It’s been an interesting, yet quiet week for me. I’m really not a fan of the transfer window periods, there’s so much nonsense being regurgitated. Some of it by people who don’t know any better, but mostly by people who know full well that they’re peddling baseless speculation in search of traffic.

However, the new air of openness at Villa Park under Gerard Houllier is refreshing and perhaps the glimpse of the work behind the scenes we’ve been given helps temper some of the more outlandish transfer stories.

Make no mistake though, when it gets to the nitty-gritty, the door is firmly closed with a ‘no comment’.

I’ve somehow resisted the urge to pump out two dozen posts covering every little twist and turn over the last few days, but it’s worth summarizing where we appear to be at the moment:

Jean Makoun

The biggest deal that’s definitely on and down to negotiating personal terms is Lyon’s Jean Makoun. No guarantee that it can be worked out, wages are an issue for us, we know that, but the two clubs are in agreement after Houllier met with Lyon’s president Jean-Michel Aulas in Paris.

Fingers crossed on this one, he’s a player I think can definitely deliver an improvement where we really need it on the pitch. More on Makoun here if and when the deal is done.

It’s clearly a position that Houllier has identified needs improvement after the failed attempt to bring Gueida Fofana to the club, let’s hope there’s a Plan C if Makoun doesn’t pan out either.

Charlie Adam

Sticking with central midfield, at least one bid has been submitted to Blackpool for Charlie Adam and it seems likely that an improved offer was sent down the line after the first was rejected.

Unfortunately, I can’t say I’ve fallen off the Ian Holloway bandwagon as I wasn’t ever really on it, but it’s fair to say that I’ve grown weary of his rent-a-gob routine and haven’t even read what he’s had to say about the matter. I’ve got a pretty good idea.

Not sure Adam would offer any particular upgrade over what we have at the moment, but I can’t help thinking it might be a longer term view with the economics of what some of our players are costing in mind.

Wayne Bridge

Bridge chose to go to West Ham on loan for the remainder of the season, possibly because they were willing to pay a larger share, if not all, of his reported £90k a week wages.

That just gets a big ‘meh’ from me, but it sure makes things awkward with Stephen Warnock. Can and will he be brought back into the fold or is it curtains for him?

Christopher Samba

Samba wants out of Blackburn and has been linked repeatedly with Aston Villa, yet nothing of any real substance has surfaced. Usual speculation of make-weight deals involving Warnock and/or Curtis Davies, but it remains unclear where another centre half fits in if one of Cuellar, Collins, Dunne or Clark aren’t heading for the exit.

Fortunately, Carlos quashed a throw away recycling of old exit rumours by a lazy staff writer at the Express and Star with his statement of his continued happiness at VP via his Twitter account. A good example of how footballers can use Twitter without causing a storm.

Colour me unconvinced about Samba.

Mark van Bommel

Er, yeah, right. Next?

Joey Barton / Nigel Reo-Coker Swapsies

Behave. Next?

Karim Benzema

Really? Again? Even though Gonzalo Higuain will be out until May, leaving Benzema as Mourinho’s only recognised striker at the moment, however unconvincing he might be? OK, that makes sense…

…next?

Lionel Messi

Just kidding! Sorry.

Joe Lewis

Who? Oh, the want away young keeper at Peterborough that Barry Fry claims we’ve submitted a derisory offer for but Villa deny making any bid at all. Since the transfer market still operates on steam, this one is easy, just show us the fax Mr Fry. Or kindly do one. Ta.

Roman Weidenfeller

Borussia Dortmund goalkeeper out of contract at the end of the season. Mmmm, top of the Bundesliga Dortmund or relegation zoned Aston Villa?

Oddly, Weidenfeller struck a new deal with Dortmund, keeping him at the club until 2014 and any mention of Villa was probably no more than leverage in contract negotiations in Germany.

Existing Villans

John Carew

Houllier says there’s no beef – pull the other one Gerard – but talk of his exit, the Baggies seemingly likely, has been put on hold while Emile Heskey serves his three match ban.

Curtis Davies

As well as a speculative make-weight in any deal bringing Christopher Samba to VP, Stoke have been mentioned, but since Tony Pulis denies any interest, we’ll have to move on, but it’s clearly a case of ‘if’, not ‘when’ with Curtis.

The Aussies

Shane Lowry has joined Sheffield Utd for the remainder of the season. I’ve always thought of him as a left back, but he’s apparently more of a centre half that can play at full back. Either way, good for him, but it makes our left back cover even thinner.

Chris Herd is the latest of the youngsters to sign a new contract, keeping him at the club until the summer of 2014. I think we have a clear policy and view of the future of Aston Villa now.

Omar Cummings

All right, not quite an existing Villan, perhaps “honorary Villan” then since he’s been training with the squad for a couple of weeks now. No news on the likelihood of any deals, loans or permanent, but John Harkes claimed on American TV yesterday that he’d spoken to Brad Friedel who said that they hadn’t had much chance to see Cummings in action as he’d been injured.

Funnily enough though, Cummings himself failed to mention that in his report sent back to Colorado. He didn’t seem shy about mentioning missing out on some baby making activity with Mrs Cummings, I don’t see why he wouldn’t have mentioned an injury.

What no one else seems to be talking about is the work permit situation though. I still don’t see how Jamaicans qualify for work permits right now due to FIFA rankings, but we’ll see how it develops.

Chris Price

You’re probably aware by now that ex-Villan Chris Price is possibly lucky to be alive after being found unconscious in the water off a Queensland beach, apparently victim of a rip while playing football with his youngest daughter.

Chris suffered cardiac arrest during resuscitation attempts, but was stabilised on life support in hospital before eventually being allowed home. Unfortunately, the amount of sea water that passed through his lungs led to contracting pneumonia, but he’s on medication and fighting what will be a long, hard journey back to recovery.

Of course, I’d like to join with the rest of the Aston Villa community, in wishing Chris all the best and the speediest of recoveries possible.

And that concludes a round up post which, on reflection, suggests that a post or two this week probably wouldn’t have gone a miss. Apologies for that, I’ll be glad when it’s February if I’m honest.

Now, time to start thinking about Sunday…

…on second thoughts, Karim Benzema has just been spotted at BHX!!*

*this is not true in any way.