Wes

The most important part of the interview to me was this: "(Villa) opened the door for me. I finished the Copa America and they (the Club) might be worried about new clubs coming in, or for me playing in a Champions League club, and the first thing I said to the Sporting Director was I want to be here. It's a club who helped me be a number one and play every single league game and I'm really grateful for that. It's a club I like to be in. I love everything about Aston Villa, especially the fans, and I can't wait to see a full Villa Park" There was a few news tidbits about us offering him a New Contract after the Copa America, and from this quote that would seem true, but his response is fantastic to hear.

Just following up on my earlier comment... River Plate lost 1-0 at home in the first leg of their Cope Libertadores Quarter Final. The second leg is next Tuesday. Alvarez getting a lot of plaudits as being one of the best players on the pitch and he played the full 90 minutes. I'm still hopeful there's truth to this one. As I said before it might be a last week of the window deal, with him travelling across during the International Break (unless he's called up of course) or set for a move in January. He's not going to stay in South America for long that's for sure. He's too talented.

Thierry Small, the youth Left Back at Everton, has left the club today. I would expect us to make a strong play for him (whichever Club he goes to will have to pay compensation to Everton).

Looking forward to the day when other fans are saying "Good sign if Aston Villa are interested". To be honest, there are hints of it already...

New name doing the rounds - Cheick Doucouré. 21yo Defensive Midfielder for Lens. Goal.com (France Edition) "Atalanta Bergamo and Aston Villa have been exchanging for several weeks with the player and his representatives. More than a simple inquiry, the two clubs exposed their project to the player. It remains to be seen, if three weeks before the end of the transfer window one of the two will send an offer. RC Lens expects nearly 15 million euros." FBRef TransferMarkt Whoscored BreakingTheLines Scouting Report

Lille play Metz at 4pm today so will be able to see if either/or David and Pape Sarr are in the squad or even starting.

Very interesting note this: And in more detail in his liveblog: "...given the arrivals of Emiliano Buendia, Leon Bailey and Danny Ings at Villa Park, who have been signed to replace Jack Grealish, Barry's chances in Dean Smith's side would have been limited this season. Therefore, he asked to go out on loan, with several sides in the Championship and League One showing an interest, while German team RB Leipzig even sounded a permanent move." Going to be fun to watch his development in what sounds like an Ipswich side who are one of the favourites for Promotion.

Played last night in the Superclasico. If this was ever going to happen it was always going to be a late August one. River Plate play their two legs of their Copa Libertadores Quarter Final over the next two Thursdays. I don't think we hear more, if anything, until the very end of the month. He wouldn't be a starter for us anyway. He would be bought with an eye to develop with substitute and cup performances, so bringing him late in the window once the season has started is less of a risk. I can envision him being purchased at the end of the window, which is immediately before the international break. Even if he is not called up to the national squad, he can fly back to the UK with one/both of the Emis. If it happens at all...

It's 100% this. Purslow is savvy enough to know there's no advantage in saying we now have £100m to go and spend.

Repubblica in Italy reporting that Spurs have made a bid of 20m Euros for Damsgaard. Sampdoria want closer to 40m Euros. Not considered a super reliable outlet but thought I'd mention it as his name has appeared a few times here.

I think this is right. Tuanzebe is the 4th CB. All the hints are towards Cantwell as the attacking midfielder. I think he is a good player and would do fine, but I hope we don't value his 1 year of Premier League experience over getting perhaps more perceived value elsewhere. If we're going to get a holding midfielder too... surely one or two midfielders are going to be leaving?

If nothing else, got to applaud the way the Danny Ings transfer was done. No rumours until the day itself, and even those were not by the media. Just announced on the official site like it's nothing.

We've already gone to Marseille once this year to pick up Sanson. If we're after a new holding midfielder, we could do worse than knocking on their door again for Kamara - a name I know has been mentioned a number of times already.

The Superclasico is tonight (Boca Juniors v River Plate) and he is expected to start so he might be a bit busy! In all seriousness, I don't think we are going to see any movement for Alvarez before their 2nd leg Copa Liberatores tie on Thursday the 12th, if there ends up being any movement at all.

Can't go in to a season with just 3 Senior Centre Backs. Imagine if we were hit with a similiar injury crises as Liverpool experienced this year? We would be playing Hause and Guilbert as our Centre-Backs.

The Tuanzebe signing is fine. We weren't going to be replacing Konsa and Mings as our starting pair. He is already familiar to our staff and a number of our players. We can focus this summers funds elsewhere. There probably is a small loan fee, but all things considered, not a bad deal to have the "Four Centre Backs" issue resolved for 12 months in this manner - at least on paper.

Tuanzebe is the 4th CB then. Unless Guilbert goes (which all indications suggest he is staying), and apart from signing a youth player backup to Targett and Ashley Young at Left-Back, that's the defence settled for the first half of the season.

GK - Stephens (Oxford United) Def - Tuanzebe (Manchester United), Cahill (Free Agent), Small (Everton) Mid - Berge (Sheffield United), Ward Prowse (Southampton - very unlikely), Pape Matar Sarr (Metz - most likely staying another year) Winger/Attacking Mids - Alvarez (River Plate), McNeil (Burnley), Cantwell (Norwich), Damsgaard (Sampdoria) Striker - Abraham (Chelsea) Should note - all of the outfield players apart from Ward-Prowse and Cahill are aged 23 or less. That's likely to continue to be our ideal age range. The Leon Bailey link came out of nowhere though. He hadn't been linked in the media previously, although some fans had mentioned he would be an interesting signing for us. Our next purchase is more than likely not going to be from any of these - there so many prospects out there.

Whilst we're throwing names out there... there was a tenuous link to Thomas Lemar the other day and the more I think about it, while it would be extremely unlikely, the more I like it.

If Grealish isn't here then it's going to be interesting to see what Dean Smith's preferred formation is going to be. We know we don't have enough central defenders to go three at the back so in almost all situations it'll be a back 4 that picks itself. We don't have the striking depth to play with more one Striker so can't see us playing a more traditional 4-4-2 except for some late game situations. The obvious choices are 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1. I think the plan with Grealish playing would have been for him to play in that free role behind the Striker. Now Smith is at a pivot point where he could decide on a particular formation with his remaining transfers, or perhaps he will emphasise fluidity/versatility above all. Whilst this is a sad time for us fans for obvious reasons, it's a very intriguing one too. One thing is for certain though, we are not done in the market this window.

He is probably linking up with the squad in the next two weeks. He probably wouldn't play Week 1 anyway because he was on international duty really recently, playing with Jamaica in the Gold Cup - their last match was only 8 days ago. The medical/physio team will know how much workload to give him based on how much rest he's had since the Bundesliga season ended, the Gold Cup, and then joining up with us. I'd guess we would see him first as a Substitute in our first home game - 21st August. There's another international break again at the beginning of September don't forget too!

Well that's just mean.

I think as most of us expected, highly unlikely JWP happens. Very good source for Southampton. Similar to Percy for us. Basically means it would have to be an astronomical figure. We've shown with the Pape Sarr comments earlier this summer that if a club raises the asking price to a point they're not happy with, they'll move on - so I can't see this one progressing.

He appears to be at the last training day of the camp in London today which is great news. Loking forward to seeing him healthy and see what he can offer going forward. Also has the number 8 shirt!

He is a huge talent. He was incredibly sought after last summer, and it was rather a surprise he ended up at Lille, but they forked out a lot of money for him and he wanted the game time. It worked out well for them both. If he is available this summer there will be many clubs, especially Premier League clubs, after him. Hard to believe Lille would let him go after one season but stranger things have happened and the money issues in Ligue 1 this season are well known. What a crazy day today has been.