Wes

15 hours ago, Johnnyp said:

That guy at RB Salzburg looks interesting, Jaissle or something. 

Matthias Jaissle - Would be my rogue choice also, but would be hard to convince him/get him out of the RB-sports family.

I could easily be wrong but I think his preferred system would largely work with the players we already have in the club (i.e. no wide forwards and advancing full backs).

Still, don't feel this is close yet.

Slow news still, so an update on an older link - Sergio Gomez, the LB from Anderlecht we were linked to very early on in the window, is now in talks with Man City (who will not meet Brighton's valuation for Cucurella).

Spurs' youth player Troy Parrott is having a medical with Preston today so Archer won't be going back there. Now, there's many other clubs he could go to in the Championship if he was to go out on loan - but have Preston received post-tour word that Archer is going to be staying with the first team?

We shall see.

5 minutes ago, duke313 said:

Very cryptic from SG, it's clear that we are still looking for players to improve the first team, but not necessarily this window.

Which means we won't just sign sub-standard players for the sake of it.

Look at what we did at backup left back. We needed someone there, and whilst we wanted a young up and coming quality player, they didn't want to come this year because they knew Digne was first choice. Rather than force the issue by signing on a permanent the first player who would agree to those terms, they made a good little cheap loan signing to solve the immediate problems but still keep our options open long term.

Everyone wants everything right now, it's the nature of things. But being in this position where we are being choosy, patient and shrewd in our targets is only a good thing in my eyes.

1 hour ago, tomsky_11 said:

Wow that would be a good signing for them.

Signed some Paraguayan 18yo for about £10m. Scored 11 in 14 in Paraguayan top tier this season before his move. No idea if he'll be any good in Prem.

They also purchased a Turkish striker last summer, Deniz Undav, who they sent on loan to the Belgian league and was the top scorer in the league with 25 goals. I think he'll be in the first team reckoning for them this season.

Bertrand #Traoré's departure in sight?
The #OL had inquired about a loan but a return to France does not tempt the striker  
#Burnley interested even if his salary (~£130K/week) is a concern. AVFC only want to pay 30% on loan. To be continued.

Whilst not verified on Twitter, TheSecretScout has got many things correct in the past, particularly with youth players across Britain (including Villa players in the past).

Hopefully given that, it's ok to post the following - which I consider verification of what has already been rumoured.

Now whether this means to Barcelona with a view to join in January, or paying now, we will have to see.

I dare say if it's a summer signing, it might be a low-ish fee, but with a higher-than-usual sell-on.

The Australian Tour Squad has been announced on the Official Site. 

Thought it was interesting that Josh Feeney was included. Good for him! Think he's the youngest one there at 17?

Apologies if I missed this already being discussed/announced but seems to have got the #14 shirt judging by the second photo here?

Everyone else in Brisbane has training gear with their squad numbers on. Could be something. Could be nothing.

And Speaking of Keinan

Seems the original report is from Percy in this article. The full quote is:

Forest have also held cordial discussions with Aston Villa over a possible deal for Keinan Davis, who spent the second half of last season on loan.

Villa and Forest have excellent relationships both at board and manager level and Davis could yet return to the City Ground this summer.

Davis has joined Villa in Australia for their pre-season tour, however, and a deal is not believed to be imminent.

El Ghazi is playing with the youth teams against Hednesford tonight according to reports on twitter, so clearly has not travelled to Australia. Others who have been touted as leaving such as Keinan Davis and Guilbert are both in Brisbane, so it would seem Anwar's move away is either more guaranteed to happen or more imminent.

Gourna-Douath, the 18yo Defensive Midfielder from Saint Etienne that I believe we were linked to last summer is going to RB Salzburg for 15m Euros. I think that's an Austrian league record signing. Will likely be sold for double the price by the time he's 21.

I do wonder if this means one of Salzburg's existing midfielders is off. Seiwald has just signed a new contract so I'm sure is staying. Sucic has had a few spurous links this window too. Most likely would be Mohamed Camara who is perhaps most similiar to Gourna-Douath out of the three - and could see him fitting in to a lot of Premier League starting sides. However, he might want to stay in the Champions League. One to watch...

1 minute ago, thabucks said:

I’m convinced we will get one of either Laimer or Otavio … just a feeling 

Fully expecting something completely out of the blue, like a Luka Sucic from RB Salzburg.

Probably on that 15 hour flight to Perth right now.

Solves the immediate problem of a backup left back for the season, and punts the problem of finding the eventual successor to Digne down the road another year (be it from the youth setup or externally). Fine with that. Nothing to be upset about here.

I am not ITK, or anything of the sort, but even I could see about 10 days ago that we would try to get a back-up Left Back in before the flight to Australia.

I thought Cucurella would be resolved by now, but it's not. But we have seen movement in the LB market with Malacia and Hickey.

When are they expected to fly out, is it Monday? Doesn't leave too long to resolve potential VISA issues (although I think EU citizens don't need a visa to enter Australia... might be wrong!)

https://www.abola.pt/Clubes/2022-06-30/fc-porto-aston-villa-prepara-oferta-por-otavio-saiba-o-valor/947442/42 - Portuguese Article published an hour ago by A Bola. Although seems to be simply reporting on the "gossip".

DeepL Translation:

Otávio continues to make people talk, even though he is the last player Sérgio Conceição agrees to lose. The Premier League's harassment seems to be really strong, but the numbers may still be far from approaching the portistas' expectations.

The 27-year-old Portuguese international, one of the most influential elements of the double in 2021/2022 and in the pipeline to fit into the squad for the Qatar World Cup, is whetting the appetite of Steven Gerrard, the former Liverpool star who now, as manager of Aston Villa, wants to calibrate the Birmingham team's aim to win titles.

According to reports circulating in recent hours, the Villans have outlined their plan to try and land Otávio and are willing to offer €30 million plus €5 million involved in match variables.

5 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

Roma still sniffing around Frattesi.

I'd be surprised if both Luiz and Carney leave on a free next summer. I think we'll do it with one of them, but really try and force a sale this summer with the other. Someone will get a bargain price.

I would love to see Ramsey and Davide Frattesi in the same team for us. Would be so much fun. Alas, I think an Italian player wont find it as easy to settle in the club right now as it would a Portuguese/French/Spanish speaking player due to the pre-existing presence of those languages within the squad currently.