McLeish confident Ireland will return to his best

Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish has claimed that this is the season for Stephen Ireland to return to the top of his game.

The Scot even went as far as labeling the football Ireland was playing at Manchester City as ‘world-class stuff’ and is prepared to give the midfielder a chance to find his form again at Villa Park.

“Stephen has a lot to offer. A couple of years ago that guy was verging on world-class stuff at Man City. It’s about him recapturing that kind of form,” McLeish told reporters.

“We will try our best. We will keep trying. We’re not about to give up on big investments like Stephen. He’s a very important member of the squad.”

Ireland has struggled to make an impact at Villa ever since joining them valued at eight million pounds in the deal which saw James Milner join City in the summer of 2010.

The midfielder was an outcast under the last manager Gerard Houllier, spending the second half of last season on loan at Newcastle.

The playmaker’s fitness has also been a worry for McLeish, this mainly being down to a lack of first-team action having only turned out a total of 14 times last season for both Villa and Newcastle combined last year.

But McLeish is making moves to ensure that Ireland is fully fit for the new campaign.

“His conditioning has left him prone to little niggles, hamstrings etc. It’s another task for our sports science team to be working on that side of it in the gym,” he said.

“We have the facilities to help the players. They are not wanting for anything on that side of things.”