By Graham Hill
VILLA’S decision to sign keeper Tom Heaton from Burnley has the backing of Sir Kenny Dalglish.
Liverpool were also interested in signing the 33-year-old England international.
But Heaton came to Villa where he will be first choice ahead of Jed Steer.
Heaton is older than the players Villa have been targeting this summer.
But Dalglish says that boss Dean Smith has been bringing in good, solid individuals.
He told the Sunday Post: “Aston Villa have spent in the region of £140million, but it’s not about how much you have laid out.
“It’s about how every individual player settles into the environment and settles into the unit. The signing of keeper Tom Heaton might make all the difference to Villa.”
Heaton made his first appearance in a Villa shirt during Saturday’s final pre-season friendly against German side RB Leipzig which Smith side won 3-1 with two goals from Conour Hourihane and John McGinn adding the third.
Smith has been tracking Heaton since the January transfer window but tried to bring in Stoke’s Jack Butland first. But when it became obvious that the Potters were not going to budge on their £20million-plus valuation, Villa signed Heaton for around a third of that.
Villa Roar 