Butterfingers

Haha, it's true!!! There's a couple of good ones though, and afaic the rest are all wums. It usually goes that one of the one's with known connections comes out with something, at which point there's a spate of copy-cat 'ITK', all saying that they'd heard the same, was about to post etc etc. How do we know that there are genuine ITK and they're not all WUMs? Well, to give one example, someone called the Ryan Nelson free transfer hours before it was anywhere, just out of the blue he said we'd signed him, as you can imagine he was ridiculed, especially by other 'ITK', but also by fans in general, but he just stuck quietly to his guns and was of course later shown to be correct. He also rarely posts, and doesn't engage in conversation, not the symptoms of an attention seeker... I'm sure you must have similar examples of Villa insiders, which helps sort the wheat from the chaff. ITK's come & go depending on staff at the time. We had one called "Mystereyman" a couple of years back who traded off the nievity of Gordon Cowans for a while.For about 2 years after we used to get people popping up asking for him to confirm everything from the colour of paint selected for the Holte End toilets to whether a transfer rumour was true or not. I take ITK's with a pinch of salt-Half the time they are fed information just to humour them & the info turns out to be garbage. At this stage in the Benteke/Spurs/Villa negotiations,the press are of no use to any party so its unlikely that anything with any meat on the bone will be leaked out.

The fact that they haven't bid is not a good thing-It is calculated & designed at placing the most pressure upon Villa as possible. Villa will have put a deadline/cut off point on this whole saga-Spurs will not give a damn about this. The whole process is designed to test Villas resolve,not bow down & accept everything they say as the be all end all of the deal. Villa's resolve can be gauged by the comment that we have a "Low heart rate on the matter" Stay firm & we'll come out of this smellin' of roses. Mate-I'm too old & ugly to retain such faith.It wasn't so long ago that Villa were telling me the same thing & that 5 year plans were in place.We are not a club with ambition & anyone holding onto the fact that Spurs haven't bid yet as a good sign is only setting themselves up for a fall.We've just bought in half a team for less than a third of what Spurs have paid for one player.When September 1st arrives & Benteke's still a Villa player,I too will have a low heart rate.

The fact that they haven't bid is not a good thing-It is calculated & designed at placing the most pressure upon Villa as possible. Villa will have put a deadline/cut off point on this whole saga-Spurs will not give a damn about this. The whole process is designed to test Villas resolve,not bow down & accept everything they say as the be all end all of the deal.

And what exactly is wrong with that? Everyone would prefer to work with their mates in a higher profile company whilst also getting extra cash. There is literally only positives for him to move and only negatives for him to stay. Because he can do better than Spurs. I don't know the real reason why he's going there but I seriously doubt Spurs are the biggest club in for him. I disagree-The top 4 sides don't need to gamble on potential one season wonders. You only have to look at our own losses of recent years to see this.Yorke,Barry,Milner & Young all did it for more than one season before the big boys came in.The only gamble that I can think of recently was Man City & Balloteli. Paying £20mil for Benteke & placing him on £4mil a year is a massive gamble.Many VT'ers were screaming out for us to sign Holt this time last year-Another example of a player who was a one season wonder.

That's the beauty of football my friend-Everyone has a different opinion. The fact that theres so many posts about this,shows how important it is to so many people.If you want updates,I'd suggest you moniter the sports news websites,not a fans forum

Why should we do that? He was happy to accept the money on offer 10 months ago. We took the risk on him when no other team was prepared to.He is on very good money and was offered much more money to sign an extension to his contract. Would he have allowed us to pay him less if he had not been a success? because back then he didnt proved anything yet but now he has proven his wealth if ud offered him like 70K/week he would have extended his contract with 1 year. probaply i tought it was 40K/week? imo if i was benteke i would do it for 1K/week lol But what about every other player in the team? The ones who did all the work for him to score the goals? Why should only 1 player get so much more than his team mates? We are not Man City-We do not make a profit and we need to keep our wages in proportion to what money is coming in.

Why should we do that? He was happy to accept the money on offer 10 months ago. We took the risk on him when no other team was prepared to.He is on very good money and was offered much more money to sign an extension to his contract. Would he have allowed us to pay him less if he had not been a success?

I would say yes-Benteke is a liability when defending corners & cost us soft goals.He wasted many promising attacks by drifting offside & he missed some bread & butter chances. He was a great signing & had a great season but I don't buy into this "kept us up" bollocks.The way we play with the 2 wide strikers gives the frontman loads of opportunities.

Does anyone think we could completely change our No 9 position & style if Benteke leaves? With the passing football that is encouraged & indeed flourishes when confidence is high,I wonder if we may see a break from the traditional "big man" up front. We play with 2 attack minded wide players (who have both played as out & out strikers) & seem to be signing or getting linked with players who can shoot from distance.Teams like Arsenal & Utd often play without the traditional "big man" & I'm not convinced its essential with the way our build up play develops.

See, you're confusing a player going on strike and refusing to play, and a club refusing to play a player. If Benteke stays I am sure Lambert will play him, because as you say he would make the difference. The only thing stopping Benteke playing is Benteke himself, and he isn't going to refuse to play come September if he is still at Villa (which I don't think he will be). He's also contradicting himself-If relegation would be catascrophic,he should understand the reluctance to sell Villa don't want to sell so have set a price & a timescale.Ideally,they don't want either to be met. What is for sure is that these deluded Spurs fans need to wake up & smell the coffee.There will be no "performance related" add ons.Straight cash within the next 2 weeks or no deal-Comprehendo?

If Benteke WERE to spit hs dummy out & strike,it would last no longer than a few weeks. Given that most on here accept that we won't pay big money for a replacement,its not unrealistic to think we could bring in a replacement anyway. I agree with some of the Spurs fans actualy-I think this deal is all wrapped up at their end & the only thing left to agree on is the fee.This will test Villas resolve when the offer is only a couple of million shy with the clock ticking to get a replacement in & settled.

I keep reminding people of the posts immediately prior to the Sunderland game. Many people were claiming we'd never get anywhere near £20mil for him. By asking for a transfer,Benteke has relinquished a few million so £25 mil is more or less what the club would have received from a £30mil fee without the transfer request.

he's worth £30 million + to us and we have no reason to sell for any less. I still think he's mainly trying to get a better pay deal with us or see who comes in for him. I'm not convinced he actually wants out, after all he seemed to enjoy the games he played for us and got on well with team mates and fans etc. Asking for a transfer is the best way for him to get what he wants / better wages etc. .If he replicates or improves on last season maybe a ridiculous offer in January could prise him away, however we could be pushing for Europe / silverware ourselves this year Thing is, the club are in a sticky position whilst they have people like Bent and Ireland sitting around doing nout for 60+ k a week, and we are offering our best player and one that arguably saved the club millions by scoring the goals to keep us up, is offered considerably less. All it does is give his weasel Agent something to bite on. tbh i really don't get why that ireland guy gets 60K/week and benteke got only offered 40K? he singlehanded saved villa from relegation. while ireland was watching him do that from te **** bench... Benteke did not single handedly save Villa-He had a good season & scored a lot of goals (mostly against the weaker sides) Bent would have got into double figures so we're talking about a handful of extra goals. Ireland was already on this wage when we signed him from Man City-He was part exchange for Milner & Man City are subsidising Irelands wage. Nobody forced Benteke to accept £20k.He was happy enough to accept this 10 months ago. Every team in the Premiership are running at a loss-More than half of them pay less in wages than Villa do

Players don't get 15% of transfer fees if they get sold without asking for a transfer, they do however receive the balance of the wages lleft owing to them on there contract, in cb case, 3 years at 20k a week is about £3million I don't think its quite as simple as that these days with all the crap that gets written into contracts.I'm sure most contracts will be drawn up with a percentage of any future transfer fee going to the player (although 15% is probably unrealistic) The point is,if Benteke would have been entitled to a cut (be it 3.5mil,4.5mil or whatever),it would explain the comparatively low figure of £25mil that is being bandied about. It is quite feasible that during discussions with Benteke & his agent,Villa would have intimated a figure that THEY want should he move on.This would explain Bentekes quotes of "something happening where all parties would win".He's sacrificed his transfer bonus in order to earn double or triple the amount over a 4 year period.In addition,there will probably be a nice signing on fee to boot.In terms of finance,

Interesting point made on (spits) H&V Benteke handing in a transfer request relinquishes his rights to 15% (which equates to around £4.5mil of a £30mil fee) This could make £25mil a more realistic figure.If Spurs are in with a first bid of £20mil,the two sides are not going to end up that far apart.I'd guess that somewhere around the 23 mark will see him go-Hope I'm wrong though but handing in that request shows to me his determination to leave. I have to say,my feelings are "**** him".Another season would have been about fair on all parties-I don't suppose "fair" comes into it with a few million quid at stake though

Is Naughton a RB I'd take him if he was So we get less money to have a back up RB ? I thought he was a left back.I would take less money for the right type of player although straight cash is always better. Right Back is not a priority position for us,so no-Naughton would be a non-starter for me (unless he plays left back of course) Even so I think Spurs would value him atleast with 5m .. We already have two LB .. Luna might be better than Noughton .. we having tried him yet .. I'm with you we need a FB who could cover RB and LB .. But this one is little bit expensive .. £5mil for the right left back is not excessive-In this case though,I'd agree with you.I just checked & he's 24 now & still not established himself as a 1st team regular.Maybe we should have gone for him instead of Hutton 2 years ago but you're right-Not right for us now.Was just a thought

Is Naughton a RB I'd take him if he was So we get less money to have a back up RB ? I thought he was a left back.I would take less money for the right type of player although straight cash is always better. Right Back is not a priority position for us,so no-Naughton would be a non-starter for me (unless he plays left back of course)

DP that's a very good point and my worry is if Spurs are interested they might subsidize any makeweight's wages to push the deal through. True, wouldn't surprise me if they offered something close to £20m plus one of (or even two of) Naughton, Townsend, Huddlestone and Livermore. Obviously speculating here but when have Spurs ever paid £20m+ for a player? Benteke is out of their price range as a pure cash transaction. Another issue will be Benteke's reaction when we do reject Spurs' advances, it's likely that he'll go on strike like he did at Genk. It'll get very messy. Indeed it could get messy - but IF Benteke does opt to go on strike to force the move, I think it will damage his career undoubtedly and may put off suitors in the future. A player to strike once is enough, but twice? he could be on the verge of tarnishing his reputation. One way or the other, I just hope this matter gets resolved quickly Benteke has to realise that we still hold the cards, he has 3 years left on his contract and it is a world cup year. If he goes on strike and either refuses to play or is frozen out he will simply lose his place in the Belgium team to Lukaku. So he needs to be playing regularly and at his best next season regardless of who he's playing for in order to cement his place. Levy gets queasy around the £20m mark, he's happy to sign players from Brazil who have no experience in a top level league for £17m but isn't prepared to fork out the necessary money for not only someone who is a top talent in world football but has proven to be a goalscorer in one of the world's best leagues. Again excellent points DP and it is up to our club what we are prepared to accept rather than having to pander to anyone else. Benteke and his agent should also remind themselves what happened to Bent. what happend to Bent? He's been frozen out of the team - not sure it's just down to attitude but more that he doesn't fit in with our current style of play. I think the poster is saying PL isn't afraid to bench anyone regardless of club status that was because benteke is better. right? also bent is lazy could lose some weight imo Bent started as the main striker-Benteke came in & took his chance. If this move goes wrong for Benteke & he ends up staying,he will not automaticly start the season for us.If he misses some of the pre-season,he will be behind the other players. Bent earns around £60K a week,3 times Benteke & was starting games for England before Benteke arrived.It doesn't matter who the player is,he is not bigger than the club.

Full backs who are encouraged to bomb forward-If you missed that then there really is no hope for you. Our system settled down nicely with a 4-3-3 set up-Did you miss that as well? The only real change of note was swapping a more attack minded midfielder (N'Zog) for a more defensive minded player (Sylla)

Would no-one consider Naughton? I've only seen him a few times but he looks good & plays in a style that is compatible to our way of playing. I'm still hoping a top 4 side will come in for him & we don't help a Spurs side improve as they will be "catchable " once Bale goes.

Yes-I also saw him totally marked out of the game at Norwich the week before. I'm always a glass half full bloke when it comes to the Villa.I would say the following: We created a hell of a lot of chances in that run in.We should have been out of sight at both Stoke & Norwich after 60 mins for example but needed last gasp goals in both games to gain all points.Benteke has missed his fair share of bread & butter goals for us-Something Genk fans were warning us about 12 months ago.I think Chelsea were the only top team that he scored against & bear in mind that they had one eye on bigger things when they played us. Benteke creates some great goals himself-Liverpool & WBA for example but apart from this,all his goals were against bottom half teams. That said,I do accept he had a great game against Chelsea.I also believe £30 mil should be the asking price,not the £25mil that is being bandied about.

Its ironic that immediately prior to the Sunderland game,many on here were saying people were deluded for thinking Benteke would fetch anywhere near £20million. He was virtually non-existant in the final run in,save that 2nd half performance against Sunderland.I wonder if some kind of tapping up had gone on during that last part of the season,hence affecting his performances. Its a very tough one & there is no right or wrong answer.I don't believe we will replace him like for like if he leaves but by the same token,will his heart still be with us if he stays? For me the most frustrating aspect (bizzarely) is the team that are in for him.-If it was a top 4 side I'd have no issues as we're light years away but I honestly believe that 2 years from now,there won't be anything between us & Spurs.If you take the top 4 out of the equasion,the rest of the league is healthy,with teams fluctuating up & down the table regularly,just like it used to be when teams like Forest,Derby & ourselves all won the league.For me,it confirms that Bentekes decision to hand in a transfer request is driven soley by money.

The problem that I see is that we'll be looking to pay 20K a week wages max.its unlikely that nany £10-£12 million signings will accept such a low figure.

I think Glaston represents the delusions of many Spurs fans. Spurs cannot afford benteke,especially after just shelling out £17mil on another player.In order to try to force the price down,they have negotiated with bentekes agent for him to hand in a transfer request.As this pans out,we will read comments in the papers attributed to Benteke claiming that Villa are being greedy,having only paid £7mil for him. Villa will have put a time limit on this deal to be concluded & are clearly prepared to play hardball with Benteke & his two bob agent.. Unless a big club come in,I can see Benteke starting the season on the bench for us-Unless Spurs agree to pay £10mil+ more than they are trying to get Benteke for. What Spurs fans need to understand is that we're only paying him£20K a week-We can keep him all season as back up & still get what Spurs are offering in 12 months time.

Yes-Hindsight is a wonderful thing but there weren't too many doubters when we bought him. Being a winger & playing under AM is not recommended.In N'Zogs case,he often found himself playing behind Gabby.I thought the couple of times he had half decent runs in the team,he looked to be turning a corner but it never quite happened.I'd loose no sleep if we sold him but wouldn't go as far as to class him a "horrendous" signing.