John

I think we should go for Bamford before someone else does (unless we are already too late). I think it might need to be on loan firstly because Chelsea are not yet too happy to sell him given how well he did in the league below last season. That deal should also not need to depend on Benteke's departure.

That is what they mostly do up there!

Yes, it could be P3te and if so what happens after he signs for them or anyone else will be his concern rather than my own.

Did we offer him an improved contract? If not, why not? There was talk I think of us going as high as £90k a week (although I took that with a large pinch of salt). I think it would be well worth offering him that for another year on his existing contract with the same £32.5m escape clause to rescue him from the potential hell of spending a couple of years playing for a club whose fans do not want him on a similar salary to play a couple of games in the Europa League and less games than he would for us in the PL. Or could it be that we need to sell to buy? If so, we need to do that as well as Southampton did with less money. By the way that tortoise that I mentioned that had left Anfield this morning with their £32.5m bid is still some way from Villa Park it seems.

I understand the bid is now on its way. It left Anfield at 9.00 this morning tied onto the back of "Lambo" their club tortoise and it is expected to arrive at Villa Park before the last day of the transfer window.

‘You need a plan just in case that bid does come in but £32.5m is nothing if you lose your Premier League status for next season." Well said Tim! On Talk Sport this evening they suggested Benteke was Manchester United's back-up plan if their move for Cavani did not come off but added that they like Liverpool had also baulked at our £32.5m asking price. £32.5m is the price. Manchester United & Liverpool can both pay it but it seems they do not think our man is worth it and have other targets. Their loss will be our gain!

Corals now offer Spieth @ 8/1. Looks good to me for a third major as he is in the form of his life at the moment although he arrived late at the course he did so after winning again this weekend.

It was worth that risk. He could have left for nothing without signing a new contract and the £8m clause most likely swung his decision. It was good news at a time that we needed some and it cost less than buying a new player which everyone thought was what we were going to tell the fans about at the game. Had he left the loyalty thing would have been aimed at the player rather than at the club. As he has decided to start the season with us the player, club and fans are all winners.

"Why should Lerner continue pumping his own cash in to a game where the odds have been fixed against him?" Because he is the custodian of our football club and needs to protect his investment by making sure we do not get relegated?

If we did grant exclusivity it looks like we did not do our homework on them very well given they like our previous "mystery" potential buyers pulled out. So we are left with a custodian who no longer wants the role. He said we would appoint a new chairman but can we really afford to do so? We are linked with potential new signings but how many of them will happen unless we sell the striker that has so far kept us up to finance those deals (having also not sold our captain)? How likely is it that our current custodian will spend more in this transfer window than he has in others recently given he may have felt the club was all but sold? How does our captain feel now if his decision to stay might have been partly influenced by the prospect of a takeover happening? Fans may not have bought season tickets because they thought there was a good prospect of the club being sold (particularly as this is not the first time a deal has fallen through at this time of the year) but the fact this news broke after the season ticket renewal window had closed will have lowered any risk of a negative impact on ST sales. Our staff have improved over recent months (Tim, Butch & Fox) but we are asking them to do a hell of a lot to improve on last season as things stand!

This guy....makes Tonev look like Ronaldo...look at all the loans he's had! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart%C5%82omiej_Paw%C5%82owski He really looked so good on that day but given the number of loans he has had since then it seems he may not made the expected progress or been too consistent since. He is only 22 so time is on his side and he might still be worth keeping tabs on this coming season.

Well Allen would compensate us for taking on Lambert so I would consider those two along with the £32.5m.

He really should take the opportunity to look at what their fans say about him, wonder why Sterling was so desperate to get out of there and look at how well they played in their FA Cup SF defeat (even with Stevie G) before thinking about joining them. If he is still in doubt he should also look at the date because it is no longer the 1970s. It is I hope just rubbish posted on twitter but until he does a Delph and confirms he wants to start the season at Villa we still have cause to worry (particularly if a player who turned us down in the last window and has become older since then might be a make-weight in any such deal).

What odds you get? I feel stupid about my bet on him signing for Chelsea at 12-1 10/3 on offer with Skybums + Ladcrooks Market Here http://www.oddschecker.com/football/football-specials/christian-benteke/club-after-summer-transfer-window I think it's about 30/70 staying/going, so those odds are about right which make them decent value to me. I think we make another quality signing and his head might be turned. I could see him, possibly, rejecting Liverpool regardless if I'm honest, same as I was pretty confident he wouldn't want to go to Spurs last time. Then he signed a new contract. No such luck this time, he won't sign on again. But there's a decent chance he will stay IMO. He will be considering it I would think. The only reason he didn't go to Spurs is because they left him with egg on his face. He thought they were going to bid again hence he put in the transfer request but the bid was not forthcoming. Which might be a little bit like the situation with Liverpool now. I think the rest of the clubs he might want to sign for either are unsure about him, do not want to pay £32.5m for him or want players with bigger reputations. If we offer him a pay rise we might just keep him (being ever the optimist).

If we are waiting for the Benteke cash to do the deal: We may not get it. . There is no takeover pending. Our transfer budget in this window is as low as we have come to expect of late.

I would say a lot depends on what target we're trying to hit. To stay up? Mid table? Top half finish? You missed these: Top 6, Top 4, Champions!

I would hope we would not use that possibility openly during any transfer talks. It could be that the agent and player would already have worked that out. I would like to think that Tim would offer him the opportunity to increase his present salary, play in the PL and to do so with a massive team that he is in the process of building into a top six club.

I really hope he gets the opportunity to do so.

I do not think that they want to give us £32.5m for Benteke. If they had they could have done that already. They have bought other players in the window so it seems like their fans they don't rate our player quite as highly as we do. They tried to get away with a lower price by offering £25m & 2 over valued players they wanted rid of but we turned that down. I hope that is the end of it with them but I'm sure the press will try to keep the story running because they just cannot accept that our players might want to spend another season at a club at which they are appreciated. you say all that like its FACT. didn't our club say there had been no contact from any club with regards Benteke ? Well said. I have fallen into the trap of accepting what Mick Quinn said on Talk Sport as being a reasonably true representation of fact. He said we had turned down a £25m bid with 2 of their players and that the deal was dead because I guess I wanted it to be true. Given our club has now said there has been no contact from any club concerning Benteke (which will no doubt be a bitter blow to his agent) clearly Quinn was just quoting unfounded speculation. But I still think Liverpool do not want to pay us £32.5m for him so I stick with what I have said other than the bit highlighted in bold above.

I do not think that they want to give us £32.5m for Benteke. If they had they could have done that already. They have bought other players in the window so it seems like their fans they don't rate our player quite as highly as we do. They tried to get away with a lower price by offering £25m & 2 over valued players they wanted rid of but we turned that down. I hope that is the end of it with them but I'm sure the press will try to keep the story running because they just cannot accept that our players might want to spend another season at a club at which they are appreciated.

On Talk Sport a reporter suggested that someone at Villa Park had leaked the story of Fab's departure and then suggested the deal may yet go ahead . Could it be that someone at Villa just assumed he would go to Citeh once £8m was offered by them? Or was that reporter just trying to make the press in general look better after running a story that had not been checked with the player or with either club? Or did our custodian make him an offer he could not refuse? Frankly my Delph, I don't give a damn!

As we said to Liverpool £32.5 cash. We do not want any over priced cast off from Old Trafford and I would like to think that Delph's decision might result in a change of heart from Benteke on leaving in any case (he can just use Fab's statement again).

Fab news from Fab! A decision that shows there may still some loyalty in the game after all. No need for a new captain then and this decision might also make Benteke think again! I was never quite sure he would leave us in this way so soon. It seems a press rumour printed by The Daily Mail was too easily accepted by the rest of the press and it perhaps shows that it is not always a done deal before a shirt is waved on a pitch or it is confirmed by the player or either club. Great news!

Welcome to the club Idrissa! Now bring some more of those linked players in Villa (we badly need some positive news).

Mick Quinn said on Talk Sport this morning that he felt the Liverpool deal was dead because we had turned down their offer of £25m & 2 players they wanted rid of and valued @ £7.5m so quickly. But the club taking Benteke off the photograph along with Delph may now breathe new life into it.