cyrusr

Who exactly was available in the DM market (realisticly) this January? Diop: Yes good player now, but getting on a little bit. Not a player for the future and since he would cost approx £5million, MON will feel not worth it for what will ultimately be a short term option. Barton: Doesn't want to leave. Mascherano: As good as player as he is, I wouldn't want to touch that situation with a 90ft barge pole. Smith: Not his best position but he may still come anyway, not out for def. Anyone else we have been/could have been linked to in January for DM position?

Riquelme? Hell Yeah! Would rather see him come on loan first with option to buy, just to make sure he is suited to the prem. If so Barton has already stated he is very happy at Man City and will tell any club to piss off (and then likely shove a cigar in their eye).

Hi General, Not sure if this has been asked before or not, but I was just reading the new kit thread and it got me thinking. There are a number of quite good looking kits on there and one thing that has struck me is just how so much better the kits look without sponsorship. I haven't bought this years shirt on the simple fact that I cannot stand the sponser on the shirt. Its massive, unattractive and takes away the fact it is a Villa shirt and instead makes it look like a 32red.com are sponsered by Villa. Now obviously this is not yours, Lerner's or anybody's fault under the new regime and is something I'm sure will change from season with the likelihood of a new sponsor. But I was thinking, do we really need a sponsor for the shirt? I mean, ok the finances of the club are not unlimited, but are we really in need of the sponsor money, for that is the only reason to have the sponsorship. Can we instead have no shirt sponsor a la Barcalona? Especially with the increase in TV revenue next year, I can imagine a few clubs doing this. And since it will make the shirt look nicer, surely that would increase sales of the shirts, surely offsetting the sponsor money? Anyway, keep up the already fine work you and the rest of the board are doing.

Van Der Saar I think has just signed a new contract for next 1/2 seasons. Don't forget though they also have Kuszack (sp) there as well as Howard (technically). Howard will probably leave in the summer with Kuszack or Foster going on loan for next season then those 2 will compete for no. 1 shirt. I do have a feeling though one of them might get fed up quite quickly of the situation and want to leave Man Utd. We should go for them if so.

PatrickCousens, see what your saying but of those you mixed into the Villa team only 4 were brought in the last 12 months. O'Neil, Taylor and LuaLua were bought whilst Mandaric was in charge/from the youth team. My point is that they haven't really managed to bring in good players that Villa should be getting, they just have a decent home record...

True... Bastards :evil:

or they could do a portsmouth by avoiding relegation and then challenging for europe next season attracting players to the club, that we only wish we could see playing for villa! :winkold: Seriously look at the Portsmouth team, who have they brought in the last year that you would want in the Villa team? Only ones I can think of are Campbell, D'Allesandro and Mendes (oh and Lauren). They are the only players that Portsmouth have brought in over the past 12 months that I think are good enough for Villa. TBH, I don't really know why they are doing as well as they are... :?

That would be hilarious. Also to see Newcastle go down as well, both of their wage bills would screw them in the championship and also losing all of their good players as well

OK, all I have read for the last 10 pages or so is whether Lucas Neill is World Class or a pile of crap. To be fair, he's neither. Neill is a very good player, he is a better player (at the moment) than Bardsley, Bardsley however does have very good potential. I am also sure that he could play for Liverpool, Barca etc and play well. The thing is though at those clubs he would be a squad player and his salary would be comfortable, but not massive, probably £30-40K a week. What West Ham are offering though is pretty much guarenteed 1st team football and a salary ranging from 50-75K a week. That is why he is (probably, not confirmed yet though) going to West Ham. Yes he could do very well for Villa but if he did, then we would have to offer the sort of wages West Ham are offering and to be frank, he is not worth that much. I would much rather see us have Bardsley on loan until the end of the season and then get someone else (or possibly Bardsley ,can't predict exactly what will happen. Probably going back to Man Utd but we shall see) who's wage demands will be considerably less but who's skills are of equal or better standards than that of Neills. A little disappointed with Laursen going to Portsmouth, though my thoughts are if MON wanted him, we would go for him. He would be good for a few seasons but I think MON is thinking longer term than that. Also, a little surprised no one has mentioned this yet: RONALDINHO I know, I know, never going to happen, but we could give him the support he wants plus a new challenge for him. The possibility is there...

Would rather have Keane to be honest. Better player IMO. We don't know Young is going to Spurs though do we? The only reason the press are linking him to them is because they made an inquiry in the summer but that collapsed. Now they don't want to pay the fee for him and are probably only going to go for him in the summer when he is cheaper.

Well the Ben Haim rumours were going before Chelsea had the issues with Mourinho, same as the SWP rumours, so they should build up again... Hopefully...

And who exactly has signed quality in the premiership so far this transfer window? Well...how many clubs are in our situation? West Ham Wigan Watford Charlton Sheffield United All definately need to strengthen their team or face the prospect of relegation. Out of those the only "quality"/significant signing has been Boa Morte, but seeing as he is 30 that is very much up to debate. Of those requiring/wanting quality signing/s Probably everyone else but Arsenal (The only team who's really come out and said they ain't going to buy players). And who have they signed? Only one I can think of (potentially) is Alnwick for Spurs. Arguable that Padelli for Liverpool is a quality player as well as that Fulham striker from Roma, but I haven't seen either play yet so can't comment on them. The point is though that there has been no quality/significant signings in this transfer window. It doesn't matter what position we are in this is always the case, QUALITY SIGNINGS DO NOT HAPPEN UNTIL THE SECOND HALF OF THE TRANSFER WINDOW. FACT. I want us to sign quality players, don't you?

And who exactly has signed quality in the premiership so far this transfer window?

Barton is valued higher than £5.5million there is no doubt about that, but because of the clause in the contract Man City would HAVE TO accept a bid for £5.5million. We could though just give a big contract to Barton, he's only on like £25-30K a week I think... I really, really, really, really want us to sign Barton; PLEASE!!! EDIT: Also just saw this on WILTORD INJURED With Lyon down a striker perhaps a renewed interest in Baros may be on the cards, and it also looks like they are resigned to losing Carew... Maybe the deal could be struck? Valued approximately the same I do believe as well...

Routledge had a lot of potential, the reason why he didn't make it at Spurs was because he got injured in the first couple of weeks of the season. He was replaced in the team by a certain Aaron Lennon... I think he has got bags of potential which MON could exploit, but isn't he on loan at Fulham atm?

Sorry but Bellamy for £12million? I find this particularly hard to believe, especially since Liverpool did only buy him for £6million and has he done so well at Liverpool to warrent a £6million value increase but not done well enough for Liverpool to want to keep him? **** lazy arsed journalists... I probably should apply for a job at the sun or somewhere similar, could writhe far, far, far better transfer rumours than that...

Not really. Pratically anyone could see that MON thinks Djemba twins, Whitts, Agathe and (4th one?) are not good enough for Villa and just were not going to be played by MON unless absolutely has no choice otherwise. Getting rid of them doesn't change the position we are in and therefore the prices. I think that MON was priced out of Bent, probably the most likely one anyway... Told Pardew where to shove it...

OK its friday morning, anyone having medicals? Anyone? Right then since they are not, MON and Lerner should resign, Ellis to come back and appoint Hoddle since they are obviously the better candidates...

I think I have said this before but the reason why MON and Lerner will not overspend on players (IMO in all their time here) is that Lerner is a businessman and will not overspend on anything that is not its market value/going to vastly increase profit. That is his main gain at this club is to make a profit. Yeah that doesn't sound too good for Villa but the best way to make a profit is to have a hugely successful club that will make the money. MON also is a guy who doesn't like being ripped off. Transfers he has done in the past have proven that and he would rather go for the out of favour player whose reputation is lower than buy a player who will cost twice as much because they have had a good season. Basically if someone told Lerner and MON to pay an extra 2 million for a player, they will tell them where to shove that player. Onto the statement MON made. Yes he said he wanted 4-5 Petrov class players, this doesn't say anything on how much they will spend on players in January, but given that he spent around £6million for Petrov, TRL's estimate of £30-40million ain't a bad one but this is something hard to predict. If he can't bring in those players he will bring in short term options. He has already said that Bardsley has been brought in to cover one of those positions, therefore I think we can expect 4 more signings in January, both long and short term. 2 positions are obvious: RM and ST along with probably LB and I think LM and maybe go back to 4-3-3. Whatever it is MON has got a plan A who he wants for the future and a Plan B for the short term and get the player in the summer. These players are likely to be based in England since they know the Premiership best but it would not surprise me if they were one or two foreign signings thrown in there as well. To be honest, we can only wait and see.

Its 11th of January! PLEASE FOR GOD SAKE PEOPLE NEED TO LEARN **** PATIENCE! Or would rather we signed Jon Stead? Or David Unsworth? Or how about Nigel Quashie? These are the sort of players that are going at the moment. Take a look at last years transfer window: JANUARY 2006-ACCORDING TO THE BBC By the 11th of January the only significant signings were Vidic, Benjani, Evra and Niemi, of which Vidic and Evra were (at the time) brought in as back up. The significant signings (Walcott, Ashton and Samaras) didn't happen until 20th, 23rd and 30th respectively. The vast majority of signings actually happened from about 12/13th onwards, a week or so for clubs to do their talking.

Get a grip? Why? The fact is Beckham is a celebrity and I don't want celebrities playing for our club, I want **** footballers.

Beckham: He is a good footballer but there is one fundemental flaw to him: he is a player that is bigger than the club. Fact. The media circus that surronds him is prove of that to begin with and it was the reason why he left Man Utd, and Man Utd are a pretty big club. Yes he will bring in a massive revenue (he will also cost a bloody bundle as well) but are we exactly short on cash? My point is that the financial question is irrelevent. I think that will would almost certainly ruin the wage structure and therefore probably make a lot of people unhappy. Yes he is good at free kicks etc but he doesn't really add much more to the squad and for the damage he is likely to the squad I really do not think it would be worth it. I would much rather have SWP or Young at the squad than Beckham. Has MON not been likened to Ferguson, and he doesn't like the prima donna types, therefore it can be a good assumption that MON doesn't either? Therefore the Beckham link IMO is irrelevent. EDIT: Just read that Beckham is leaving Real Madrid in the summer. Not going to hear the end of this... .EDIT END Laursen: this guy would be a good signing and should not cost too much. I would like us to be in for him.

Yes but that means relying on a player who has played 20 games in 2 and a half seasons and I don't think that's very clever. If Laursen is fit, fine, we can send one of the younger lads on loan. He's usually not fit so one extra defender would come in handy IMO. No. I am relying on Mellberg, Cahill and Ridgewell. Two of those has to bee injured or suspended before we need someone to play out of position. It's not ideal, but Hughes, Delaney, Barry and Bouma can all play there in an emergency. It would still be fine to have another central defender, but I would not make it my first priority. Don't forget Samuel. Agreed though, other positions required first (RW! HINT HINT!) and perhaps that is what MON was looking at instead of Davies.

I don't think it really died, it has only been a couple of days that the press have mentioned. It should be in the papers tomorrow or Thursday. They have to rotate these things you know It is looking more likely that SWP is joining on loan which I think it will be good, however I would like an agreed fee for in the summer so that he can join us then permenantly. SWP isn't wanted by Chelsea, once he joins us on loan and sees how awesome it is he will want to come. I also hope he signs by the end of the week so he can play against Man Utd, give us a bit of a better chance this time. I don't think the Young transfer will be done until after the Watford game to be honest, its just too soon to be playing against your old club. Expect that transfer to happen 22md January... Bellamy - no. I don't particularly want him and I don't think Liverpool are looking to sell him, they did only kind of buy him in the summer. I also think the reason why Crouch and Bellamy are being linked away from Liverpool is the number of games they have played. Have the press forgotten about Rafa's rotation policy?! Neither will move in January. EDIT: Muntari? Never seen him play but he is awesome in FM! Sign him up! Or Barton...

Home draws against crap teams like Fulham and Boro, the capitulation at the hands of Man City, the away form being no better than last few seasons. I am not doubting his credentials, but I do think he is slightly hyped up by the media, but like with every manager before him I am willing to give him every chance. But you forget that last season the only thing that we were cheeering about was our away form, which if our home form was similar then we would have been in a much better position. Did you also forget the capitulation by Man City last season as well? Although we are on a poor run atm, we are 100% better than last season and the main reason for that is MON. However can understand yours (and many others) paranoia, after all we have had to put up with Ellis for over 20 years, but this is a new era, a new beginning, a new Villa. I cannot wait for next summer for it will be a glorious one. You will see soon enough :winkold: