OPINION
Playing it safe. That seems to be the road Steve Bruce is going down after Aston Villa had a bid rejected for Glenn Whelan.
Sky Sports reported on Friday that Premier League outfit Stoke City have rejected a bid in the region of £500,000 from Villa for the experienced midfielder.
There is only one target Bruce is expected to meet next season and this is promotion to the top tier of English football.
But signing players such as Whelan will not please the supporters because they are expecting players that can light up Villa Park next term following a gloomy season.
Added to that, Whelan is a hard worker in the middle of the park who protects the back four, a player Villa don’t require because the likes of Mile Jedinak and Gary Gardner already fill that void at the club.
Instead, he needs more creative players in midfield who can drive forward and help pick up those valuable points both home and away.
When analysing Villa’s bottom half finish during the recently concluded Championship season, they were very sluggish in midfield, with no movement and energy provided to the attackers.
Whelan will only add to that slow movement, that is why Bruce must look elsewhere when he is planning to sign another midfield player during the summer transfer window.
He needs to re-think his transfer plan for the veteran, it is doomed to failure.