Wes

I wont believe anything that may have been lost in translation over the radio. If it is the case, there'll be a written article about it soon enough.

Belhanda plays almost exclusively through the middle. I don't doubt he could play alongside Westwood or Delph in that deeper role if we were pushed with injuries but more likely he would play between the lines, centrally, behind the striker. Popov appears to be more versatile with his positioning, he has played either behind the striker or on the wings multiple times this year.

New Novinite article with new quotes

This would be a fantastic signing. He has shown on the biggest club stage he has huge potential.

@MatKendrick 25m @ElkinJoe Need to change headline. My story was that no business will be concluded until at least next week, I'm told. Not sure about bids Sounds like he is already backtracking. I'm sure bids are going in. Lambert doesn't need to be there for that. Heck, Man City have signed a player without a manager around yesterday. I'm sure Lambert is aware of the attempted deals going on. I completely agree. There's no quotes from anyone in the article. This section: "Although Villa have recruited players for high transfer fees in the not too distant past, Montpellier’s £12 million asking price would not tally with their more prudent policy of late." Well Benteke's fee "didn't tally" with the size of the other transfers we did last season either but that still happened. As close as Kendrick is to AV, I'm going to side with the article that has actual quotes from someone working at a club for now.

Like Biskitt, I mentioned him along with de Vrij, Kjaer and Ecuele as one of the centre backs I'd like to see at VP so I love this news. I've only seen him play in the CL but each time he impressed and I know he is highly rated over there.

Forgetting about why we want to keep Benteke for a moment, the offer itself wont be considered because: - Defoe is bad suit for the sole striker role in our current system. - Defoe does not have the mindset of a player Lambert looks for. - Defoe's ability is goign to be declining rather than rising so there is no resale value. - Defoe's wages would be too high for our new structure. - Faulkner and Lerner were burnt hard in their last player + cash deal (Ireland). Not worth worrying about.

McGeady gets paid well in Russia. He'll command a high wage and is hardly making a leap "upwards". Doesn't sound like a Lambert style signing, lucky us.

Someone should've told Untied this when they spent £15m on Young with one year left. Value is in the eye of the beholder.

Regarding Belhanda and the often mentioned impossibility of him coming to us compared to those other clubs. Gaston Ramirez was heavily linked to Manchester City, Juventus, Tottenham and Liverpool last summer. He eventually went to promoted Southampton. Whilst it remains an outside chance, in the world of Football stranger transfers have happened.

We've been linked with Younes Belhanda of Montpellier in an interview given by their President to le10sport.com. I've added a thread here.

le10sport.com reporting that we have made a bid for Montpellier's Younès Belhanda along with AC Milan, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid and Galatasaray. Google Translation: 23 year old Moroccan international Attacking Midfielder. Would undoubtedly be our "marquee signing" of the summer with a fee of around £12,5m, if this is to be believed.

I don't think he's an out and out striker. If he's replacing anyone's spot in the squad it's Ireland's.

A lot has changed in 6 days

They both have played for the National team together. Tonev wasn't called up for their recent friendlies however whilst Popov was. In March they were both in the starting lineups for Bulgaria's World Cup qualifiers against Malta and Denmark.

Agreed. Potentially bringing in these two Bulgarians for July the 1st makes a lot of sense. Gives them the maximum amount of time to familiarize themselves with the club and the team. General rule of thumb seems to be the further away your previous club was based, the harder it is for them to adjust. Not always the case of course. Talent and personality affects this hugely of course.

I'd agree, up until this season. 9th best strike rate in Russia's top league this season for regularly starting players isn't bad considering it was his first season for the club.

In terms of transfer planning I think the concept is great. Signing them together is a hark back to the classic days, before international transfers were commonplace. Teams would always try to sign two players of the same nationality, language or previous team so that they would have someone to help aclimatise with in the new country. Petrov being in the same building would be a big bonus too. You can see, for example, that Benteke and Sylla are good mates off the pitch, and Sylla has said in an interview how important N'Zogbia was for him initially settling in.

He'll be 26 in October. 6ft. Behind the Striker player most of the time it would appear. His last three seasons: 12/13 - 34 Games (7 sub). 10 Goals. 4 Assists 11/12 - 41 Games (5 sub). 6 Goals. 4 Assists. 10/11 - 55 Games (3 sub). 9 Goals. 9 Assists. Has played 38 times for his country, currently their captain, scoring 9 times, 1 assist He is named in the Bulgarian National team playing away against Kazakhstan in a friendly tomorrow. Sounds like a versatile attacking midfielder to me.

This is the article from sport1.bg Lamski is referring to (i think!) The best thing about it is there are direct quotes from the player.

Pretty sure it's to do with the Waterford Hurling team losing in their match today. From his previous tweets I would suggest he was in the crowd.

That's not what I meant at all. I was suggesting that it looks likely any new centre-back would probably be under 25, rather than an old hand to replace the outgoing playing experience that Dunne offered. But who can tell. It's still very early days.

Correct, If this link and the one with James Chester are to believed. Chester (24) has 3 full seasons experience. Mirin Isimat (21) has 2.

According to a Belgian website we had been following the 21 year old centre back Nicolas Mirin Isimat before Monaco agreed a 4m Euro fee with Valenciennes for him today.