M_Afro

I proper hate Southgate again now. Who takes 4 right backs? What a donut. Five at the back and three holding midfielders here we come. Yeah!

I do enjoy a five minute visit to the Pinkun forum. We seem to have them a little riled! If you really need a lift, get yourself over to a Wolves Fans Forum. I could easily lose an afternoon over there. A read a post from one of them the other day admitting that he’d cried when he heard about Nuno leaving.......bless!

Just been watching some footage of him on YouTube. He is very reminiscent of Juninho. I really want him to sign now.

I think this is exactly what we will do. Someone who can also play the wide forward role. Ollie will be our main man in the centre next season. I’m sure of it. The new player would likely get most of their minutes in the cup or at wide forward.

I know. It’s an interesting tactic from their Sporting Director. Maybe looking to drum up plenty of interest in a bid to push the price up. I do trust our senior management to get a deal that’s right for us. If it’s not we will walk away. If we can get Buendia for £30m then we should get it done. That would represent real value in my view.

I never mentioned top 6 clubs. That was your interpretation. I am thinking about big clubs all over the World. There are players all over the World who started at a big club but had to make their way back to the top via a diversion. Pogba, Sancho, KDB just off the top of my head. We should not consider it to be a closed shop.

They may be looking for that but if there are no takers then the fee will fall if they need to sell. Agree about the wages though. That could cause a problem. Just because a player is deemed surplus to requirements does not make him a reject. It may mean that they just have a greater need elsewhere that needs funding. Taking your point above we would never have signed Platt, Bosnich, Martinez or of course McGrath!

I think this is a good strategy. Even the top clubs are struggling for cash and need to sell players in order to go after their top targets. I think there will be some good players being sold in what will effectively be a buyers market. You are much more likely to get value for money in this scenario as opposed to trying to prise the likes of McNeil and Buendia away from clubs with no need/appetite to sell.

The one thing you can guarantee about Ross, no matter where he ends up, is that he will always save his one good performance of the season, to when he plays against us, culminating in at least 1 goal. Fact!

Probably not. Jack is our only player who you could say with any certainty that they would have made a difference. Due to the non existence of a cf I think Ollie would have done a job too given the circumstances but I don’t think he would normally be considered City class. I do think that Luiz has real growth in him though and the team is about balance. That’s where we are going wrong in my view. The balance of the midfield is not right. Put Luiz alongside Kante and I’m sure you would see a much improved Dougie.

I think he would do well at City. In a team that dominates territory and possession he has the attributes to play DM really well. Hopefully we will see that at Villa next year with some better quality ahead of him.

Cheers. We will soon find out then. It seems unlikely to me but certainly not impossible.

£25m for a young Brazilian international midfielder who has two years PL experience is peanuts. I really hope we keep him. We have a settled squad now that we need to build upon. We don’t need any churn. It’s way too disruptive. Luiz is a good player struggling for form. We need to keep him.

When does the buy back clause lapse?

He’s probably at his optimum value now after last season. I could easily see him at a club like Swansea if they get promoted or maybe Watford. I would sell him and buy a younger project type player to replace him. He has scored goals this season but our play breaks down with him so regularly and he didn’t get a single assist! If we could get £15m then we should sell him and move on.

I just can’t see this happening. He is young and on a long contract. It would take a big fee to prise him away from that. He would just end up being too expensive. We are after a bit of value.

I saw a stat yesterday, it may have been on here, that Emi had to make twice as many saves for his clean sheets as his two main competitors. That tells us two things; firstly that Emi is ace and secondly that we are too easy to get at. Chelsea was a brilliant end to the season and Marvelous did play well but let’s be honest, if they had taken their chances they would have won comfortably. Add to that the fact that Chelsea have struggled to create chances under the new manager.

The WBA fans really rate MP. I can’t say I was ever that impressed but they think he is a £50m plus player. He must have done something right for them. I would still prefer Buendia though.

Would be a really good signing. Like for like replacement for Tom but much younger without the history of bad injuries. I thought we would look for an experienced GK so I can really see this happening. Another smart move from Villa.

Purslow is a very cool customer. I love the fact that he is at the helm of our great club, wonderfully backed by superb owners. I have watched his interview. He again stated how ambitious our owners are. He also said that our transfer plans were well defined and in progress and were designed to improve the first team and the squad. He then deliberately made some vague comments, entirely purposely not wanting to reveal any further detail. I suspect we will be looking for 2/3 starters plus a couple of squad players. The budget will be around £100m. Purely speculation on my part but that’s where I got to reading between the lines.

I do wonder whether Hause will look to move on this summer. He left Wolves to play first team football. That looks unlikely for us. Hope I am wrong because he provides excellent cover and could head away a small planet.

If we want him, I think we will get him. Villa has a special feel about it at the moment and Arsenal is pretty toxic.

I suppose the point is, why spend £40m on a player to provide competition to an established performer when we have glaring needs in our first 11 to be addressed first. If money were no object then it would be great to sign Tammy(although £40m is way too much and he wouldn’t come here unless he was guaranteed a starting place). Spending £40m on a centre mid or a wide forward would provide much greater overall benefit to the team than spending it on competition for an established, performing player.

Yes please. An absolute bargain. Minimum risk involved too just a step across from the darkness into the light.

You have got to question why Spurs are so desperate to get rid of a young English player in his prime! Massive no for me. I never thought he was ever that good. He has been rubbish for ages and he would want massive wages.