John

I really thought you were going to say "dark horses" for something higher than 10th until you said that .

Playing them at the wrong time but we need points from these early games as these matches are ones we really need to take points from to not find ourselves playing catch-up (so our first must not lose game then ). I would take a point but think we have enough to win this one as long as we have a 2 goal lead going into the last 2 minutes. I think we might start: Guzan, Hutton, Richards, Clark, Amavi, Westwood, Gueye, Veretout, Sinclair/Grealish, Gestede & Ayew.

Outside of the bottom six would be acceptable. I think we might get 11th and a cup though.

I would like another couple of defenders if at all possible and our defence does seem more of a potential problem now we have strengthened in other areas. Late goals remain a worry for us it seems but given we had only Hutton of our likely starting back 4 playing when Forest pulled two goals back today I wonder whether both of those goals would have been scored against our first choice defence?

Welcome to the club Rudy! 15 goals would be nice for this season. He will win a lot of ball in the air. Good signing for me.

Welcome Jordan you got your wish (to play for the Villa) as did we (to have you play for us)!

Transfer embargo hasn't stopped barca signing players Blackburn are not Barcelona though and the players they are signing cannot play until the embargo is lifted as I understand it. I think Blackburn have enough to be mid table with or without Rhodes/Gestede (after all they are in the same division as Small Heath) and I thought they might end up top 6 with them both. So I can understand their reluctance to let Gestede leave but surely they would not want to stand in the way of his "dream move" to us and I'm sure we could offer them a couple of loans from our squad up until the next window to help this one go through.

Virgil van Dijk anyone? He could be available particularly if Celtic fail to qualify for the next round of the CL @ around £10m. I think he might well plug any holes in our defence and I suspect he would be F-A-B in a Villa shirt. He might also be prepared to change his name to Jordan...

We had to expect Spurs to haggle on this one. I would have hoped we could have had them pay half of his wages and taken him on loan with a view to a later buy as we did that midfield player who is now at Everton whose name escapes me. But Levy whilst he wants the player out of the door will not want to be seen to be helping Tim in any way so will try to squeeze every penny he can out of the deal for his club before he lets it happen. I guess the details will not be made public when the deal happens later today.

He might change his mind yet. Money can sometimes lead to people making decisions that are not supported by their previous "honourable" comments. I think we really need to get this one done today. The player appears to want to join us and Mr Kita seems to want to put through our deal despite the late bid from another club that I understand may include a lifetime supply of salt & lineker crisps for him.

Welcome to the club Jose! Angel did well with us and I always thought that Crespo would have done the same had we signed him so now you have the opportunity to make an impact with us. It also proves that our scouting network did look somewhere other than France for new players.

Welcome to our club Jordan. Like the attitude and I'm sure we will enjoy your goals and assists!

It would be a pity if he went to them rather than us if Tim wants him as much as we do.

I loved that cheeky header on the goal line. Looks class. The injury situation is a worry but we have signed a player with an injury before.

Headline from The Mail on Sunday today "I did it for my kids": http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3174636/Fabian-Delph-says-family-forefront-decision-join-Manchester-City-midfielder-lifts-lid-Aston-Villa-exit.html No you did it for yourself! He does not have a lot to say about us does he?

As of today if I was picking a Villa team with the assumption that everyone was fit and not suspended (which more often than not they will not all be) I might go something like: Guzan, Hutton, Richards, Clark, Amavi, Gueye, Westwood, Sanchez, Sinclair, Grealish & Gabby. That would leave say Bunn, Okore, Baker, Senderos, Richardson, Cissokho, Bacuna, Cole, Gil, Gardner, N'Zogbia & Kozak to choose a bench from. Of those I think Okore, Baker, Bacuna, Richardson, Gil, Gardner & Kozak would now present the stronger challenges for a starting place. For me that demonstrates that we have a great deal of work still to be done in this transfer window if we are to approach the new season with confidence that we will not be in another relegation battle. I would think that will require a minimum of 2 more forwards and a midfield player which we will need the profit on player trading so far to pay for along with possibly a little bit extra although 6 rather than 3 new players (including possibly a couple of loan signings) would be better. I trust Tim and his team to be able to do what is needed but I still have concerns that our "custodian" will fail to make sufficient funds available to allow them to do so and will again prefer to gamble on our top flight status. I look forward to our "custodian" acting like one in the coming weeks.

Where is that reported?

Didn't WBA have a reported £7m bid for him turned down because they want £10m for him? It seems they over-price their players in much the same way that Spurs do despite their relegation. I might choose to go for an over-priced Spurs winger rather than a QPR one if the fees are similar.

Does anyone think Lorient have got their Euros and Pounds mixed up or that someone may have hit the wrong key when making or considering our bid? Or have they read this topic and thought that as we were unsure of the currency in which the bid was made it was worth making a cheeky claim that it was made in Pounds rather than Euros? I hope this deal goes through for the player who I think could really prove an asset for us.

I doubt Young would want to come back in any case. I suspect he will want to stay where he is and either play out the last year of his contract or sign another one with them. When he does leave he will go to the club that makes him the best offer. Should that be us given his age, lack of sell-on value and that it is rare for players to do as well on their return to a former club as they did before leaving? Not for me.

You can't make him sign a contract if he doesn't want to. Maybe he wants to move next season as a free agent. Or we could make him an offer he can't refuse given he is such a key part of our defence now. Looks like we might have already done so?

Beaten to the punch!

I thought Arsenal and Newcastle had cornered the market for the best young players in Ligue 1? It seems that is no longer the case. How about re-working an old chant from the terraces? "Ayew, Ayew, its up the Holte we go".

I guess Adebayor is currently 50/50 to take them.

Make it happen Villa! We need a boost and this would be a big one. We should have moved on this one before Newcastle did their deals which led to the increased price.