BOF

A good signing and better than Postma but it is option 3 for me.

Reserve keeper added.

Footballing-wise I believe Bellamy is better, but unfortunately you must take the whole package, and not just his ability. That makes it a closer run thing. I do think the Bell would benefit the team more, but it's a moot point as he wont be part of our team next season.

Both are quality, and better than what we have got rid of, but neither of them are the 'big' names we were told there would be 3 or 4 of arriving this summer. I still wait for the 1st of those. But Hughes & Berger will improve us - I just wonder will they improve us enough to stand still.

This Wright link is worthy of more discussion if true me thinks. He is 27 and although his stock has dropped somewhat, he is still quite a highly regarded keeper. I know of some on here who wish to see Sorensen ousted from between the sticks. Do you think Wright could be the man to do that? Postma was an able deputy (and nothing more) but I can see Wright doing far more to give DOL something to think about. I would love to see Wright come here. He is the perfect age, has a good background and has something to prove. If it helps to improve Sorensen's performances as a consequence then Villa can only benefit from that too !!

Bellamy has never scored more than 7 top flight league goals in a season. Now I do not question his ability and what he would do for our 1st team when on-song, but to "see him finishing over Angel and Vassell everyday" is a stretch and a half.

Bickster I'd like you to be right, but I can also see that with them in the CL, this is their big chance to make that leap. They might speculate on the basis of potential earnings. If they budget to get into the group stages, and buy accordingly, then they may very well see the wages as affordable, and best-case-scenario for them is they'll never look back !! Or they take our approach of slowly-slowly and act with caution thus missing out on the big chance, the big players and the possible windfalls that come from that - but they ensure their financial stability. A tough call that could, at this point, go either way.

I'm amazed that Bellamy is winning this poll considering people's apparent hatrd for the guy and his baggage. I know it has to be that his position is more of a priority than Distin's but it's still very curious !!

Hmm, I suppose he does really Rich.

Sir, it is a tribute to your optimism that you waste 5 poll options on 5 unobtainable placings yet only give lip-service to the bottom half of the league I hope you are right, bad sadly you may not be !!

This is the last time I'll explain what I'm trying to achieve here. I am including Cole and Drobny because last season they were part of our senior set-up. They were brought in to do a job for the senior team and although they both had differing levels of success, they were both ours last season and now they are gone. Our first team as a result, is now 2 players down on last season's numbers. Cahill is our player - and in addition, he is our junior player. He has never been a part of our senior setup, and to this day he still is not. Even if he becomes a senior player next season, he is only a promotion - not a transfer. I am only concerned with what is happening to our senior team this summer compared to what our senior team was like last season. The end.

I know what you are saying LJ but that's not what I'm trying to achieve with this list. It is only transfer dealings. It is not internal promotions. And of the transfer dealings, it is only those which will affect the first team. Cooke did not affect the first team because he was never in it. Ridgewell clearly would affect the first team. In the same way that if we sign some 15 year old Finnish kid, he wont be going into this list because he doesn't affect the senior squad. I may refer to youth in-coming in a seperate "FYI" list but not the main one.

and as I said. Anyone being promoted from the youths or reserves is exactly that - a promotion - not a new signing.

That's a ridiculous comparison LJ. Ridge and Moore played extensively through last season. Cooke never got on the pitch.

No no no. This isn't a difficult concept. Cahill and Agbonlahor are not and never have been senior players in our squad. If they become senior through the course of the season then they are still not new signings. They can not appear on here because we already own them ! At no point last year was Cooke ever regarded as a senior player other than getting a token jersey as cover for a pathetically fragile squad. Therefore his leaving has no impact on the senior squad strength. Drobny on the other hand, was a loan signing specifically to shore up our defence. It didn't work out for him but he was still a senior player brought in as cover.

Doesn't Angel's latest deal put him on £50k ? And Kachloul was on a ridiculous amount - around £40k. Ginola was definitely on at least that too. It's all in how convincingly DOL can make his case to HDE. I'd say there's room for 1 big wage packet this summer. It'll either be Bellamy or someone currently unnamed. I would love it to be Parker but I don't think we'll get him.

SENIOR PLAYERS IN Name Pos Club Cost Patrick Berger CM/LM Portsmouth Free Aaron Hughes RB Newcastle �1.5m Stuart Taylor GK Arsenal �750k Kevin Phillips CF Southampton �1m Milan Baros CF Liverpool �6.5m Wilfred Bouma CB/LB PSV �3.5m Eirik Bakke CM/RM Leeds Utd Loan SENIOR PLAYERS OUT Name Pos Club Cost Thomas Hitzlsperger CM VfB Stuttgart TBC Carlton Cole CF Chelsea Loan exp. Vaclav Drobny CB/LB Strasbourg Loan exp. Stefan Moore CF Q.P.R. Free Darius Vassell CF Man City �2m NET SPEND - �11.25m [/code] I'm not detailing the likes of Cooke & Troest as it will not reflect properly on whether the strength of the first team squad has increased or not over the summer.

Leksand, if they get Forssell and Bellamy (coupled with Dunc & Beattie) I don't think it'll be a case of stealing Bent. I think they'd probably leave him unlocked in a dodgy car park and wait til he was stolen for nothing. I think he's rubbish.

If precedent is anything to go by, not very well

Anyone else think O'Neill's expected resignation from Celtic could be a big boost for us signing Bellamy (regardless of whether you actually want him or not) ? Up to now one of the 'pulls' of playing for Celtic has been the prospect of playing under Martin O'Neill. Without him there, and playing instead for the mighty Gordon Strachan, Celtic surely become a little less desireable as a destination. Hopefully it bodes well for us. Put it this way, it'll hardly do them any good the fact that he's now leaving.

The obvious "none" option is missing.

At the time, I wanted us to get Beattie, and who knows - he probably wouldn't have got the same injury here as he did there. I believe with him up front we would have scored more goals than we did since January (we could hardly have scored less), and considering we were less than a win away from Europe at times during the run-in, I can't help thinking that when we missed Beattie, we missed Europe. Hindsight can work both ways and I think losing him cost us a UEFA qualification spot. So I voted 'Yes'.

Yeah DS, and DOL can sort out attitudes quick smart, plus his coaching techniques are highly thought of. Let's cross our fingers

JohnnyVilla, I'd prefer Saha but if we're getting any ManUre striker it's always going to be Smith. He's not scoring and DOL loves him. I'd love Saha though !!

Am I the only one who wouldn't mind seeing the bluenose Davey "pie-man" Dunn in a Villa shirt ? When fit, he is class. If we could get him in, get him trim and fit he's a very creative player with a good finish. He'd probably not come though (because of loyalty to Brum) and he'd probably cost a pretty penny too.