ALEX McLeish believes Villa striker Emile Heskey has the versatility to drop back to centre-half during the winter of his career.

Wolves boss Mick McCarthy remarked earlier this week how well Heskey has started the season in McLeish’s new 4-2-3-1 formation.

But McLeish believes the former England international is adaptable enough to play several positions for the claret and blues – including centre-back.

“He’s centre-half tomorrow – tell Mick!” quipped McLeish. “I see Emile as a very versatile player, playing in a lot of positions.

“Seriously, he might even one day have to fill in at centre-half and I’m sure he can do that as well. He’s a great team player and he understands when some players get drawn out of position and we lose the ball. He will fill in their positions until they recover.

“He’s had some career. It’s terrific and when you hear people like Michael Owen saying he’s the best partner he’s ever played with and one or two others making similar comments, these are people who absolutely know the game inside out who are saying that.”