So the much maligned Emile Heskey completed a £3.5 million move to Villa Park on Friday and since I’ve already mentioned that I’ve not been his biggest fan to date I’ve taken a little time to reflect on the news. It’s probably worth noting at this point that The Sun were entirely correct, but speculation of a 5 year contract thankfully didn’t turn out as accurate.

So what does Heskey bring to Aston Villa?? Experience springs immediately to mind. Two weeks ago he turned 31, but he joined Leicester City’s youth academy at the age of 9 and became a first team regular at 17 years old. Can anyone guess who the manager was at the time?? Yup, of course you already knew it was our very own Martin O’Neill.

If you’ve read or heard anything that MON himself has had to say about this transfer then you’ve seen that MON clearly holds Heskey in the highest regard. It’s a certainty that MON knows the player well enough to feel that he’ll fit into the Villa Park dressing room without upsetting too many existing players, Marlon Harewood possibly being an exception.

Despite his somewhat underwhelming goal return of 40 from 154 games at Leicester (1 goal every 3.85 games) he must have been doing something right for Liverpool to splash a then club record £11 million to acquire his services.

While at Liverpool Heskey maintained his 1 goal every 3.85 games ratio (39 from 150 games), but crucially picked up UEFA Cup and Champion’s League experience. He also became a fixture in Sven’s England side, playing in all of the 2002 World Cup games. Arguably the biggest stage a professional footballer can play on, Heskey becomes only the 4th member of the current squad who can boast that on their CV. With so many English youngsters at the club hoping to emulate this achievement don’t underestimate Heskey’s ability to act as a mentor. Don’t forget that Heskey’s currently enjoying an Indian Summer in the national set up himself.

So what is a front man with a career strike record of 1 goal every 4.20 games going to do on the pitch?? Don’t expect his name to be on the score sheet very often, obviously. One word you’ll often hear associated with Heskey is “unselfish” which goes at least some way to explaining his unimpressive goal to game ratio. He generally manages about half as many assists as goals, so again not prolific. Which only leaves what he does off-the-ball as a factor, which coincidentally is the often overlooked, but not unimportant part of a forward’s game.

Let’s be honest, as successful as our run without Carew, using a 4-5-1 formation has been, it hasn’t always been convincing. The main tool in Gabby’s box is his speed and that isn’t utilised as well as it might be when he’s the lone front man. If Heskey’s presence on the pitch only allows us to unleash Gabby at pace once more then it’s worth his inclusion. If he can drag defenders away to give Gabby the space to run then so much the better. The way I look at it, Heskey will probably be more useful just doing this than Sidwell is doing whatever it is he’s doing in midfield.

Heskey could even play on his own, Gabby & Ash could return to the roles MON once employed them in as the wings of a 5 man midfield, but bomb forward to be the extra strikers in a 4-3-3 attacking formation. That would require Milner to move inside somewhere, but that might even suit the player who’s wing play is perhaps overly criticized by some.

Lastly, John Carew shouldn’t be too far away from a first team return and wouldn’t everyone regard him as our number one choice for target man?? So if Heskey, with all his experience, serves as Carew’s back up it wouldn’t exactly be a bad thing would it??

So welcome to Aston Villa Emile Heskey!! You may have worn that other Birmingham team’s shirt briefly, but everyone makes mistakes. As long as you run out with passion and commitment in the Claret & Blue I think you’ll do very well for us.