Craig Dawson unhappy at West Ham United amid Aston Villa links
Central defender Craig Dawson is now unhappy with life at West Ham United amid interest from Aston Villa, according to the Daily Mail.
The 32-year-old is a fans favourite at the London Stadium after his sensational 2021-22 season saw him earn the nickname ‘Ballon Dawson’ from the Irons supporters.
But injuries at the start of the new campaign have limited his involvement in David Moyes’ side and that has now been compounded by two new arrivals in defence in Thilo Kehrer and Nayef Aguerd.
Villa are on the search for a new central defender after their own summer recruit Diego Carlos suffered a big injury that will keep him out until the new year.
Steven Gerrard has identified Dawson as a player high on his priority list after the Hammers won 1-0 at Villa Park on Sunday (28 August) and with only one year left on his contract, they hope to sign him for a cut-price deal although Moyes does not intend on selling this summer.
Going nowhere
There is little reason for West Ham to think about selling Dawson despite the rapidly diminishing length of his contract because he is 32 years of age.
Unless he was one of the world’s best defenders, the Irons would not get a significant enough transfer fee for someone of that age so they might as well keep him for 12 months and then let him go for free if he chooses not to stay.
Monetary value often comes before everything else from the outside but the value he has added to the squad since he joined in 2020 is far above whatever Villa would be happy to pay for him.
So why not keep him around for 12 more months and let him use his superior knowledge of the game to educate everyone around him and then set him free to do what he likes next summer when Aguerd and Kehrer should be settled alongside Kurt Zouma and Angelo Ogbonna.