Martin O’Neill in shock swoop to sign Heskey
EMILE Heskey has agreed to a shock £3.5 million switch to Villa from Wigan Athletic as Martin O’Neill finally landed the man he has chased since last summer.
O’Neill was desperate to be reunited with the 31-year-old who had been expected to re-join Liverpool on a free transfer in the summer.
Villa pounced and offered Heskey a lengthy deal he simply could not refuse with Steve Bruce saved from losing a player he wanted to keep for nothing.
Heskey will be eligible to play in the FA Cup for Villa after missing Wigan’s third round tie against Tottenham Hotspur due to a hamstring injury, but he will more likely make his debut at Portsmouth on Tuesday night.
Heskey’s lack of goals has opened himself to criticism, but O’Neill said recently: “The one thing is he has never scored enough goals and I think Emile would find it hard to say otherwise.
“But he is brilliant and whenever his confidence is high – he is a player who is really strong and a handful.”
He will provide much-needed competition to Gabby Agbonlahor and a fit-again John Carew with Marlon Harewood’s future uncertain.
O’Neill and Heskey enjoyed a fruitful five-year partnership at Leicester City before he made an £11million move to Anfield in 2000.
Heskey had already made his debut for the Foxes as a raw 17-year-old under Mark McGhee when O’Neill arrived in December 1995.
By the end of the 1995/96 he had become a first-team regular and City had returned to the top-flight thanks to a play-off victory over Crystal Palace.
His 10 goals in 35 League games was a fine return for a first season of top-flight football but it was in the Coca-Cola Cup Final of 1997 against Middlesbrough that Heskey scored his most important goal.
