Wes

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.

I think the_eristic posted a rather nice summary. Let's look at the potential of a transfer happening first: Wijnaldum was one of five attacking midfielders I thought would potentially be leaving the Eredivisie this year. The door for him to leave has widened somewhat, in my opinion, with PSV having just signed another very nice prospect Adam Maher. I don't know if they can accomodate both of them in their starting lineup, which I imagine they would want to do being two of the better players in the squad. Both have played predominantly in the attacking central role of late but they are capable of also playing a deeper playmaker position, although such a role would negate a lot of their on the ball attacking skill you would think. Maybe the coaching minds at PSV have something in store? Who can say - certainly not me as I can't read the dutch articles discussing this issue! As for the player himself, there's no denying his talent. He's versatile, a common trend amongst the majority of our signings this year, He has the athleticism to beat his man and the physicality to live with midfielders in the premier league. He would likely be deployed as a driving force out of midfield, overloading defenders creating attacking space for our front trio or even himself. Definitely a better deeper lying goalscoring threat than we currently boast. I'm not as sold on him as others coming out of the Dutch league. I've heard good but not rave reviews of his which is odd if you just glanced at his stats. I certainly wouldn't be disappointed by his addition.

I think this whole twitter episode is a bit shambolic for everyone, from the original twitter user vehemently defending their speculation to those goading them back. I'm all for banter but personally I think the whole thing has gone way past the point of being good natured to being rather dull now, and frankly rather embarassing for everyone who has got involved - particularly the journalists who should probably know better. I'd much rather talk about the player himself and how he may affect our team, what he would offer us, how he would change our tactical setup and how he could potentially link up with the players around him. Particularly in a thread about him. But maybe that's just me.

Maybe PL will play 3 CB's and two wing backs? It's certainly a possibility. Although you typically want 5 centre backs if you're going to play a 3 back system and I wouldn't count Herd as a 5th. The signings so far have have certainly added some versatility. My suspicion is that it'll be a 4-2-3-1. But that's just me. It really could be anything at this point. The fact that Lambert has the players to play a number of potential formations is a nice position to be in in pre-season.

One thing for sure with Kiyotake in the team, the defence would have to seriously step up their game. No longer will they be covered by three midfielders with better defensive, than offensive, capabilities most of the time. It will put more pressure on Westwood and Delph, should they remain the starting two, but a heck of a lot more on the back four. Hopefully they would need to step up their game from last year. That said, Kiyotake would bring a much needed cutting edge to our midfield and would be a tremendous signing - should he adapt to the league quickly.