LesDiablesRouges

I think too many of you are thinking too narrowly about transfers and thinking too short term. My impression is that Lambert signed Kozak because he fit a variety of needs both short term and long term: Cover for Benteke this year, option of playing 4-4-2, 4-3-1-2, substitute for Benteke to keep his minutes down, chance to break him in before becoming the top striker assuming Benteke leaves. I also think that Lambert sees him as someone who could be bought in the 5 million pound range who if he comes good could incread to 10+ million player. If Villa is able to manage a EL spot then perhaps Benteke stays and much more money is available to spend on improving the squad. If you look at the top squads they have a top striker and a fairly expensive back-up (or 2-3 backups). If Benteke leaves you have a striker and then you can go after 5-7 other players or more to fill in with talent and depth. The other thing we don't know re: AMs this window is if there were any a that Lambert liked and fit within the money available. Whereas next summer transfer window if Benteke leaves and Villa gets say 40-50 million pounds there might be someone Lambert could get that he really likes but wasn't available for 2-3 million pounds but rather 7-9 million. I like this move because it's a move from a position of strength and Lambert is getting someone he really likes and thinks has a bright future and it helps alleviate the potential problem of not having a striker who is familiar with Villa who might take 1/4 of the PL season to get adjusted to his teammates. Is it a risk? Sure, but any more worth a salt has risk and Villa can't get to where it wants to by playing things ultra safe.

I hope that his release clause in his new contract was something like 60 million pounds. That kind of money would allow Lambert to bring a lot of talent and bolster the depth and talent pool. Just think you could buy 8 1/2 Bentekes. It would be cool to see Villa rise up the table and regain its former glory. It's been a while since the last trophy 1995-96 League Cup (I don't count the Intertoto cup as a legitimate trophy) so it's time to get a league or a FA cup to add to the mantle.

I'm starting to wonder who exactly is going to pay the money to get Benteke on transfer after this year especially if he has 20+ goal PL markor god forbid he wins the golden boot. Clearly his value would edge towards 40 million+. What might work out for Villa is that there aren't too many clubs that could afford to shell out that type of money and even fewer still who need a striker. United Still have RVP Chelsea - possible but then Lukaku's growth could get stunted Arsenal - Laff they could 1 billion dolalrs in the kitty and they'd never spend it. City - They just spent big money on Jovetic. Spurs- Just spent a bundle on Soldado Bayern- Possible Barca - No need with Messi Real - possible if Real is sick of Benzema PSG- Not with Cavani Monaco - not with Falcao Looks like maybe Chelsea, Bayern or Real would be candidates, but I coudl see Benteke staying especially if Villa can finish in the top half and then spend to improve the team to make the push for a top 6 finish in 2014-2015.

Looks like Bakkali will choose Belgium although the friendly tomorrow v france won't cap tie him to Belgium. I do believe he'll get picked for Scotland on 9/6/13 if he maintains his form and he is fit.

Didn't know that you could sign for a foreign club that young. They're with the PSV academy and start on the U15 side. They'll get a push to the senior club in 2-3 years.

8/10/13 Belgian update Divorck Origi scored the only goal for Lille in a 1-0 win over Lorient Zakkariah Bakkali had a hatrick for PSV in a 5-0 win v. NEC Nijmegen in his Dutch league debut!

Maxieme Lestiene 21 LW - Club Brugge Massimo Bruno 19 AM - Anderlecht Divock Origi DM 18- OSC Lille Holly Tshimanga 16 ST - Genk Wout Faes DM 15 - Aka the Belgian David Luiz Julien Ngoy ST 15 - Being courted by the big boys Barca, Madrid, Bayern, United, etc. Lennerd Daneels CM 15 - At PSV Dante Rigo 14 CM/DM - at PSV Mattias Verreth 15 CF at PSV

that is true but back in 2010 qualifymatches we didn't have the players we now have in our current squad there are only 2 players left of that squad and those 2 players don't even play anymore timmy simons and Daniel vanbuyten. You mean the 2002 WC, right? (when talking about Simons and Van Buyten) compared to the last qualifying campaign for 2010, the squad is pretty much the same, the only difference is the experience of the players. players like Fellaini, Witsel, Kompany, Vertonghen have been playing for the national team for almost 6 years now That's not entirely true. Here's an example of the 2010 team Goalkeepers: Logan Bailly [bor. Mönchengladbach] Jean-François Gillet [AS Bari] Defenders: Toby Alderweireld [AFC Ajax] Steve Colpaert [sV Zulte Waregem] Jelle Van Damme [RSC Anderlecht] Nicolas Lombaerts [Zenit St. Petersburg] Thomas Vermaelen [Arsenal FC] Vincent Kompany [Manchester City] Midfielders: Thomas Buffel [KRC Genk] Mehdi Carcela [standard de Liège] Karel Geraerts [Club Brugge] Jan Vertonghen [AFC Ajax] Axel Witsel [standard de Liège] Jonathan Blondel [Club Brugge] Maarten Martens [AZ] Strikers: Moussa Dembele [AZ] Romelu Lukaku [RSC Anderlecht] Eden Hazard [Lille OSC] Wesley Sonck [Club Brugge] Courtois is one of the top 5 GKs in the world. Baily doesn't even get call ups anymore and Gillet is 3rd string for the moment behidn Courtois and Mignolet Vertonghen is now at LB. Vermalen is at CB. Of the remaining Midfielders minus Vertonghen only Witsel makes the NT 3 of the 4 strikers are on the NT. Also of ntoe Lukaku was 16 Hazard 19. This list doesn't even include Fellaini (Everton), Chadli (Tottenham), Mertens (Napoli), Mirallas (Everton) or and that Benteke guy. It doesn't include De Bruyne (Chelsea) who has been Belgium's best player (save for Courtois) in their WC qualifying run.

I definitely understand the backlash re: Belgium. The team is finally putting it together but in earnest they still haven't accomplished anything. The young talents still keep on coming. Adnan Januzaj (LW/CAM) he hasn't declared for Belgium yet) looks like he'll get squad action this year for the Man U first team, which is pretty big considering he's 18 years old. Zacariah Bakkali (17 LW/ST) has been great for PSV thus far this year. Youri Tielemans (16, DM/CM/AM) had an impressive debut for Anderlect the other day. Junior Malanda (18, DM) is on loan with Zulte which is crazy after his whole saga demanding a release from them to go to anotehr club. He ended up at Wolfsburg. I'll post more when I get some more time.

I'll give you folks the American perspective. The new TV deal with NBCsports/Comcast is for ... you guessed it the Premier League. Every single game will be shown on NBC Sports this year. No other league comes even close to the PL in terms of coverage in the US and consdiered how big of marketing opportunities there are here in the U.S. the PL will continue to grow in popularity. The problem with La Liga is that there's only 2 recognizable teams for the casual fan Real and Barca if you asked most casual fans they'd have trouble going past 3-4 teams that they could name in La Liga. Whereas in the PL there's United, Chelsea, Spurs, Arsenal, Liverpool, and even Everton (due to Landon Donovan and Tim Howard having played there.) Villa is nowgetting exposure in the US due to Guzan, and Sudnerland will get eyballs due to Altidore. The PL is difficult league to win a player of the year award because of how dfficult it is to dominate and the difference between the top teams and the bottom teams is nowehere as great as La Liga, Serie A etc.

Congrats Villains. Not what anyone expected to happen which makes it all the more sweet. I don't know if I buy the transfer to drive up the wages shctick because in doing that you're not really endearing yourself to your employer. My guess is that Spurs (Levy) had some deluded idea that they were going to somehow swindle Villa into selling Benteke for 15-18 million. Oops ...

What about his performance at Anfield. His back heal was the icing.

hey ben je vlaming of waal? hey vous êtes flamand ou Waal? hey are you flemish or waal? He has been offered a much bigger contract already but refused to sign. u mean the 40K/week? Waal Bruxelles (Etterbeek) Je parle seulement le francais.

It is hard to say but he was apparently responsible for 40% of the goals so it's understandable where the claim that he kept Villa cmae from. Of course he can't do it by himself so I suppose the stat is somewhat flawed. He was an extremely valuable player last year. He could end up staying at Villa if Villa stands firm on its price and he'd be forced to play because of the upcoming World Cup. It's what I'd like to see happen as tempting as a move to Spurs would be for me as purely a Belgian national team supporter (he'd get to work with Vertonghen and Dembele, possibly Chadli). I think Villa needs to make a stand otherwise what type of precident does it set for any future talents. Sure Villa would run the risk of other players not wanting to sign becuase they couldn't leave of their free will, but at some point a contract needs to mean something, because had he been miserable last year he would have gotten the same amount of money and Villa would still have to pay him.

Of course he was tapped up. Why hand in a transfer request unless your fairly certain that someone else is extremely interested in obtaining your services especially in a WC lead up year. It's pretty clear that Spurs are the suitor and Chelsea, Arsenal Liverpool, Dortmund and any other clubs are merely smokescreens to drive up the price and force Tottenham to act. I would also be willing to guess that the information was passed along through a Belgian teammate (Dembele/Vertonghen).

The key is that Villa holds the cards. Sure Benteke handed in his transfer request but the reality is that he's still on contract and it's a year before the world cup and he can't afford to be not playing or embroiled in transfer drama otherwise he'll lose his spot to Lukaku. The real question is what is the number that Villa is wiling to sell. Sure the buy out clause forces a sale but I beleive there's a number below the 40 million that will get the deal done. Most ehre seem to think 25 mill pounds is the strike price. I will say that do find it funny that on certain message boards posters believe that he can be had for 15-18 million.

I know I'm newb and not throw a pity party but I'm sorry for you guys. It's tough to lose top emerging talent. The key is to reinvest that money amongst quite a few prospects to get 3-5 more Benteke like players in terms of development at the same time so that Villa can develop a team of big time talents while moving up the table and fighting for Europa League or even Champions League football. For the sake of argument let's say Benteke's sale nets Villa 25 mil Pounds. You got plenty of options that could net Villa 3-5 PL capable players Maxime Lestienne (LW) 21 for about 9 mil pounds Jelle Vossen (CF) for 6.5 mil pounds Dennis Praet (AM) for about 6 mil pounds Junior Malanda (DM) for about 4 mil pounds Michy Batuayi (CF) for about 3 mil pounds

Registered a while back and figured I'd say hello so I could post. I don't have a club affiliation per se as I was born in the Uinited States so I didn't have a geographic location in the UK to associate with as young lad. So I msotly follow Belgian players, but I enjoy the PL as it is the most fascinating of all the football leagues in the world. I have a strong tie to Belgian players as I'm part Belgian and I've followed the NT for over 30 years. My distant cousin played in Serie A and Serie B and and coached in Serie A and Serie B, so I also have Italian roots as well, but frankly I don't have too much interest there. Just looking to talk about football in general and perhaps give a Belgian and U.S. spin on things.