It has been confirmed that Stewart Downing has joined Aston Villa from Middlesborough for a fee in the region of £10million plus £2million in add-ons.

It’s been known for a while that the two clubs had agreed a fee and that Downing was at Bodymoor for talks and presumably a medical. I’ve jokingly asked on Twitter how a man on crutches can pass a medical, but I’m guessing that the point of the medical is to find things that are not known. It’s also important, I suppose, to establish exactly when Downing will be fit to play. Downing is due to have a pin removed from the fracture in September and won’t even be fit until at October, at best. Don’t expect him to make his debut until November, quite possibly December.

The news of Downing created spurious speculation about Ashley Young’s future, because, er, well they play in the same position. I was reading some comments on a Spurs blog and they seemed both relieved at the news that Downing wouldn’t be joining them and hopeful that Ashley Young would. Wishful thinking chaps. It would take a massive bid to tempt MON into considering selling our PFA Young Player of the Year in any circumstances and signing a player who could be useless this side of Xmas won’t change anything.

Ashley Young might be great on the left, but he’s right footed and often pops up there of course. I can’t think of an occasion when he’s taken to the pitch as the recognised right winger yet though. He looked fantastic when MON employed him in a free role just behind the striker. He can also be a striker himself.

Also, I suspect that MON would quite like to have at least 3 proven wingers in the first team squad, possibly more. I certainly would, wouldn’t you? Ash’s versatility is not in doubt. Milner has been known to do a job on the left himself and many fans are speculating that he might benefit from a Barry-like move to the middle. There shouldn’t be any doubt that there’s plenty of room for Downing in the side over the course of a season and it’s not been unknown for him to play in the middle at times for Boro, although the success in that area is questionable.

Clearly I welcome the addition of another young player on the wing, especially one with Downing’s experience at International level. My only concern is that MON has a habit of appearing to stick with certain favourite players at times, even playing them out of position when there seemed better options on the bench. If he’s playing four across the middle and Petrov, Young, Milner and Downing are all fit, it’s difficult to see Sidwell and Reo-Coker getting much of a look in, even though one of the four players on the pitch would be out of position.

I like Reo-Coker and I’d like to see him playing in his natural role as a defensive midfielder. He’s an honest and hard working player who just needs to improve his passing game and possibly be less clumsy in some of his tackling. I’d also love to see Petrov playing his more natural role as an attacking midfielder now that he’s finally found his feet at Villa. I’ve yet to be convinced by Sidwell, but I’d certainly hope he stays another season and maybe acts as a back up/rotation for Petrov.

If you think about these six midfielders; Petrov, Young, Milner, Downing, NRC & Sidwell – all MON acquisitions – there’s close to £60 million right there. With Gardner as a back-up utility player and maybe a youngster or two who can be called upon, surely there’s enough strength in depth to play with?? There’s always the ubiquitous Sali-Salifou and Gabby & Heskey can play in some form of wing-forward role if really in a hole.

That’s my personal view anyway; we have plenty of quality across the middle now. Hopefully MON will spend the remainder of his summer budget on building a really strong, cohesive defensive unit. Maybe there will be a few quid left over for someone up front, but I suspect that depends on Marlon Harewood as much as anything else. If Delfouneso – probably already ahead of Harewood in the pecking order – is going to live up to his billing then we should be expecting him to force his way into first team consideration more frequently this season.

It remains to be seen who else will be joining Villa this summer and who will be leaving, but I think that signing Stewart Downing is a good sign of intent so far. So welcome to Villa, Stewart. Make a swift recovery and we look forward to seeing you joining Ash & Milner in whipping a few balls into the box as soon as possible!!