MessiWillSignForVilla

I really like the idea of this, especially if we keep Grealish, I think a sort of floating front three of Grealish/Wesley/Watkins could be really good. Just need another CM to compliment McGinn and Douglas Luiz.

I'm guessing that due to Edens' involvement the roles are following american naming convention. I think I'm right in saying their sports teams have loads of assistant coaches.

I imagine if you dig into it that people in those sorts of roles tend to move around quite a lot, as they get poached by other clubs and new managers come in who don't see eye to eye.

30 year old Marc Albrighton who got 0 goals and 5 assists all season? Compare that to El Ghazi, for example, whogot 6 goals and 7 assists in a much worse team. Yeah, it's a no thanks to Albrighton, especially compared to Benrahma.

But they are players we bought in the championship, for the championship. Even then, it's only Hogan and Bree, and Bree was a cheap 19 y/o youth prospect when we bought him.

And the only other players in our squad (excluding players already loaned out) that we bought from a Championship side are Lansbury and Jota, so 50/50 isn't bad.

Don't think I've seen a bad hummel kit for next season yet, they've all been great.

God I hope that's a training kit

It was in the recent Athletic interview with him, Phillips had discussed it with his family and friends, they had all said he should join if he felt it was the right move and all involved thought he was going to join, then when Orta saw Phillips was still unsure, he pulled the deal.

It was Victor Orta that pulled the deal, not Phillips. Phillips has said he was basically about to join and Orta asked if knew that he wanted to leave, when Phillips told him he wasn't sure, Orta pulled the deal and said they weren't selling him.

£3m + Hogan or no deal.

If this is true, then I say we should take the approach Leeds took with Phillips last summer, if Jack isn't sure if he wants to leave, then we're not selling him unless we get exactly what we want for him.

We got relegated and had to endure 3 years in the Championship after Benteke left, I wouldn't say selling him worked out for us.

Why do you think they're kicking up a fuss? They're **** screwed without the Premier League money, it's something like 88% of their revenue and they owe over £70m in transfers, they're about to sink like a stone, especially if the EFL introduce a salary cap.

Have Vitoria got any decent players? Also where Easah Suliman plays now, weird coincidence.

To be fair, that was a very conservative estimate, assuming Covid takes a bit off the fee, and Grealish pushes for a move too, but you're right, I reckon it would actually be much closer to £100m we'd want, which I think makes it even more unlikely he'll leave.

That's that then.

For me I think the biggest thing about whether he leaves will be the potential buyer. I think if we get a decent offer, we will sell, and Grealish will join a team playing in Europe/with European ambitions, but I really don't know who will buy him. Utd are most heavily linked, but they also want Sancho for £100m + and have been linked with James Rodriguez which'll be a decent sized fee, so will they be willing to part with £50m+ (conservative estimate) for a player that'll likely be a backup? I don't think Liverpool will be interested, for similar reasons, I don't see them spending that much on a backup. Man City would spend that much, and he would be a good fit, it's just whether they're interested. Chelsea have Mount/Pulisic/Gilmour that occupy similar positions, and are bringing in Werner and Ziyech, so again, not sure they'll spend the money. Spurs possibly, but Levy is a tight arse and I think Mourinho wouldn't want him. I think that only leaves Arsenal as a realistic option for a long term step up in England, and whilst I think he would be perfect for them (suits their team, would walk in to their starting XI, the type of player they should be after), I think they would need to be in the Europa League to justify; 1) the transfer fee, and 2) Grealish agreeing to join. I'm still ready to accept he'll leave this summer, but the more I think about, the more it makes sense that he'll stay. Plus that tweet gives hope he's staying, although it might be reading in to it. It will probably be announced he's leaving tomorrow now!

Because Bellingham wouldn't have joined otherwise.

Yeah it's stupid, but that's the reasoning I think.

To be serious for a second depite how hilarious and ridiculous I find all of this, Bellingham had the opportunity to leave on a free as he is 17, but he demanded that any team interested in him would negotiate a transfer fee with Blues, which has eased their current financial issues, I think they owe something like £90m to their owner. It's still ridiculous, but I think that's the jist of why the number was retired.

That video would suggest he's Left footed. Primarily dribbles with his left, most passes are with his left and his few goals are left footed. If he's right footed then the miss is more concerning as he had time to shift on to his right.

That's all just way too convenient to be remotely true. Levy may be well known for being tight, but he also recognises a good deal when it's on offer, no way he put off signing Grealish to force his fee down by just £1m, only to have his tactic was scuppered by us completing a multi-million club takeover within 11hrs? It just has to be bullshit. God I wish the Sun would just **** off.

No he doesn't. The club have confirmed that none of our players have release clauses. I believe they have done so several times.