Carew cut down to size by Houllier tongue-lashing
Published 23:00 08/11/10 By James Nursey
Aston Villa boss Gerard Houllier put John Carew firmly in his place yesterday but the club’s injury worries are spiraling out of control.
Villa’s French manager Houllier, 63, gave Carew a rollicking in crunch talks after the Norwegian forward publicly criticised him.
Villa confirmed last night “the matter has been dealt with internally” at the club’s training ground.
Carew, 31, is out-of-contract in the summer and Houllier is not offering him or free agent Steve Sidwell new deals.
Now the pair, who earn £50,000-a-week, seem certain to be sold in January by Villa, who want to trim their wage bill.
Carew is sidelined with a calf injury and Mirror Sport can reveal Sidwell is now having an operation this week to cure an Achillles problem.
Sidwell, 27, will be out a minimum of six weeks following an Achilles scrape procedure, which he initially postponed due to Villa’s injury crisis.
He now joins Carew, Stiliyan Petrov, Emile Heskey, Gabby Agbonlahor, Andreas Weimann, Fabian Delph and Reo-Coker on Villa’s list of casualties.
Reo-Coker, who came off in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Fulham with a medial knee ligament problem, is due to see a specialist in London today.
The midfielder has a ligament tear which will require 4-6 weeks on the sidelines rather than the initial estimates of 2-3 weeks.
Mirrorsport has also learned Villa have suffered a set-back in their attempts to tie up a new contract quickly for Reo-Coker.
The ex-West Ham star has been a revelation under Houllier and is a Bosman next summer when his £30,000-a-week deal expires.
Reo-Coker has rejected Villa’s initial offer of fresh terms as he wants a rise to £50,000-a-week and negotiations are on-going.
