapping his gums to the Daily Mirror it’s fair game for me to throw my two pennies worth in.

At the moment, Curtis has apparently played 58 games, is recovering from surgery to his shoulder and not expected back until Christmas. Sproson feels that the club are nitpicking little details and is suggesting that if Curtis hadn’t done the right thing by having surgery he would have picked up the required 60 games by now. He’s also out rightly stating that Curtis put club before himself when “he played on when the club were low on numbers”. He’s therefore owed special treatment I guess.

This is the same injury, according to Martin O’Neill, that was first sustained playing for West Brom, but apparently the severity of which wasn’t known to Villa. I wonder whether Mr Sproson kept any pertinent details to himself during the last contract negotiations? Did the manager possess all the relevant information when he allowed the team to get “low on numbers”? Just saying.

The cynic in me sees Carlos Cuellar now settled and performing well. James Collins and Richard Dunne forming an impressive partnership. Ciaran Clark showing a lot of potential. Curtis Davies, by his own admission, not always living up to his price tag. If I were Mr Sproson, I wouldn’t be feeling in the strongest of positions right now.

Sky Sports appends the same story with quotes from the player himself which completely negates his agent’s complaints:-

I don’t regret not having it done in the summer, because it wasn’t needed. How can you justify an operation when I’ve just got through four months of football without it happening? If you have the operation you technically weaken it at first, don’t you?

I got through it then and I got through since it happened at West Brom for a few years. So I thought, well, it’s happened, it’s a freak thing and it won’t happen again. Physically, before I had the operation done, I could have played against Fulham, and I could have played against Blues.

But it was a case of it might go, it might not go. It could have lasted a game and gone, it could have gone ten games, so it was unpredictable and it was erratic.

Clearly Sproson is just leveraging his position for when contract negotiations take place now his client has apparently dropped down the pecking order. And they will take place.

He was quite deliberate with his words when he said “We’ll have to look at the situation in January when Curtis is available and plays two more games” hoping to create the impression that Curtis might be looking to move on, when in fact he’s just stating the blatantly obvious. The Mirror need no encouragement to create sensationalist headlines and lead with “Curtis Davies considering leaving Aston Villa in January over contract row“. *yawn*

Lazy tabloid journalists and greedy agents, perfect bed fellows.

As a footnote, as I said at the outset, we fans are not usually privy to contract details and rightly so. However, it’s worth noting that Curtis Davies has only played one full season on his current contract, yet apparently is close to triggering a clause based on playing 60 games. An impressive feat I’m sure you’ll agree.

Clearly, either the dozen or so appearances he made during his first year at Villa on loan or pre-season games are being counted. I’m aware that the loan deal was more for the financial benefit of West Brom, but a real stickler for details surely wouldn’t let games played prior to the current contract or friendlies count? Again, just saying.