Vancvillan

I know I'm just adding to the problem, but statto fact - this thread now has more pages than Elmo and the entire ladies team combined. And I've checked it at least eight times today.

Fair enough - I misread your post, my apologies.

I wouldn't like a lot of things but it doesn't mean I'm going to stand on my lawn with an AR. There's no need to "both sides" this by given this couple any kind of concessions.

This. Benteke thought we were a London club and openly wanted to play for Arsenal. Worked out pretty well for us. Any player who is excited about playing for Villa right now either comes from the lower leagues or the youth team.

You could just claim to be a huge fan of late 90's right backs.

I think Watson was on his way out that season and Delaney was becoming the new favourite player everyone would forget within a decade...

I can't believe no-one else picked this up.

Hence the numerous typings of "loan Lansbury and pay some of his wages". If we get to a point where Nakamba can't fit into the squad then great, but let's cross that bridge when we get there.

This is the kind of rational analysis that will get ridiculed on here.

Approx 19 million, which puts them behind Wolves for 2018-2019 I think...

McCarthy, Benrahma, Billing.

Sure, if we have no injuries we'll likely do better, but what are the chances of that? Heaton is made of paper, Jack is fouled hundreds of times a game and SJM + Mings dive head first into every challenge. It's also a more compact season, so more fatigue and likely more injuries. I think people underestimate how much more of a squad we need next season. We have very little to offer from the bench, so having the likes of Trez, AEG and Connor as subs is key. I don't think we have anything like that amount of quality in every position. The days of MON playing 14 players in a season are going to look pretty distant (if they don't already).

Palace are set up as the antithesis of Bournemouth at the moment. Would suggest that the club aren't sticking with a system - would be interesting to see how that'd work out though. My guess would be badly.

Experienced heads snapped up: 4 Journeymen for cover: 1 Great future prospects:2 Splashed: 117m Opening shots fired: Aug 6th

The lack of a keeper would worry me. Heaton is basically Darren Anderton with gloves on.

The Star (I know) says he's off to Leeds. Just when you'd forgotten how much you dislike the guy, he gives you a reason to remember. On the plus side, seeing his face when Leeds get relegated would put the cherry on top of a slice of tasty schadenfreude.

Or from another point of view, the club have invested well over a decade of money, training and development into a young lad knowing there a 1-100 chance of him becoming a first team regular, but giving him his shot at a dream that most kids would give their right arm for. He's now repaying the club with performances that are driving us forward. People seem to forget that clubs invest a lot in these kids in the front end, and that selling them to Man United isn't the end game for a lot of us. Or maybe I'm just dreaming of the pre-prem days when your star player retired on the back of a testimonial and bought a local pub.

I've spent some time on the Bournemouth forum recently (another hour or so and I'd have finished it). They seem to have no interest in being involved with this kind of thing unless it's a financial compensation claim. I would be really interested if they did go that route - could give us some fascinating insight into the PL's agreement with Hawkeye, and I wouldn't take it as a personal attack on Villa at all.

I don't think the owners would consider it. We paid $25m-ish for TM, and priced into that is the fact that he's good but has a mistake in him + lacked experience. With a season or two under his belt, he could grow into one of the top defenders in the country. If we sell for a $10m profit, who are we going to get in today's market for $35m who is a better defender at the start of the season? If it were crazy money ($60m+) then obviously it'd be a question, but right now a team with experience of playing both in the PL and with each other has its own value. You can't buy stability, and we need to keep a solid core of this team.

Assuming we stay up I'd like to see him loaned to a better Championship team. Or at least one that didn't mean him having to live in a shit hole like Luton. Poor guy. Luton is **** rancid.

Well that makes me feel better.

To be fair I think it's the Watford fans forum that hasn't quite entered the age of mobility. Much like their front line.

I think he's put in a shift and other parts of his game have looked better, but the amount of times he still hits the first man from a set piece or cross has been notable. Given that it's his #1 quality I guess I still expect more, er, quality.