'Then there was a problem with their son Geronimo. I believe they think the country is unlucky and want a fresh start somewhere else.
'Whenever I see his wife, I go out of my way to plant a kiss on both cheeks, which isn't a hardship really because she's a pretty girl!
'Juan Pablo is a special talent. I believe he's a player who could do big things for Aston Villa.
'I want to reassure our fans that I'm doing everything I can to keep him.
'Unfortunately this is a situation I've inherited. I cannot do anything about that but I have to face up to the fact that he has told me what his intentions are at the end of the season. And we'll live with that.
'I said to the shareholders in midweek that if a player wants to leave, he will.
'What I must do is try to change his mind and get play-ers here who want to play for the club as much as any fan does.'
Taylor received a warm reception from shareholders at their midweek meeting, rescuing Doug Ellis from interminable abuse.
And he had them all, fans and shareholders alike, eating out of his hand by re-affirming his policy of looking towards youth on Saturday afternoon.
Taylor said: 'We've got four lads in there who could form the nucleus of a very good Aston Villa side. The oldest is 21, the youngest is 19.
'I want to use players who only want to play for this club and they've all grown up here and understand what we're about. It's early days still, but the signs are good.'
West Ham's inability to close down the game stopped them picking up their first away point of the year.
Goalkeeper David James, on his first return to Villa Park since his summer transfer, said: 'We're disappointed with our contribution. We've lost every away game in the League this year and it's just not good enough.
'We were 30 seconds away from stopping the rot and we should have been belting the ball into the stand with that amount of time left. We've been hit badly a few times now and we're just not learning.
'We're all going to have to look at ourselves because we did enough to get a point here but things like this are preventing us from progressing as a side.'
