gaz90

Apparently we paid more than his true value so that he would get a work permit.

I agree with this - I didn't take to him in his initiation video, but I took to Reina. Hopefully that's not too indicative of his personality, otherwise I reckon he might rub people up the wrong way. After reading that NY Times article, it seems the backroom staff need to help him to enjoy his football again in order to get the best out of him. With a love for the game again and a tireless runner in front of him, like it seems we might get in Samatta, we may seem glimpses of the player that he was at Leicester. As you say, I don't think we needed another quarterback-style midfielder and I was really not in favour of signing Drinkwater, but getting him alongside a combative midfielder (Nakamba or, hopefully, a new signing like N'Zonzi), and with everything else falling into place, it could actually work.

I might be wrong, but I don't think @StefanAVFC was being serious...

Not sure if you know, but there's a Benteke thread in Other football, where people love to talk about Benteke all day long! I think some of you should check it out Please! I can't take it anymore...

As we all know, we're keeping our cards close to our chest on our transfer business, which is understandable as we wouldn't want to drive up the prices of players that we're after. I'd say the journalists that typically cover Villa (even the ones like Percy, who is usually fairly accurate) and other domestic journalists (if we're shopping abroad as has been suggested) probably aren't hearing anything from our side, so any leaked info on actual transfers (not the clickbait stories that most outlets come out with) would surely be coming from the clubs that we're dealing with. Maybe Nicolò Schira's right about Reina, and possibly even right about Piatek, and maybe Percy isn't as informed on the latter as he usually is.

His lack of composure lets him down. He looks scared on the ball, he has no confidence and his teammates appear to have little confidence in him as well. I recall Jack having the ball at one point tonight and he consciously passed it to someone in a worse position than another teammate because that other teammate was Nakamba.

According to Nicolò Schira this is a done deal. A shame for Nyland, as I feel he's done well of late.

Doesn't everyone believe that Piatek is off because Percy said so, not Evans?

He's probably just in the area. It looks like Anderlecht's last match was over a week ago, with their next one being a friendly against Livingstone in a week's time.

Just seen that we're fifth in the half-time league. Could definitely do with some composure and experience in this transfer window to help us see games out.

If we're breaking the bank for this forward, does anyone think that it might be Belotti? Apparently West Ham were in for him earlier in the summer, but had a £50m+ bid rejected for him. That's probably too expensive for us in this window and with him being linked with the biggest clubs in the world over the last few seasons it seems unrealistic, but I could have swore that there were one or two whispers that we were in for him at the start of the window.

A colleague of mine went to school with him and Butland was telling people last summer that he was signing for Liverpool before they got Alisson. Apparently this summer he's saying that he's definitely moving to the Premier League, but that's all my colleague knows. Hopefully we're the team he moves to, as I think he'd earn us a fair few points this season.

Do you think the chance of getting one in the Villa end for face value will be pretty high? I can see loads of Fulham end tickets being available, but I can't see many in ours.

That's probably what I'll end up doing. I'm only after one ticket, so I'm hoping I get lucky. Worst case scenario, I'll be cheering on from one of the pubs nearby.

That's my worry and I doubt there are many spare tickets flying about in the villa end for touts to sell considering the one ticket per person limit.

Does anyone think it'd be worthwhile trying to get tickets from touts outside Wembley on the day? I've lived on the outskirts of London for the last couple of years and haven't been able to get up to Villa Park this year, so I've got little chance of get any through the official channels.

We were talking about how the only way to become really successful in the Premier League was to have loads of money. I said that Arsenal have done it without spending billions on players etc. Yes the other clubs have spent loads, but Villa have spent more than Arsenal since the start of the PL and we're not in the CL. Money alone cant buy you success, you need a good manager, but good manager can get you success, such as Arsene. I really don't see how this discussion can go any further when you keep repeating yourself.

I reckon MON would have definately kept us in the top half, probably even top 7 or 8. It was his team this season, he had some players here who would run through a brick wall for him. We did show signs of getting worse at the end of last season, but we wouldn't be in this position if he were still here.

Yeah, what about them? My original point was it can be done. The facts and the figures prove that Arsenal are a top 4 club and haven't spent billions to get there. I said a good manager could potentially get us in the top four. A good scouting network, some good cheap signings and a manager that knows how to manage could well get us there, regardless of how much money we spend. Money is a major, major factor in the Premier League atm, I'm not doubting that for one second. What I am saying is that a great manager, with Lerner's resources, could get us into the top 4. However near impossible it may seem.

Yes, I said they should have an open bus parade.... I reckon if Wenger were our manager, he could lead us to the top 4, and I wouldn't be complaining. Would you reject Wenger as manager if he wanted to come to us then? And if you want facts and statistics, he's brought success to Arsenal without spending billions of pounds. My mate's an Arsenal fan, he's not complaining. He gets frustrated at the lack of silverware, but financially they're very strong, they have a fantastic new stadium and great foundations for the future.

What I meant there was it doesn't matter how we've been this season with regards to the future. I just said it wrong as I'm not great with saying what I mean. David Moyes has surpassed what O'Neill achieved. Houllier has a better CV than Moyes. I do not believe that Houllier will surpass O'Neill's near successes, but I believe that there is a possibility, like there is with everything, and that if he were given a chance he would do a lot better than this season.

He's still consistently at the top of the league and challenging in every competition season in and out. I reckon if it werent for Barca (one of the best teams I've seen in my lifetime), Arsenal would have won the CL under Wenger. And he is also one of Arsenal's most successful ever managers, although a lot of his trophies were won before the big bucks came into the league.

I agree that money is a huge factor, but I look at Wenger, who is an extraordinary manager, who hasn't spent billions at Arsenal, and just hope that we can find and attract a manager that can do the same for us.

I meant with regards to move forward, like what you was originally talking about. IMO this season will not have a massive effect on how we progress.

Totally agree, they wanted to play for the last manager, and they were good, without that kind of motivation they're barely average.