villabromsgrove

Thanks Nick for brightening up a rather boring day on the transfer thread. I'm still hoping to see us sign Johnson to bring us back to the more mundane.

I've just looked quickly at about a hundred images of Margot .... I don't think it's her in the video, but I'll go back and check a bit more carefully.

Doku has got a slightly rounder face and is a bit chunkier. (it's a good excuse to pull up pictures of good looking blokes without worrying about browsing history, lol)

I have no idea who the person in that Twitter video is, but I've had a bit of fun trying to put a few names to it from still photos (but failed miserably, lol). It's a well produced "bit of fun" and lightens a day spent in browsing speculation.

I definitely agree with you about Unai knowing best. Monchi is another guy who examines the person as well as the player. I trust them to get it right. I'm just asking the questions that I have in my head based on (a) watching both Felix (briefly) and Ferran play in the Premier League, and seeing the outcome for both players, and (b) reading their own recent personal comments on where they see their immediate respective future's. I know many might think me daft, but I would genuinely prefer Brennan Johnson to either Joao Felix or Ferran Torres, in terms of what I would expect them to contribute to our long term future.

I like the idea of signing a "big name" like Felix or Ferran Torres, but I think the reality of such a signing might well be problematic as both have made it clear that a club like ours is not their first choice of destinations. If we managed to sign either of them would they settle? would they see the Villa environment as 'big enough' for them in the Brummie reality? Would their agents be agitating to get another move to a 'big name' club in eighteen months time? For me the perfect signing for us would be Brennan Johnson. Villa would be step up for him, not a perceived step down. He is the right age, has the right attitude and exactly the right attributes to become a fixture for the Villa as Emery grows AVFC into a regular top six club. He won't be cheap but I'm sure we can get him if we want him. He'll offer extra goals, assists, and be an assister to the assists (if that makes sense).

I watched all three matches of the US pre season games and we conceded six goals. My old brain tells me that Martinez conceded five goals and Olsen one. Is that correct?

Can I just remind you guys that these are pre season warm up games, where working towards full fitness is the key. Also how many times this season will we play in 80 degrees Fahrenheit conditions in the coming season. Most of us would drop dead after 5 minutes at that pace and in those conditions tonight and yet here we are, sat in our comfy seats at home making ultra critical comments. I used to enjoy the time when supporting Villa was our sole focus, now it seems that many of us have turned into social media critics. There were some very exciting passages of Villa play tonight, and if we can replicate this in a Premier League environment we will have a major impact. Stop fixating on our perceived deficiencies, and let Emery get on with his job of building a top quality unit ..... at which he is world quality. A number of you will continue on moaning but I'm going to do the opposite. My sons are looking into getting four Terrace View season tickets (if there are any still available). I paid for five season tickets for my sons and I for many years during the nineties and the noughties, until ill health stopped me going, after countless years of massive enjoyment. I might get back to see at least one or two games if the Terrace tickets are possible. What a time to be a Villa fan!

I could hear the Aussie accent in your post .... Love it!

Villa are in the best position that we've been in for many years and our future is vibrant and exciting, and yet I come on VT every day and my experience is often spoilt by negative and often disparaging comments which are repeated over and over again. If one of the worlds best coaches /managers Unai Emery thinks that Olsen is able to fill the second keeper position, then why are some of us rubbishing his decision? UE's comments may be made as a confidence boost to Robin Olsen and he may well still keep his options open, but RO is a committed Villa player who does not deserve to be rubbished on a daily basis.

My view of the last couple of seasons is that our lack of dominant pace across the pitch has held us back in terms of 'goals scored'. Bailey has pace but has been afraid to use his flat out speed due to hamstring injury fears. Olly and JJ are sharp but not lightening, but thankfully the addition of Diaby has added some real extra pace. That's why I think Johnson would be a very sensible addition even if he cost 40 mil, because we need another speedy alternative goal scorer. We hopefully will play a much greater number of games this season and if Diaby needs resting or gets injured, if Bailey has a more than possible recurring injury problem then we need another genuinely quick forward. We have to have pace on the field of play at all times or we may come up short again in the 'number of goals scored column' at the end of hopefully 50 plus games.

I get the impression that Emery is happy to share RB duties between Cash and Konsa,

This is where I am at this stage of the transfer window. Our three major signings are real 'statements of intent' and I'm very happy with that. I think that the one player we are short of at the moment is Brennan Johnson, because we need a pacy and skilful home grown player who can do several jobs for us across the front three for many seasons to come. If Dendoncker is in Emery's plans that's absolutely fine because he offers a bit of no nonsense physicality to centre mid when called upon. If he were to leave then Tyler Adams would be my choice for an upgrade on the occasions where we need an all action midfield destroyer. I know that I'm in the minority, but I believe Robin Olsen will remain our second choice keeper. He will improve (imo) as the result of a lot of top quality "distribution coaching" and as a stand in keeper he can still do a job for us. So that's it for me .... Buy Johnson, and Adams if we sell Dendoncker, and move on players who are not in Unai's plans if we can.

I can't explain why I think he would be perfect for us, but I get that feeling.

I would absolutely love to have Brennan Johnson as a Villa player. I think that he would be a perfect fit for us and a first team squad fixture for the next half a dozen seasons .... but, the price Forest will demand means that signing him is probably not good financial sense.

None of us have seen enough of this young player to form an accurate opinion of his potential for us. Unai Emery and his coaches have seen him up close, so the fact that Emery says Duran is not going out on loan means that he sees something in him and want's to work with him. I'll watch his development with interest. JD certainly sounds like he's up for it.

I think Ramsey will actually benefit from the "break". He's played without a rest for months because of his U21's commitment and he needs decent rest and recuperation. It will set him up for an energetic return to a very good Villa team.

This announcement tonight in the USA should reassure us that NSWE Villa still keep their cards close to their chests. No leak Villa!

After Unai's finished with him? Join the queue!

People on Twitter are complaining about the "lack of quality" of the launch for Diaby. I'm over the moon by the way that he's been flown to the USA without any media leaks (sumptuous private jet, I'm sure) to be seen for the first time in Villa kit with the best manager in the world .... Unai Emery! I think it's the most excited I've been since we won the European Cup! Nobody's going to stop us!

Selling Ollie would damage Emery's plans considerably. It's not going to happen .... in my opinion of course.

I thought Bailey looked pretty good at the end of last season. His right sided goal line cut backs were dangerous. I don't think he has got his confidence back yet when it comes to flat out sprints, but hopefully that will come if he plays injury free for a while. I think that he, Watkins and Diaby can be a very effective source of goals and assists. Emery appears to like him and that probably means that he will be a regular match day squad player this coming season. A fully fit Leon would be a frightening impact sub against tiring defences.

Moussa Diaby is a very good player. He's quick and knows where the goal is as both a scorer and an assister. If we sign him and he adds another handful of goals to last seasons total then he will have done the job we need. I will be very happy if he joins Villa.

I don't think you're exaggerating TRO. We are governed by UEFA and if any European League were suddenly to allow it's four top clubs to be taken over by a major funding group, UEFA would act immediately to ban these clubs from any transfer actions until they were returned to individual ownership. I also believe that these "theoretical clubs" would be banned from competing in their league. Can you imagine the opportunities for corruption when the "same owner" can decide who wins the league every season? The PIF group are based outside UEFA's sphere of control and believe that they can operate without constraint, but the club that they openly own (Newcastle) and the others that it is suspected they also may be funding (indirectly) are under UEFA's oversight and control. If PIF aren't careful they may create a scenario in which punitive action will be taken again their European assets. As innocuous as the Diaby "bid" by Al Nassr may seem to disinterested parties, it could be an outlier of conflicts between clubs in the very near future. I still think Diaby will sign for us.

The fact that PIF only took ownership of the four top Saudi Pro League clubs approximately six weeks ago should set warning bells ringing. Have a look at the pay structures of each team in the SPL and note that apart from recent "big name" additions, the average player earns £20,000 or often much less per week, and average transfer fees have been very low with a few exceptions. So we would be naive to believe that Al Nassr, suddenly decided in January that they would be able to pay £177 million salary per year to Christiano Ronaldo. It's very unlikely that it would have been their own independent decision given that they had no previous history of "big" transfers. At the beginning of June we heard that PIF had taken control of the big four SPL teams, and that confirmed that Ronaldo's signing was the first shot in a campaign to destabilise football while at the same time making the Saudi Pro League the focus of world football discussion. The publicity they are now getting is incredible for a league that is currently ranked the 58th biggest football league in the World. That brings me to the point of this thread .... Diaby. Al Nassr's sudden apparent interest in a young player who has just turned 24 and is not currently playing for the French international team is surprising, as he doesn't have a particularly high profile at the moment. The fact that Al Nassr are apparently prepared to offer a huge transfer fee plus huge wages to a player who I'm guessing wasn't on their radar until Villa put in a bid for him, is concerning. Is this an early demonstration of PIF's intended modus operandi? Group interference in the proposed dealings of any club who are deemed a direct competitor to a PIF owned or funded club? This might sound unnecessarily alarmist, but remember just a year or so ago the golf world was laughing at the Saudi LIV Golf group, and now in the blink of an eye they own the golf world! Money rules. PIF know this and both UEFA and FIFA have an abysmal track record when it comes to being confronted by dizzying sums of money. I still firmly believe that Diaby will sign for us, because he appears to be a talented and committed young man, who will want to get back into a very good French international team and prove that he can star on the world's greatest footballing stage which is the Premier League.