Michel Bastos: Aston Villa to Replace Spurs Bound Young with Dazzling Brazilian?
Aston Villa have joined a host of top European clubs chasing one of the stars of the 2008/09 French League, the Brazilian winger Michel Bastos.
The 25-year-old left-winger was in sensational form last season for Lille which has also attracted the interest of the likes of Tottenham, Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea. The Premier League clubs are joined by European big-hitters Lyon and Bayern Munich in their admiration of the Samba star. However, despite interest Villa are reported to be the first club to table a bid reported in the French media to be £8m.
Harry Redknapp has also had the Brazilian on his radar although his first choice to fill the left-midfield slot at White Hart Lane is Aston Villa’s Ashley Young. Spurs are in swap deal negotiations thought to include Jermaine Jenas, Tom Huddlestone and David Bentley. Therefore, Bastos may be the readymade replacement Martin O’Neill has identified if a deal is done with Tottenham.
Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez is looking to strengthen his midfield and attacking options with wide players the priority. Albert Riera had a decent first season but is lacking competition with Ryan Babel set to depart to raise funds, so Bastos is viewed to be a good acquisition.
The Brazilian has played for Lille for the past 3 seasons but 2008/09 was without a doubt his most productive campaign. He was the club’s top league scorer with 14 goals in 37 appearances (35 starts) which is an excellent return for a left winger. Bastos was joint 3rd top scorer in the division and his total of 14 was just 3 goals less than highly-rated Lyon sensation Karim Benzema. Not only did the player score goals but his 9 assists in the league was higher than any other player. He narrowly missed out on the French Footballer of the Year award to Bordeaux’s Yoann Gourcuff.
Bastos began his career in his homeland with Esporte Clube Pelotas before moving to Feyenoord in Holland. He failed to make an appearance for the first team before moving to Excelsior for one season where he made 28 league appearances (25 starts). He returned to Brazil to play for Atletico Paranese, Gremio and Figueirense before moving to Lille in 2006.
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The 5 ft 10 winger has improved with every season in France and boasts an impressive record of 25 goals in 97 league appearances (85 starts). He is renowned for the accuracy and power in his left foot and is one of the most feared dead-ball specialists in French football both from the penalty spot and from free-kicks.
Despite his excellent form the winger has yet to play for his country. He told the AFP news agency, “I know [breaking into the Brazil team] will be hard if I remain with LOSC because the French league is not watched in Brazil.”
“But now I’m not thinking about that. It’s not the most important.”I’ve had no offers and I think I will return to play with Lille next season,” he explained. “There have been contacts [in the past] but now the track is cold.”
However, the Brazilian did give clubs hope for a summer move when he told skysports.com, “I am relaxed about all the talks. I have been playing well, so there will always be clubs interested if you do well.”
Aston Villa’s interest in Bastos suggests a deal involving Ashley Young joining Tottenham or perhaps Chelsea may not be too farfetched. However, Lille’s Brazilian would be a more than adequate replacement on Villa’s left flank and would be available for a reasonable £8m.
Do you like the look of the player? Would you let Ashley Young leave Villa Park? Would Bastos be a good replacement? Let’s hear your views.
Tags: Ashley Young, Aston Villa, Brazil, Chelsea, Everton, Lille, Manchester City, Michel Bastos, Tottenham
July 2nd, 2009 at 12:33
Can you stop writing ill-informed articles about how Villa are going to swap Ashley Young for any Spurs player? Please. Spurs is a step down that Young is not going to take - its just not that simple. He’s the jewel in Villa’s crown, the apple in MON’s eye - and the darling of the Holte End. Prizing Young away will take a mega-bucks offer from one of the league’s big hitters, not a swap deal for some average English Spurs players
July 2nd, 2009 at 12:40
dis chap looks class… i wudn sell young id buy bastos aswell n switch milner into the centre… and keep these two on the wing…
July 2nd, 2009 at 14:04
Martin O’Neill intends building a squad that can win the title. Bastos is good enough to be part of that squad along with Young. The idea of selling Young to Spuds is ridiculous. Even if Villa did want to sell, why would one of the hottest properties in football agree to join that bunch of underachievers?
July 2nd, 2009 at 14:52
Oh please, One season where you did reasonably well and all of a sudden Spurs is a step down, lets not forget your pitiful end to the season and our dreadfull start. Get real - there is not much difference between Villa and Spurs and you know it. I personally have doubts about this story, however the only reason that makes me think this may be possible is that Young may want a move back to the South East, and if that’s the case then who knows….although if Young does want a move bck to the SE, then I think Chelski may come in. On another note, I cannot see why Spurs are thinking of sellin Huddlestone….excellent prospect.
July 2nd, 2009 at 15:18
Why is it that you London based media keep coming out with the same old rubbish, trying to tap up Young. You’re all a bunch of jid fans that need to stop doing Arry’s job for him. He does a poor enough job of it by himself. MON is looking to add depth and class throughout the whole Villa setup not just in the first team. We did win the reserves premier league this year and where runners up last year, from what I hear Spurs aren’t even entering it this year. Arry would love to have Young, Crew and the Villa setup. There is no way MON is going to let them go to improve Arry’s second rate players and club, that is why MON wants them to come to the Villa. Shame poor old Arry’s media friends have to do his talking for him now he has stopped shooting off his big mouth through the press, got a bit more class now he is dealing with MON who keeps his business to himself.
July 2nd, 2009 at 15:34
i dont want to see young at spurs and would certainly not offer jenas and huddlestone to them. young is the most overated players in the league. he may play well for villa but what happened to him during the latter stages of the season when the team needed him. he dissapeared and i would rather have bastos or even an injured downing before going for young. we should be doing no business at all with villa anyway as we are likely to be close rivals next season but only if they replace barry and get someone decent on the right otherwise they wont even break the top ten.
July 2nd, 2009 at 15:43
spurs is not a step down, young is from stevenage so it would make sense for him to go back to the south east.
he is a quality player that i’d love to see in a spurs shirt, with him and lennon on both wings, we’d have one of the most exciting midfields in the league with young/modric/palacios/lennon. i hope a deal is done although that bastos looks like a good player as well.
July 2nd, 2009 at 16:47
villa fans spurs r the 11th biggest club in the world and the only one not in champions league in so in fact Tottenham is a step up let Ashley go to spurs he is overrated.
July 2nd, 2009 at 18:29
I echo the comments of Birdman entirely and I am a spurs fan!
July 2nd, 2009 at 20:40
Young to Spurs is a step down, not because of Villa’s success, but because of Spurs failure.
Villa will never sell Young and he has just signed a 4 year contract, i do like the look of this player thou.
July 2nd, 2009 at 20:54
If Villa manage to land Bastos, Young will move to right wing with Milner coming into central midfield.
Young is not going anywhere! full stop!
July 3rd, 2009 at 02:33
Bently u can have and maybe jenas for young but Huddlestone as well. balls. We dont wanna swap these 4 players( Bale as well) for a young kid who has had a good half a season in the premier league Keep him you tossers. Im so glad im not a villa fan . Used to have a bit of respect for the claret and blue of birmingham but a couple of top six finishes has drawn the plastic fans out of the cupboard. Turds