Adam2003

Does that mean Grealish is worthless because no-one has paid anything for him?

…and their manager quit as a result.

I’d still happily take Wood as a completely different option to Watkins. Would be a great choice on the bench even as he hits his older years - like a Giroud but more attainable. However I imagine Burnley would want a lot of money for him and can’t see us going for that. I really liked Josh King a couple of years ago - I saw him play live for Norway and he was exceptional - but he has gone backwards not forwards, so if there were any legs with this it would be a ‘hope he resurrects himself’ signing and we don’t seem to go for many of those these days. Don’t think he would add value to our squad, I would rather give Wesley and even Davis the time on the field for how many goals King actually contributes. But again I guess I’d trust the club - they have got most things right.

Watched a Ronaldinho thing once where he was signing his Barcelona contract. Took them about 10 hours to go through all the paperwork because he had to initial and sign every page and have key things pointed out to him. To my mind an agent does all that and a player just pops on a signature but it def wasn’t the case there, and even if half that time is more standard I can’t imagine the Argentina manager being happy with Emi missing a few hours of training to sign paperwork. Not to mention he’s in their bubble so I imagine no-one can see him from our side. They are a country with possibly the worst covid rates in the world right now so again can’t imagine they would be happy with someone waltzing in and out with the paperwork… sure you could do it on Docusign but you ‘could’ buy a house on Docusign, doesn’t mean you don’t still have to go sit in a room and all sign paperwork in person with the seller and the bank and the lawyers (I did anyway). I’m sure they’ll get it done when the rules allow.

Sadly we don’t on a global marketing side of things. Real fans in stadiums, sure, we have more than Chelsea have in Stamford Bridge. But watching a game somewhere on tv in Singapore or Spain or San Francisco - a lot more people are watching Man City and Chelsea than watching Aston Villa.

Couldn’t agree more with this. Our three-man midfield has only had two men most games!

This is always the way with young players - and he’s younger than Keinan Davis and yet has established himself with more appearances than any other player in the last two seasons and a regular starting role for Brazil so he’s not doing badly. However I agree that turning 23 means he now hits the point he has to turn it on consistently not just next season but for 5-6 years if he is to achieve his potential. Transition from young prospect (when I don’t feel our fans have always been patient enough) to someone who needs to consistently deliver in a top half PL team (where that impatience is justified) to keep his spot - it’s up to him whether he thrives in that situation or not. All the ingredients are there.

Right, this is very different to if he was running himself into the ground for 70 mins then coming off wiped. Consistently amazed at the depth you lads put into studying these stats though, fair play. Makes it a lot easier for the rest of us to assess what we are being linked with

Is this one a realistic link?

I love Ollie but I think he actually needs to step up in quality given what will be around him. All those shots that hit the woodwork need to start going in! And I think they will.

Agree with this. I’ve watched him for some reason for years - always caught my eye for England U21 and I liked Southampton because I liked Steven Davis - and I think he’s a really good player.

Yeah agreed - I am excited by Grealish - Buendia - Traore.

Yeah that’s why I’m saying we would have to play a 4-3-3 if we sign him which isn’t actually my preference. As in three dedicated CMs - two 8s and a 6 as the kids say, rather than a number 10. I think Sanson has a ton of potential as well. So realistically you might be right and we might have to offload someone. I don’t think we will pay the money for him - I think we will sign cover at left back and maybe one more young player somewhere. I think Buendia was our big signing.

To be fair in that thread (which was before all the rumours) I WAS talking about his set piece ability and how I think it would be worth 10 goals per season for us… but I think he’s a lovely player outside of that. But I’m not one who thinks we need a DCM… and I DO think £40m is expensive and don’t think they will sell him for less than that. So I don’t think it’ll happen. I would prefer him for our squad though to anyone else from a bottom half PL club, that’s maybe a better way to say it. More than Saint-Maximin from Newcastle for example *for our squad*. Maybe McNeil from Burnley before we signed Buendia.

Oh FFS noooooo. Hopefully he’s fine. Worst case he misses the Copa which will be sad for him. Gutted if he’s not back in August though.

I posted in another thread a week ago that if we could drop £40m on any (realistic) PL signing it would be him so I would say so. He’s better than any of our midfielders (maybe not DL if DL achieves his full potential, but better now) and then you add his free kicks on top as a bonus. But on the flip side I think signing him would mean we were playing 4-3-3 more often than 4-5-1 and I really like Traore so I’m not sure I would want that. (That said for all I insist to @Kiwivillan above that Doyle won’t be making this up, there is a part of me that wonders if someone somewhere in the chain has made up something from that conversation - but that’s because I believe 99% of rumours we see actually originate on this site then get parroted back to us )

Kiwi I’ll say again though you don’t seem to want to hear it - Paul Doyle is not someone who makes up rumours. This might well be wrong. I personally don’t think it will happen. Maybe he’s been fed a line. But he will not have ‘invented’ it. That’s not his role or his game.

I bet you’re right but we need him in goal

Look, I don’t think we will sign him. It comes too soon after I said he’d be my dream signing… I don’t get that lucky. But I promise anyone that (as you say) this comes from SOMEWHERE. There is a 0% chance that Paul Doyle, a senior journalist who specialises in writing about Midlands football, is at Villa Park every week who never breaks transfer rumours just decided “I’ll make up a link to JWP.” Maybe he’s been conned, maybe it’s an agent playing a game, maybe it won’t happen, maybe it will - but he would not have said we were planning to make a bid unless a genuine source told him that.

Milner for sure, played for Villa.

No Kiwi is right - Romano is saying €34m (euro) which is £29m (pounds). But personally I suspect the £34m cited elsewhere is more accurate based on the Norwich chairman’s comments.

You just told me Nakamba needs to start every game Serious note though I agree with you on this. Including Jack not playing every minute. I don’t blame him for it not being the case as our squad has been largely gash, but don’t think we can use that excuse after this summer.

Ok agree to disagree but fair point.

Big rangy stride, like Vieira or Isaiah Osbourne.

Carrick was one of the best passers of the ball in the game and not a great tackler… so I suspect that’s a joke? On a serious note with Nakamba I agree with you - win the ball, play the simple ball. He’s great at that. The issue is when we have the ball we sometimes end up having to pass to him and that’s not so good! Horses for courses - in a game where you’re chasing possession you want him on the pitch, in a game when you have the majority of the ball you want him on the bench.