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Villa join race for Boro ace
Middlesbrough, 11:51, July 2, 2009 ,
Aston Villa are reportedly weighing up a swoop for Middlesbrough winger Stewart Downing, who is a long-term Tottenham target.
Spurs were lambasted by Boro for trying to lure the England international away from the Riverside in January when they were involved in a relegation battle. However having dropped into the Championship, the Teessiders opened the door for Downing to make a move to the Londoners.
The main obstacle to a £10million transfer is the broken foot, which is set to sideline Downing until around October, that could put Spurs boss Harry Redknapp off making a bid now until he sees how well his recovery goes.
In the meantime Villa boss Martin O'Neill is reportedly ready to try and take Downing to Villa Park on a loan deal with a view to a permanent transfer. That would allow the player to recover from his injury and then try and impress the Midlands outfit into making the switch full-time next summer.
The problem with that scenario is Boro are looking for hard cash to rebuild their squad for a promotion battle and would no doubt prefer to sell Downing now even if it means dropping the asking price to accommodate the risk over his injury.