It’s a breaking news type of thing; Robert Pires has passed his medical at Bodymoor and has signed a six month contract which takes him through to the end of the season. Carlos Cuellar tweeted earlier today that he’d met Pires at Bodymoor, he looked fit and they talked in Spanish – Pires was at Villarreal for four years of course.

I’m looking forward to seeing Bobby in action, not sure exactly where he’ll fit in, but as I keep saying, the quality and experience he brings could be invaluable as we get into the tough Winter months.

He joins as a free agent, so he should be registered and able to play at the weekend, there was no transfer fee and it doesn’t sound like wages was a big deal. Aside from his age, and the risk of him joining the conveyor belt of injuries, there really are no negatives.

He’ll be wearing the number 8 shirt vacated by a certain someone last seen heading for the blue half of Manchester.

In other news today, you may have already seen on the Aston Villa Central Tumblr page, Barry Bannan has said that he didn’t feel he was getting a fair crack under Martin O’Neill and the former manager seemed to have an issue with his height.  Add him to the list of players not unhappy to see the back of MON.

Also, in injury news, positive news for once; Fabian Delph is spending several days in the United States as part of his recovery and is on schedule to return to action in the new year.

If we can hang in there through December and get into January in reasonable shape, with a little bit of luck, it’s possible that we could have all our players back, fighting for position and maybe, just maybe, something to play for as we hit the home straight.

[Photo credit: Aston Villa Official Site]