abdulaziz1

2 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

At the expensive of the Conference ? Going to be a serious balancing act. If we are in the mix for top 4 come knock out games does he rest players ? 
 

Will be a nice dilemma to have I guess.

It’s not this or that, the right balance is right. So if we’re playing a team like Norwich has been, while playing Fiorentina or Lille, we shall definitely go stronger in the Conference. Depending on our form and City, we could afford to lose the away game at the expense of Europe. But it will depend, if City wasn’t as good, or if we had a miracle with a title race. 
Anyway, that’s why I was one of the few that kept willing to go to Europe wether we’re ready or not, and wanted either CL or a conference instead of Europa. We can afford to go to most games with Emi, Watkins, Luiz or Kamara rested. The squad is fine in terms of quality (assuming we get Diaby and whoever). 
Everyone thought Brighton would lose points yet they became stronger every game they played.

I want us to compete in all 4 competitions, which would make players happy and allow us to rotate. 
We can start Archer in some league games, we can rest whoever. We had most of our 10 games run without our arguably best player Kamara. Our best performances came with a player that most want out, which is Dendonker. We just have to take all competitions seriously. LC is only 3 games to take you to the semi finals. Then another 3. Yes the timing is critical, but this is our chance as we have a big and good squad. If Tim, Archer and Ramsey didn’t get loaned, we’ll have to give them a lot of gametime. 
 

18 minutes ago, KMitch said:

Which is why I'm scared...  Whenever we seem to have a great window we never seem to meet expectations afterward.  

To be honest nothing to compare with, I had my doubts the summer Grealish went, as DS didn’t have a clue without him, even when we were in the Championship. Then getting Ings meant we’d play him and Watkins which won’t work. 
Then we go to last summer, we had it right with Kamara and Carlos, but Coutinho was always a big doubt for me (atleast for the fact that he earns a lot and can’t offload him). Then again Gerrard.

This time we have a good team, no standout player, our best players missed games yet we were consistent. Added to the fact that we have a manager who knows whats he’s doing. If you need something to make you calm, look at last winter, he didn’t panic once he didn’t get his target. He just used what he had as Europe itself was a gamble. He kept the business for the summer. Again so far he upgraded in areas which we’re good at, which is keeping some movements in areas which we’re weak at. 
 

Get Diaby and Joao, then I think we have the right to fully go for top 6 and even top 4. 

45 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

lets be honest, if we did have genuine interest in Gnonto, i dont believe for 1 second he would sign for Everton over us.

Seems we dont have any interest.

 

Not only that, he might consider being a starter there compared to a squad player here.

5 hours ago, AntrimBlack said:

I think he is most like Defoe. A natural.

So we finally got Defoe after all these years?

33 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

I would've thought someone like Pulisic would've come on our radar personally.

Mid 20s, already excellent experience at CL and domestic level and down the pecking order at Chelsea.

However he's probably like Felix in just wanting to join endless CL clubs to bench warm, seems he just wants to go to AC Milan.

Them bidding just 20m and expecting to get him shows the British players tax in all its glory when you think likes of Barnes and Johnson will be going for 35-40m in the end.

Totally different buying unwanted players to players who are the best in their teams. Look at Brighton with Caiceido and he isn’t British.

I wasn’t interested in any Leeds player (apart from possibly Gnonto), but now if we can get him and Adams we might have done a very good business there. Adams might cost more but that one will depend on Dendonker, for me I don’t mind him our best performances came while him starting. But he seems to be going. Both of them won’t cost more than 40m, which is less than Johnson. Then Torres on loan. Won’t be the end of the world. With all this upgrade, we will have spent more that what we did in our first three summers. For me I’m still hopeful we can get Joao Felix towards the end of the season, a loan with buy option would be perfect. But we can’t gamble on that.

1 hour ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

I assume a loan to buy deal would work better for our FFP?

Not only that, it gives us chance to re evaluate the signing, and if other choices are available. 
I’d still try to get Gnonto as well (who won’t cost much). Then we’d need a right side winger such as Williams. We can get Lo Celso as we’ll have pace in Gnonto. All won’t cost much as well. 
By getting Torres on loan we’d do to Barca what Strasburg doing with us (well apart from buying Coutinho).

17 minutes ago, rubberman said:

Interesting reports that Duran is to be kept around/involved for this season. Maybe means Archer will get another loan? Even with Europe and hopefully a cup run, I can't see both + Watkins having enough playing time. 

There is still much time, many games before deadline day. I imagine if Duran is going on loan would be towards the end of that. For Archer, it will depend which activity we do.

15 minutes ago, allani said:

If he is the only left-sided attacker we sign this summer then I would be disappointed - almost regardless of the price.  I just don't see him being good enough yet to be part of a front 3 scoring the number of goals we need.  However, if he is coming as a third attacking signing of the summer with half an eye on the future then I would agree - he has a lot of good characteristics, determination being a pretty clear one.  He'll make an impact in some matches for sure but needs time to develop into the player we need to be starting in that position this season.

I think getting him, would give us more pace, we should add a second attacker or a right winger as well, but we need different options, he offers things we currently lack. We wouldn’t have gone on a big transfer anyway for a left winger.

3 hours ago, RicRic said:

Wont be a happy man if the magpies end up with Felix (tbf I thought they would have a excellent chance between them and PSG) , theres only one way to settle that score if he did

 

KM10

Is he linked to them right now? I would have liked him with us, that would’ve reduced the quality gap with some top teams, but with him going there, that would be an issue.

3 minutes ago, maqroll said:

Konsa would be a great asset as a cup starter and emergency fill-in for league games. The 5 subs rule makes depth even more valuable. Keep!

A good option for right back as well, Cash could do disasters in our high line, yes he has pace but his awareness could be terrible at times.

1 minute ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Depends how much we put in to winning the conference. I can’t see both a long cup run and a strong league finish. It’s just way too many games. 

West Ham improved by the time they had more games, their worst for was before playing many games. We just have to get the right balance. We won’t play the first round of LC, which we even forgot it happens for Europe qualifying teams lol. Chelsea and Spurs will go first. See who draw get us against, and plan from there. If it’s non PL side then we should keep focusing. I remember us surrendering one year against City, because we had a relegation game against Bolton, just to go there and lose 3-2 after being winning. Just plan it right and see where it takes you to. We won’t play FA Cup until we know where are we on the League Cup and Europe. Also we’ll know who’s in the semi final (if we made it in the league cup). If City is still there then we’ll have to give it a try in the FA Cup. 

2 hours ago, Jas10 said:

Only way this lad makes a permanent move is if Atletico are willing to make a huge loss and he’s willing to take a huge pay cut… seems unlikely unless a master negotiator can broker a deal…

Never a Simeone player… 

For me, I don’t care about statement signings or not, I just want to get it right. But for Joao Felix, I think he’ll be our perfect signing, and we’ll the perfect team for him. Whenever I saw with Chelsea (not that I saw much) he was dangerous. The fact that people are doubting him is perfect for us to reduce his value and not many big teams willing to get him. If we add Joao to our team, I think we’ll go to the next level in terms of attacking force. We’d have one of the best midfields in the league. Really hope we get him. A loan with a buying view would be perfect. Won’t be easy but that’s what Monchi came for.

9 hours ago, Vancvillan said:

I like him, but let me ask it this way - if he was a Spurs player on loan at Boro last season and we signed him, would you be happy with him as a backup for Ollie?

Disclaimer: I don't have an answer to this question and it's Friday night. I drinked too much.

The question isn’t easily answered, and to answer it will take us to other questions. How much should we pay for Ollie backup? What quality would we get if a player knows he’s a backup? 
How much gamble is it to try Archer? 
Sometimes you won’t get the best solution for your issues, but you’ll take the most efficient one. Especially for the squad game, that’s what should be. So keeping Archer would save you 20m atleast, if he’s up to it great, if not then he could go for a good fee, and then try to upgrade on Ollie himself. I don’t think strikers are easy to find anyway. 
Was there better choices than Youri? Yes for sure, but for the money we’re paying (assuming we’ll have some competition for starting places) it was one of the best businesses. 
I think next year we shall look at upgrading on Watkins, until then we have to save money for the striker rather than getting short term ones and then fail to sell them. We can as well re decide next winter. However we shall get the second striker and winger right. If we got Arda or Willams, and Felix for example I think we’ve had a very good window. The squad can be filled with Buendia, Bailey, A.Ramsey, (Traore and Coutinho depending on their future here)..etc

I want the right players, the less amount we get them the better. Would give us chance to improve more each window. Saying that, I’d be happy to get the likes of Nico Williams. But we have to be careful. Having Emery an Monchi should make us relaxed to be honest, but we’ve seen really bad transfers during the years and many overpriced players.

4 hours ago, Adam2003 said:

Off topic but I get so confused about why a player is worth less with only a year on his contract. To the selling club, yes, I get why they might accept less - but why does it affect his value to the buying club? He’s the same player as if he had three years left, the contract he has doesn’t affect the length he signs with the new club, and if you wait for him to be on a free someone else might snap him up.

TLDR - time remaining on contract should matter to selling club but a buying club shouldn’t worry about ‘overpaying’ just because someone has less time on their deal.

But it helps the buying club to negotiate better. If it was more than 1 year I doubt they’ll sell him with more than that.

2 minutes ago, rbcuk said:

 

Are we putting all the scout networks everywhere while only looking next door for tesco bags players?

Anyway I see how it’s easier to convince local young players to come especially with the idea of generating money from them (they don’t have to be our standard to do so). 
 

Saying that, would be helpful if anyone tells us how good is he? 

2 minutes ago, RicRic said:

Quick question lets say we do sign Pau Torres what happens with Carlos and Konsa ( assuming mingsy keeps his spot) i don’t see konsa and carlos both as bench players so it does appear unsettling in some regard.

We could make two of them starting in cups and Europe. As the season goes those who showed better form will start more regularly. For now Mings and Konsa are doing great so let’s see how things goes.

52 minutes ago, tomav84 said:

i think he'll still be in the squad but i can see him getting a lot of conference league minutes. if he's starting PL games next season something has gone wrong this summer

Or he could get to the level we expected and earn his place?

5 minutes ago, HKP90 said:

I raise you a leandro bacuna? Any better? I mean not better, but...

Bacuna was bought by around 1-2m if I’m not mistaken. He was ok compared to the money spent for his transfer. He was valuable in his first season.

9 minutes ago, sne said:

Nottingham asking £60m for Brennan Johnson   Good for them, ask whatever you want. I would he hugely disappointed if entertained the idea of paying even half that for him thou.

To be honest, when I see some of those sky 6 fans getting angry on teams putting these prices, I like it. Every club put these prices because they either don’t want to sell, or if someone spend crazy money atleast they had over the player value.

8 minutes ago, HKP90 said:

I know nothing about him but: 'Similar Players- Trincao'? If that's true, er..yes please.

Always a bit dubious of players coming in from Eredivisie. For every Suarez there are at least 3 Brett Holmans, but if Unai likes him.

No one expected Holman to be a world beater. His ceiling wasn’t high really.

2 hours ago, Made In Aston said:

Because he had one good game against us and was pretty mediocre for the rest of the season. Couldn't even get in a poor Leeds team. 

Not starting in a certain doesn’t have to mean he’s bad, some managers are either bad, or their systems aren’t right for certain players. 
But whenever I saw Gnoto he was good, can’t say I watched much Leeds. Including both of our games I was only able to see some minutes.

6 minutes ago, GlobalVillan said:

If by "ok source" then you mean a credible link, backed up by various independent sources then I would agree with you on that. 

Anyway, this is one signing I'm quite certain we won't be making this summer. 

We find ourselves in the awkward position of being too good to be improved by players that will easily come to us, yet not good enough/dodgy enough/alluring enough to be able to beat CL sides to signings that WOULD improve us.

We just have to hope the Emery factor sways a few of our targets, unlike Asensio, who was off to PSG the minute they got involved. We will see a lot of that unfortunately. Its part of getting to the next level and something we have to find a way to get past more often, like we did with Kamara. 

 

Don’t take it seriously, even ok sources most likely won’t get it right. Just have fun while it lasts. 
People still remember Kiyotake, Dale Stephens, Miguel, Raschia…etc

It’s part of the summer fun, we all know most of links won’t happen. Just discuss them, laugh at them, otherwise what’s the point? 
Add to that the fact that it makes us recognize more players which we haven’t even hard of. For me Football is totally Villa, then through playing Fantasy Premier League I get to know more Premier League players. Apart from that mostly those links are which make me focus on certain players. So when we were linked to Williams last winter, when I watch Bilbao I try to have more focus on him. So basically the amount of players I know through VT is huge. Just have fun while summer is there until we get back to the league.

So let’s discuss us trying to Get Mbappe while he’s planning to leave PSG.

55 minutes ago, GlobalVillan said:

Haha. Really? We actually have a thread about signing Messi? Not sure if you are serious but it wouldn't surprise me one bit if there was one.

Yes I am, it was here last month but then moved to Other Football.

For me it’s hard to say what’s a credible source or not, but as long as there is an ok source, it’s fun to have a thread while no games are there during summer.