More Brad news for Shay Given as Guzan looks set to take his Villa place

Shay Given endured a fairly torrid Euro 2012 and now it looks like he might lose his place as Aston Villa’s No 1.

We’re still not sure that we will ever see Shay Given in an Ireland shirt again and now it looks like he faces a huge battle to be seen in an Aston Villa shirt next season.

New Villa boss Paul Lambert gave a press conference yesterday and he was certainly talking up the current No 2, American Brad Guzan.

“I’ve watched Brad and some of his games when he was in the team last year and he was excellent," he said. "I know he’s always had that stigma of being the No 2 behind some really good goalkeepers here.

“But when you come back at the start of the season nobody knows what’s going to happen and it depends on whoever does well.”

Guzan is on the brink of signing a new deal at Villa Park and after former boss Alex McLeish told him last season that he would always be behind Given, it seems Lambert is prepared to give the 27-year-old a shot. We hope that Lambert's comments were just an attempt to get the deal over the line because if the sentiments are genuine, it sounds ominous for Given.

“Brad played very well the time he was in (last season) and maybe he found himself a bit unlucky to be back out.

“The club needs two or three good goalkeepers, so when Shay comes back from the Euros it will be a big bonus and we’ll see what happens.”

While we feel for the Donegal man, the big impact of this may be on Ireland. Given may decide that he now needs to focus on his club career and hang up his international gloves. We know he is already pondering his Ireland future and these comments by Lambert might just swing it.