Ireland with family

Stephen Ireland, the Aston Villa midfielder who was first mentioned as a Metro target by the New York Times back in November, is now being mentioned again. This time, it's by Goal.com, whose sources "confirm" that RBNY has "approached" the player. The website even has a quote from Ireland's agent, who says that his client "would love a new challenge and MLS continues to grow bigger each season".

Ireland is best known for skipping an international game in 2007 because of the death of his grandmother. The grandmother turned out to be alive. He has six caps for his namesake country, but none since the incident. The midfielder started his career with Manchester City in 2005, intersecting Hans Backe's tenure there as an assistant.