Carew not looking to jump ship

Striker John Carew has intimated he would like to stay at Aston Villa for the rest of his career.

Carew has developed a reputation for moving around Europe after transfers to Rosenborg, Valencia, Roma, Besiktas and Lyon since he began his career with Valerenga.

But the Norway international feels settled at Villa and said: "I have two years more on my contract so there is no rush with anything. But I am very happy to be here and I would like to stay for many years more."

He added: "If that is the club's wish, then that is my wish as well. We will see what happens. But I would like to stay here for a long time.

"I really like it here, am really happy here, so I am absolutely open for that. I would like to put roots down here for a quite a long time.

"It is a league that really suits me well and I am happy with the football and really enjoy playing it. That is important to me."

Carew flew out with his team-mates on Tuesday for a mini tour of Switzerland which will take in two games as part of Villa's preparations for the Intertoto Cup.

But he insists the players are already in the right physical shape despite having to play competitive football a month earlier than normal in the bid to qualify for the UEFA Cup.

He said: "It is good to be back and we have some important matches coming up. We now have the Intertoto in two weeks which is very important but the players have come back a bit more fitter than normal from their vacation as well. All the physical tests up until now indicate that.

"So, even though the Intertoto matches are not far away, I think we will be quite well prepared and we've got two or three games before that to help with those preparations."