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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Paul Doyle

Steven Gerrard: players’ vaccine status will be part of Aston Villa transfer talks

Steven Gerrard, Aston Villa’s manager, said most of his squad were double-jabbed and he was due to receive his booster on Wednesday.
Steven Gerrard, Aston Villa’s manager, said most of his squad were double-jabbed and he was due to receive his booster on Wednesday. Photograph: Nick Potts/PA

Steven Gerrard has admitted Aston Villa will take a player’s vaccine status into consideration when drawing up their list of January transfer targets.

With Covid disrupting the football calendar to an extent not seen for months, Villa’s manager was asked whether he would think twice about moving for a player who had not been jabbed.

Although Gerrard began by saying he had not “really given that any thought yet”, he went on to explain that it would be factored in.

He said two players and two staff members had Covid at the moment but that most of his squad were double-jabbed and that he was due to receive his booster on Wednesday.

“We are very thorough and detailed in terms of our recruitment process,” Gerrard said. “I’ve been really impressed with Johan [Lange, the sporting director] and the guys around him in recruitment and scouting in terms of the details and work I’ve seen so far. We look at everything. So I’m sure it will come up.

“But we’ll obviously make decisions as and when we decide a certain person is the one who could come in and make us better.

“We’ll go across it with a fine-toothed comb. But I don’t think it’s right for me to comment on if I would or wouldn’t in that situation. But it would certainly come into conversations in the background.”

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