Brad Friedel -- will he stay or go?

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Jul 23, 2008

American goalie Brad Friedel, who has played every Premier League game in the last four seasons at Blackburn Rovers, has asked to leave -- the latest shock wave for the Lancashire club.

Paul Ince was recently named as a replacement for Mark Hughes, who was hired as Manchester City's new manager, and faces the prospect of losing Blackburn's youngest star -- David Bentley -- and now Friedel, who has played 261 of 266 EPL games since Blackburn went up in 2001-02.

Both Manchester City and Aston Villa (owned by America Randy Lerner) are reportedly interested in signing the 37-year-old Friedel. Ince said he would't part with Friedel, but Blackburn issued a statement on Wednesday, indicating that an agrement for Friedel's transfer to an unnamed club for $ million had been reached -- conditional on Blackburn finding a suitable replacement for the American.

Villa is also pursuing 23-year-old goalie Brad Guzan, whose is pending the receipt of a British work permit, and has been linked in recent days with 24-year-old Spanish keeper Asier Riesgo.