Wes

I wont be too hard on him. Whilst I agree his shooting was too often and too erratic, he seemed to want to be involved in the play more centrally and when he did get a few opportunities to be more in the middle I generally liked his movement. His first full debut. Still plenty of time for him to come good once they work with him on the training ground. I think he saw Kozak score and wanted to impress too hard too.

A nervy win but a good win. Guzan is such a rock for us. Was pleased by Clark's performance. The most satisfying things for me though are we won by holding a lead, playing a different formation and after losing our best player to injury.

Tonev for Westwood is probably more of an attacking change than if he replaced Weimann or if Sylla was the choice.

Lowton and Westwood out. Bacuna and Tonev in.

I feel so sorry for him. Just a horrible injury to have when he was breaking in to the team after a huge move for him. Wish him a speedy recovery.

I'd bring Bacuna or Sylla on for El Ahmadi. He's having a poor game and adding a bit more energy on the right hand side may allow Lowton to get forward more without worrying about Remy so much.

I'd prefer Khaziri but there's not too much difference between them.

Maybe Wahbi Khazri is on the move from Bastia?

Interesting! I like this kind of sleuthing.

I've read Freiburg are sniffing around Vladimir Darida. I wonder how much he would be going for... And if Fenerbache get knocked out by Arsenal we should try to lure Salih Ucan away. That kid has the potential for great things.

Also related to us, Finnbogason may be going to Celtic for £3.25m. I'd like him for that money as a luxury.

In a desperate attempt to bring this thread back to what it was originally intended to be for... Local radio in France (at least, that's what I think that site is for) says there was someone from Villa watching Boudebouz in Sochaux's game last night against Evian.

40 points before March.

Surprised this hasn't been mentioned already. A report from footmercato.net state that we're going to make a 3m euro bid for 23 year old attacking midfielder Ryad Boudebouz from Sochaux in Ligue 1. They play tonight in the league so it'll be interesting to see if he's in the squad.

The mods have repeated many times to stop mentioning things that are being discussed on twitter on here that have barely any relevance anymore to this supposed transfer. Its just plain boring. It was a fortnight ago, it is even more so now.

Hasn't Wijnaldum just been named captain of PSV? Very strange to do that and then sell him, especially if the two clubs have been communicating for a while.

There hasn't been much to go on recently. As has been mentioned, it looks far more likely that we need to lose some before we add any - if they decide to add any more that is.

Lambert, Lerner and Faulkner getting a lot of praise by the journos for holding firm and getting Benteke to sign a new deal.

Great news.

Delightful news. I think we have one last signing coming in to complete, an attack minded midfielder who plays centrally. I know others feel we need more help defensively but I personally can't see us bringing in any one else there. Likely need to say goodbye to a few faces first before it happens though. With all these new signings, and all these contract renewals we have some fantastic foundations in place moving forward. Incredible overhaul considering where we've been the past few seasons.

Not the kind of player, and all the associated age, money and injury concerns, I would try to replace Benteke with in this team.

Haven't got more time to add much futher, but here's a handful of names for you, in no particular order. Jurgen Locadia, PSV Luc Castaignos, FC Twente Kolbeinn Sigthorsson, Ajax (and Michy Batshuayi, Standard Liege)

A yes from me for for Batshuayi. Still growing in to his body. He's the most likely to be the "next Drogba" after Lukaku and Benteke. Crazy to think he's Belgian too. Not as powerful in the air as Benteke currently is but this could come as he still develops.

I take a break for a couple of days to enjoy the end of the tennis and the fine weather and look what happens. Going to take me a while to catch up on all the various threads goingsons. Back later.

Very hard to do as they all have different proficiencies and deficiencies that you can't equate directly to one another due to their varying attributes such as age, match experience and the tactical roles they are asked to play. For instance if we signed Kiyotake we would have a greater threat from set pieces and a player with great vision to set up other people but your two other midfielders would have a greater burden to bare defensively as he is generally weak in this regard. You could sign Hughes who has shown glimpses of becoming a complete midfielder, very capable of all - master of none, and he would contribute more defensively than Kiyote but is not at the same level of picking out a pass as the Japanese national just yet. The point to be made about any of those players you mention is that they would all, in their own unique way, add something to the squad that we simply do not have right now. I'm less concerned about who we sign for this attack minded central midfield role. It's clear the team at Villa Park know it is an issue in the squad of 23 that needs addressing judging by the enquiries we have made. We don't know if Gardner can remain injury free and how he'll perform coming back and playing in the first team regularly. I'm almost sure we are going to sign someone, at somepoint this window, to start in this role. You could consider it a knock on our current squad that we could bring in almost anyone for this position and it would be an upgrade. I'm looking at it more positively than that though. Whoever we eventually sign is going to make the side better. I think deep down every Villa fan knows this and that's why there is so much excitement, anticipation, and a fair deal of drama, about this position in particular.