HalfTimePost

Even the link itself is vague. Monitoring a situation is one thing, outright sitting right and seeing if another club makes the deal happen first is just weird. Especially for our lot who have made a big deal about being seen to go toe to toe with Arsenal (Buendia, ESR), Tottenham (Bentancur), Atleti (Kamara, Cash) and ensuring our negotiation wins Vs Barca (Coutinho £17m) have been publicised. For us then to then sit back and sit tight and see how AC Milan do doesn't sound right to me. We do a lot of things quietly and behind the scenes. But when it suits us to show we're up against a top side, we've been more maleable into showing our hand.

I'd tend to agree but it's Percy and Matt Law, which is why I posted. Percy in particular wouldn't usually put his name to it if it wasn't at least a possibility

Have to agree. If the wage asks are £100k a week then we should walk away and let Everton or Newcastle have him. Focus on getting a top player in who is a clear step up. If Konsa was out for 8-9 months then maybe it'd be a different story. Get a top player in *and* Tarkowski and we would hopefully not miss a beat. But whilst Tarkowski would be a smart signing. Those are big wages for a guy that wouldn't really fit the style Gerrard is after. We'd still be poor passing out from the back and still end up inviting too much pressure onto ourselves. I'll make my peace with it if it happens and understand the reasoning but we should be aiming higher, younger and for someone whose better on the ball.

I included Romagnoli in a post earlier in the week of the top Free Players. Consensus online seems to be Chelsea are confident of landing him and are pretty desperate considering their issues at the moment and appear to be losing Christensen & Rudiger on frees as well as potentially Azpilicueta and Alonso next year Think as a result he's out of our reach

Spoiler alert: they will

Everton front-runners but we are in for James Tarkowski according to The Telegraph (and their journo, big Villa fan, Matt Law) Edit: Percy linked to this article too.

Moot point. If I was a World renowned Goalkeeper, coming off a FIFA nomination for The Best Goalkeeper in 2021... Southgate would still choose Pashun Pickford over me.

I think if we sign another DM it seals Luiz leaving. I'd like to think not but I think McGinn and Ramsey will be prioritized as much as possible. If we spend £40-50m on another player (for example Bissouma or Philips) that player is already starting. 5 Subs may mean we can keep Luiz, McGinn and Ramsey happy in rotational rolea. But imo I think if we spend big money on another mid we'll be losing atleast one of Carney or Luiz, possibly both.

My concern is more around physicality and break up play (Disclaimer: I'm not saying he's bad, he's going to be great for us, just that with so long without a DM and 2 years of trying to get one, I'm nervous the fanbase expect Prime Viera) Kamara can certainly pass and keep the ball moving, he will give us the dimension that Nakamba lacks that when we get the ball he can move it forward quickly and make us a better possession or counter attacking threat. The passing is not my concern. However, if Villa fans think we've signed the new Viera (or, less Brutish but high-energy, breaking play up archetypes like Makelele/Kante) we have not. We will need to give him time to settle into the league and he'll likely need to bulk up a bit. I hope we give him a bit of time, or (more likely) some more help in midfield to bolster our physicality whilst he adjusts to the league. Put Bissouma alongside him and we're probably golden. The two of them together would shore up the midfield. Add aggression and physicality and also be able to hold onto the ball. But Bissouma & Kamara probably makes us less attacking and means we'll likely have to lose Luiz, which would be a shame as think we'd see a new side of him as an out & out 8. Anyway, a truly exciting signing. Can't wait for August 6th

I get what you mean but Marseille wouldn't have been any part of this deal as his contract was up. Boubacar could've signed for anybody since Jan. But yeah I think we'll see Sanson move. But I don't think it'll be just yet. I think we'll hang around and see what happens with Luiz & Carneys contract. If one or both sign, we'll move Sanson on. If neither sign we'll be forced to sell them this summer, at which point we should be keeping Sanson to understudy Ramsey/McGinn. I'm sure we'd sign somebody else if we sold those two but for consistency in the team and helping Boubacar settle in, it'd be good to hold onto Sanson if there are a lot of midfield moves forced on us this summer.

G'warn Shelley, do it for the good of the club.

Perhaps but I'm not convinced. He's just secured CL with Marseille. He could have signed for a raft of CL clubs. Maybe a clause that activates from say Year 3 but not sure a straight up clause would have gone in

£140k tops. No way we force Coutinho to come down to that and then immediately pay the next guy more than him just a week later. As much of a coup as it is, especially not a 22yr old DM from the French League

We've had a little breather from the Villa-Fan talisman being built in the media. Time for JJ to step up to the plate. Edit: Updated with a new link, as just like our past 2 homegrown-Villa-talisman's, JJ wasn't quite bright enough to input the video into the tweet first time around

We signed Buendia early last season too.

Wow, signed and sealed Day 1. Coutinho & Kamara. If we can get Bailey to fulfill his potential too we'll already be in such an improved position come August. Just Hickey, NDicka, Bissouma and Jonathan David left to go. 1 a week and we'll be ready for pre-season.

Don't see why we would as they paid the release clause there would be zero need for them to add extra incentives in. There is the rumour we get £15m for it. But just can't see any sensible reason why that would be the case.

He had his tactics spot on. 2-0 for Liverpool to win the league on the final day of the season. Gerrard slipped up with his subs. Our shape was good, we were hitting them on the counter and causing them problems. We probably should have been 3-0 up and City down to 10 men. Why would you then take off both of your out balls and leave on a striker who was clearly struggling? Take off Ramsey for Nakamba. Solidify the midfield if he's leggy. Coutinho had just scored to put us 2-0 and was clearly emotional about what it meant. It was the first time since February he shouldn't have been subbed. Take Emi and Coutinho off and then be forced into throwing Ings on, changing the shape that had restricted City so much. Such a waste. The lads played well. Two very good goals scored against us by the best team in the world. Should've defended the first better. But the changes let us down today. Such a shame considering his initial tactics were so spot on.

OmG

No Jack. Good.

Ollie needs to go off

Ings needs to come on

Has it been announced?

I don't have the best view but that looked like a foul on Digne?

Hmm, Fernandinho might not have been great but he was also the closest man to Ollie a couple of times that had tracked him and closed down the space to Coutinho. Wouldnt see that as much of anything really, could be good for us that he's off even if he wasn't in top form