I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Mark Hughes seems to be determined to do himself in by the kind of players he is signing.

Sure Adebayor is a top quality striker, capable of playing at the top level of football.  But he also has a trait which seems to be a theme throughout the newly assembled Manchester City team; his temperament.

Every team usually has one or two players who tend to sulk or throw a tantrum when things are not going there way; when they are not scoring, not winning, or sitting on the bench.  In a normal team the rest of the players will come together to set this person straight.

When you load the team full of sulkers, such as Tevez, Adebayor, Robinho, Elano, just to mention some of the more prolific sulkers, you are asking for trouble.  Most teams don’t even have 1 player who sulks on the level of these guys.

There are a couple of dangers here, firstly if City do not start winning and continue to win these players will all be banding together looking for someone to point a finger at…which will be Mark Hughes.  Secondly, even if they are winning, some of these big ego players are going to have to be sitting on the bench, which is also going to cause problems when every player they have  signed is demanding first team football.

One could say it’s just sour grapes that I’m writing this; being a United supporter, and City have made all kind of signings.  But this couldn’t be further from the truth.  I’d like to see City succeed (obvious not beyond United), but in the same realm, and I’d love to see Hughes succeed, I think he has the potential to be a great manager, and he was of course a great player for United, but I can see things blowing up in their face with some of the moves they are making.

Aston Villa seem to be leading in the race to sign Stewart Downing from newly relegated Middlesbrough, with a £12million bid which has already been accepted by Middlesbrough.  Personal terms still have to be agreed, and other buyers could potentially crash the party.

The bigger question then becomes; why are Aston Villa so interested in signing a new left midfielder when they already have one of the country’s best in Ashley Young.  I can’t imagine that either Downing or Young would consider playing second fiddle.  Which leads me to believe Ashley Young could well be on his way out to bigger and better things, as there is no way I can see Martin O’Neill signing a replacement for Ashley Young, probably Villa’s best player, and then sitting Young on the bench.

Hopefully Sir Alex Ferguson was bluffing about the Manchester United’s transfers being completed, and has a secret deal to bring in Ashley Young; he is in my opinion a fantastic player.