O'Neill unsure over future of duo

31 July 2010 12:50
Martin O'Neill will give Luke Young and Steve Sidwell the same chance as everyone else if they do not leave Aston Villa this summer.[LNB] Young turned down a move Liverpool earlier this week, while Sidwell had been interesting Fulham prior to Mark Hughes' appointment.[LNB]O'Neill is unsure whether either will still be in his squad come the end of August, but he will have no complaints if they are.[LNB]On Young's situation, he told the club's official website: "I don't actually know exactly, but I think the news is that the move has not materialised. I'm not sure what the reasons are.[LNB]"I've been asked, 'how does that affect people?', but if it doesn't materialise, that's everybody in with a fighting chance again so from that viewpoint it's not the death knell on anybody.[LNB]"Of course, he will play in at least one of the games here (at a pre-season training camp in Portugal) and it's the same with Steve as well - and anybody else.[LNB]"I can't start thinking that some players are going to leave the football club and make assumptions on that, so everybody here will get a proper chance to go and be as fit as they can so that when the season opens up, they've had some sort of opportunity to do that."[LNB]On Sidwell, O'Neill added: "Again, I don't really know. I think the manager that was down to go there (Fulham), Martin Jol, obviously stayed. So I think that situation is certainly very much still in the balance.[LNB]"With a new manager coming in (Mark Hughes), it might be a different thought. I don't know if that will make things happen more quickly or not.[LNB]"Steve played against Walsall the other day. I think he's pleased to get some football in, which is very important and, at this minute, I wouldn't question anybody's attitude, particularly in terms of the training they've been doing.[LNB]"It's not as if anybody's decided I'm not going to be part of this, therefore I'm not going to train as hard."

Source: Team_Talk