hehe, he's got almost no contract is old and is a striker that can't score. HIs presence, is useless. ZOMG, he's got a few assists. He's not worth 3.5mil even if he had 4 years left on his contract to be quite honest.
Not to mention he'll be on a fairly high wage at this point in his career and considering Carew is bigger, does more with the ball when he wins it and scores, when he's back theres no room in the squad for him at all.
For backup, and games where you want to rest a star or two, they have a couple younger people. Villa need more cover in midfield, a right winger/central, a creative player far more than heskey. Sure they'll get someone, though if you manage no long injuries in midfield you'll be fine and have a serious shot not just at 4th, but 3rd/2nd aswell. But theres a few players you just couldn't replace if injured as you just can't afford the quality of cover needed, really hope Villa push all the way, partially just so Wenger gets it in his head that spending a little cash on the key area's, makes you money in the long run.
Chopra isn't a good indicator of prices either, Keane spent bucketloads on all the wrong players, new manager given a huge budget and applied no sense and just spunked it fast.
Heskey always gets credit for being big and strong, but realistically most of his knockdowns go no where, for such a huge great header of the ball, he rarely scores from corners and the like. Give him a chance to run in behind and his bulk, and lack of ability mean he won't be scoring many one on ones or getting into those positions. Zaki's scored more goals from controlling a long ball himself and turning to run at goal, than from Heskey knock on's. Its all well and good winning a lot of headers from long balls(not convinced he even does that), but when the ball goes no where useful and its pure fluke when something comes from it, its not worth having.
