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I'd take a punt on him for five mil. Wouldn't bother otherwise - he's not worth the risk at all.

I'd bin him off. He's lived off his local lad come good image for far too long and just doesn't give anywhere near enough back to the club to justify his salary. He's had one good season in the last 5.

Weimann move is fair all round. Best of luck to the guy.

At some point you have to pay big wages and fees. Out of the 2 you've mentioned only one I wouldn't have done at the time and that Given. No sell on and massive wages when we could've kept Friedel who retired this summer!! Nzogbia seemed like a good signing at the time but with hindsight hasn't need anywhere near value for money. If you're looking at Richards he ticks all the boxes for us. He has something to prove he has proven quality he's young and still has potential. It may not come off but you can't stop trying because we made mistakes in the past. I'm not against paying good wages, I'm against giving that sort of money to be people that are far from a sure thing. Richards is not proven quality, he's an unknown quantity if anything because he's barely played in years.

Or good judgement if they turn out to be good signings? Of course, yeah - that goes without saying. On the surface though, I think they'd fail.

I agree that he deserve time but you have to take into consideration the long term ramifications of signings. It's been years and we're still paying Given and N'Zogbia, signed by McLeish, enormous (for us) amounts each week. Richards could easily be consigned to that pile. I'd argue that they've been holding us back in the transfer market for years. Irresponsible, bad decisions now could cost us for years to come.

At worst, he's a useful squad rotation player. Very handy to bring off the bench to see out a game too. I like him, personally.

Does he have ANY redeeming features?

Spending that sort of money on Townsend is a wet-dream for Spurs - we should steer well clear. 12million for someone that isn't good enough for their side and they don't want? Sod off. What we should be doing here is looking for players who are stand-outs in their teams and on the way up. I'm thinking of players like Ashley Young and Stewart Downing, who were excellent for us. Luckily, Amavi seems to fit that profile. We've already taken a massive risk on Richards and I don't want us to do the same on people like Townsend or Huddlestone. It reeks of poor judgement.

Good luck to him - hope he does well, obviously. I don't think this signing will work out but I hope it does.

For our sake and for the sake of the league in general, let's hope so.

The problem with Amavi and other young players from abroad, is that they're too young to remember us winning anything or being a good side (albeit a few brief years). I'm not surprised he's not that interested if he's touted for big things.

Please just not another effing horrible run like the one that sabotaged us early on last season.

For 20 million quid, I expect a hell of a lot more than Huddlestone and Vardy ffs.

Got a lot more talent by the looks of things.

And a fair bit better IMO.

Echo the comments about it really not being a big deal at all. Social media has made the world a very different place.

I understand what you're saying Mark but this is Villa and this is the unknown - experience tells us to be fear it and be worried, especially in the last few years. There's nothing wrong with being both appreciative that Sherwood kept us up but also doubtful that he'll make the right signings.

Is he linked?

He's clearly more consistent than Carew - more of a professional and career driven. Not as lovable though.

Vardy for 15mil, Clark to West Brom, Micah Richards... Massively worrying rumours. Have we been linked to any good transfer moves besides selling Lowton and Weimann?

Vardy for 15mil or keep Weimann... The latter for me and I don't think weimann is good.enough.

No, doesn't make you a good player either though. The only thing it shows is Zabaleta is better.

I really hope he doesn't **** us up for the next few years with his transfers.

I agree - so why the hell are we signing someone who's barely played in the last few seasons? This is a bad, bad idea.