Premier League goalkeeper wants £5m payout to follow departures out of club (video)

Aston Villa fans will look back on the season just gone and consider it a good one. Manager Paul Lambert came into the club with a vision and a long-term plan to make the most of their abundance of quality young players and go about building something special in the Midlands. Although for a lot of the season they looked to be dropping out of the league and into the second division for the first time in their history they survived with time to spare and can now set their sights on continuing their upwards surge.

The first thing to do for Lambert and his merry band of backroom staff is to get rid of the aging dead wood in the squad. First up is Shay given, who believe it or not is still on their books as a player. The 37-year-old has been lost at Villa Park as Brad Guzan's performances have seen him firmly secure his place between the sticks and unfortunately for all parties Given is still in contract for three years.

The Irishman is apparently on £60,000-a-week and would rack up almost £9m on wages should he stay at the club, so he has kindly offered to take £5m to leave.

Aww, that's nice of him.

The other two who Lambert is looking to flog are Darrent Bent and Stephen Ireland. Anyone get the feeling he would be better off holding a jumble sale in the Villa car park?

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