Is this finally the end of the road for Stephen Ireland?
Stephen Ireland is the latest “big” name to be frozen out by Paul Lambert and told to train with the youngsters at Aston Villa. Is it any surprise?
No, not really. His career has stagnated for an awfully long term. He falls into the Michael Owen category of his previous exploits; the worry is that somehow he looks even more inefficient than Owen these days.
The problem as with many footballers who fail to live up to their promise is not the talent, but the lack of desire.
In the same way that loan periods failed to galvanise the ever disappointing David Bentley, it is not enough for Ireland to expect to walk into the team at Villa Park anymore.
If he is to prove his worth he needs to apply himself and you suspect a successful loan spell is the only way to achieve this.
I don’t mean anything like his lacklustre spell at Newcastle United either, which has hardly made him popular in the North East since.
He is at a crucial stage in his career where his once reported £12 million fee and big wages are not enough to save him anymore.
Lambert has proved ruthless with players whatever their reputation or fee and he’s forced Ireland to wake up and smell the coffee. Is he capable of rising to the challenge? Or is he just another story of a career that tails out? I suspect the latter.
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