StanBalaban

He's definitely got some terrible fleas in his ear advising him on his career. We do forget that Chelsea is his boyhood club though. If we had taken a "generational talent" that was a Villa fan from the Chelsea academy then we'd be pretty chuffed too. Overall, I don't think Chelsea or their fans are dwelling on that deal too much.

I'm sure Emery has carte blanch to decide who's in his squad without the need to be 'padding out'. The "IF he flies" bit is quite important as it's good for the player to get regular football, but it may be a season or two too soon before Unai thinks he's ready to handle the full top flight role for us. Emery will do what he needs to create a winning team. Maybe letting another team be the guinea pig on AJ's assessment is better for the team at this stage in his journey.

With that in mind, those sales would be to wave them goodbye - not part of a plan to potentially bring them back. What we do know is Unai knows what he wants and need to make his Aston Villa team as competitive as possible. He may think AJ is not ready yet, or his involvement may benefit the player but be a detriment to the team overall. For all we know AJ simply wants regular football and a payrise this year. If he gets a bump in wages by going to Burnley, and a pre-agreed new contract should we choose to bring him back, that ticks a lot of boxes. I trust Unai more than any other manager I've seen at the club. It doesn't mean I don't question some decisions, but I feel confident that there is always a plan, a purpose and logic behind the choices made. FWIW, should he be sold, the only way I don't see him coming back is if the tracjectory of Aston Villa outpaces the progression of the player.

Contracts are bespoke. Previous contracts have little in common with the next. It also shows how few times a club decided a promising player was good enough to be bought back.

I'd be very surprised if we are letting him go. Getting regular competitive football is the best thing for the player, but may not be the best thing for Aston Villa in this coming season. If he is going to Burnley, it allows him to develop his game for the benefit of a future Villa squad, with the intention that he comes back. Could all be bollocks, but there is logic to the arrangement if it happens.

I have no idea if Nixon's information is accurate, but let's assume he's right for the sake of discussion. AJ and his agent aren't out of the loop here. Getting regular PL game time this season is very good for AJ. There will be a clear plan being discussed about his development at Burnely and his route back to Villa. Unai gets to see him in action, the player gets valuable experience, the club gets an extra 60m of amortised FFP accounting and we have a pre-determined path back for AJ in a couple of years' time. Rarely are two contracts the same. They're not templates. Just because player X previously had a buyback inserted into their contract but the outcome was Y, has little bearing on what could be in play here. We have a manager that is smart and we trust to do the best thing for Aston Villa. IF this is true, communication of the bigger picture with AJ, and even JJ, would be crucial. I wouldn't expect Emery and Monchi to leave too much to chance.

City lost him because they chose not to take him back.

He played a pass out of his area and it went to a Lazio player. He wasn't under pressure IIRC, so that will definitely be worked upon in training.

12m incoming is 60m when amortised under FFP. It's not chump change.

It wouldn't be a loan though. IF this offer is true then it makes a lot of sense. For AJ to get 2 years of regular PL football under his belt will do wonders for his development, especially at a team that play good football under Kompany. Selling him outright would cost a lot more than 12m. For us to include the option to take him back in a couple of years, there would have to be some carrot and stick involved. The carrot for Burnley is they get a hugely promising player for just 12m. The stick is if he's proves to be good enough for us in a couple of years, we get to buy him back (presumably under his market value too). He's not going to get that much game time here this season. He's a professional footballer - he'll want to be playing PL football. For all we know, this is something coming from the player's side. Also, 12m incoming allows us to spend 60m (on a 5 year deal) under FFP. This all seems to be a win / win if it is as described.

When any #2 keeper fills in, I think most people hope he doesn't have a busy game. My take on Robin Olsen is that Emery has had around 9 months to work with him, including a full pre-season and he seems to think he's up to the job. He had a good game against Lazio, but made one clear mistake. So did other players, most notably Ollie. Didn't cost us the game, but if it had it's what pre season is all about - learning and improving. We can bet this will be reviewed in detail to that he can try and elimate it happening again in a proper game. I think his distribution has improved, and he's bought into the playing style of encouraging the opposition to press. As for recruiting a replacement, we'd realistically be looking for someone that no other club wants as a #1. And, given their lack of playing time, how are our scouts supposed to evaluate their effectiveness in competitive games under pressure? The odd game here and there is a small sample size to determine if they can handle games in the PL, as well as adapt to our new style of play. The life of a reserve keeper is difficult. You don't play much so it's hard to build up form, but need to be ready for the call up, potentially at short notice. Olsen is not perfect. However he is a seasoned, international goalkeeper that Emery knows all about, and seems settled with his role and life at the Villa.

I appreciate you tackling the suggestion, but two things spring to mind. 1. Meslier would probably think he can get more game time somewhere else. 2. We think Olsen has a mistake in him... Meslier cost Leeds a bunch of games! Started well initially, and then fell off a cliff! Key takeaway here is that many are looking at Olsen as a drop in quality to Martinez, which is undeniable. When you look at who could actually come in to replace Olsen, the drop off to Martinez would still huge. Olsen has had a full pre season and, as we saw against Lazio, is immersed into the way Emery plays out from the back. Anyone coming in to replace him, will be of the standard that means they're not a #1 somewhere, would probably cost money to bring in, would have to start learning Emery ball from scratch.

Just exactly who would this better backup be? Before you say it's not your job to find that player, that's what we have scouts and coaches for, I'll add that they're seemingly not the ones looking for a better backup. So what goalkeeper do you have in mind that is an upgrade on what we have and would come here knowing he'll rarely play? Everyone talks about the dropoff in quality to Martinez, but that's not the true barometer. Any backup keeper will be a dropoff to Emi. Which keeper would want to rarely play but would be a significant upgrade on Olsen.

So either they have a player leaving on a free that's naturally going to be fearful of picking up a serious injury before his new contract is signed, or they lose him late in the window without much time to find an effective replacement. I can live with that.

I guess our relative lack of success to date has meant that we've gone for 'lesser' brands because they offered the best commercial package. Same for Newcastle I presume. If we continue our current trajectory under Unai, do you see a point where a blue-chip brand would be looking to offer us a lucrative kit deal too?

Indeed, and then Spurs have got a player that has one foot out of the door not wanting to risk an injury before that new contract is signed. Either he leaves now and Spurs have little time to replace him, he leaves on a free at the end of the season, or he signs a new deal with Spurs which means they'll be accomodating an ageing Harry Kane into their team for years, on huge wages and to the detriment of developing the squad overall. His capabilities will start to decline but his influence over the club doesn't. Wonderful stuff.

One of the things that pre-season is for is the opportunity to find the flaws in our game. We experimented with set pieces yesterday, not all of which came off. We've missed two penalties, but have scored plenty of goals. Compared to last year, this pre-season will have taught Unai a lot. It also helps that Unai can interpret what he's seeing, unlike the previous fraud.

I'm kind of glad we missed two penalities in pre season. It won't have gone unnoticed by Unai and the coaching team, so we can be sure he'll do everything to ensure the ones awarded to us in the season are scored.

Chambers and Bailey both looking good.

They look bigger to me

Maybe earmarked for the game on Saturday?

Would expect to see some players get valuable minutes this evening. Wouldn't be surprised to see Phil, Duran, Donk feature tonight.

Thanks NV, that was

It's a really good question, to one I don't know the answer. My assumption is that both club and manufacturer has their own "brand book" and Fanatics would use this as the basis to design the team kits. I guess it's just one extra layer to a manufacturer designing the kits for a club. @NurembergVillan would know more though.

They will have input from the kit "supplier" and, I assume, must take some cues from the theme of the brand. I think the away kit is fine, the home kit looks much better in the flesh and the training and travel gear is actually pretty good.