Aston Villa FC

• Nickname:
• Founded:1874
• Manager:Gerard Houllier

• Ground:
• Capacity:NaN

Downing cites O'Neill chance

17 Jul 2009 - 08:51:01

Click To Enlarge

New Aston Villa signing Stewart Downing claims that the chance to play for Martin O'Neill persuaded him to join the Midlands club.

The England winger ended his long association with hometown club Middlesbrough to join Villa in a £12million transfer on Thursday.

The deal was concluded swiftly and Downing has cited the prospect of working with manager O'Neill as the reason for his decision.

"It's certainly been a summer of speculation for me but I have tried to switch off and get a good break after my injury," he told the club's official website.

"Saying that, when it became apparent that Villa were interested I was very excited. I wanted to come as soon as I met Martin O'Neill, so I am delighted it's now sorted out.

"As soon as I spoke to the manager at the training ground, I wanted to play for Villa and I wanted to play for him. He has great ambition and wants to build a good squad to take the club forward. I want to be part of that."

Meanwhile, Downing believes he has signed for a club which is heading in the right direction.

He added: "As an outsider looking in, it was obvious that Villa were a club on the up.

"You can see a chairman and manager who want to build great things. They have done that over the past few seasons, particularly by finishing sixth last time around, which was great.

"But once you get here and see the stadium, the training ground, the people behind the scenes and the manager with his ambition and hopes for the future, it's even better than you realised."