Wes

I want to believe this is a part of some elaborate plan to bring fellow Italian Davide Frattesi to the club.

The idea of signing Sergio Gomez has me very intrigued. Hope people don't mind a bit of a lengthier post as I go through why. Whilst the signing of Kamara and Carlos, to go along with Coutinho, are all excellent purchases in their own individual merit, and all worthy of getting excited about, perhaps the spot in the squad I have been most intrigued to see how Villa's recruitment staff tackle this summer has been the back-up Left Back position. Sounds pretty daft on the face of it I know, but I think seeing how they target this particular spot in the squad will tell us a lot about their approach to squad building for future transfer windows. Why? Well, it's a pretty unique spot to fill. Six months ago we signed Lucas Digne, a French international with top class Premier League pedigree, for quite a substantial fee - £27m. He's on a 4 year contract, so all things going well in the summer of 2025 (when he has one year remaining) we will be deciding whether to keep Digne, who will be aged 31 at the time, or move him on whilst we can still get some kind of transfer fee back for him. He's one of the highest earners at the club now with report ~£150k. He is the first choice left back. Matt Targett, who has been a fine player for the club during his time, will be sold or loaned out this season. His time at the club is almost certainly at an end. Which leaves the only viable replacement option for Digne at left back currently to be Ashley Young, who I think is being kept more aroudn the club for his experience, professionalism and verstatility, than as direct competition for Digne. It's simply not something he is capable of doing anymore, at a regular standard. There does not appear to be, at least this summer, a left sided defender currently in the youth setup who could step up to take on that back-up role - in the same way Kaine Kesler is discussed with regards the right hand role behind Matty Cash. So this is definitely a position that needs addressing this summer. First, lets look at the team-wide considerations we want when looking at a player - most of which come from Gerrard himself: Winning mentality. European experience. Top league experience. Huge potential (if a younger player). Versatility is a plus. Shared language with others already in the squad (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese) And then in the back-up Left Back position specifically: Attack minded Excellent crosser of the ball Comfortable in possession Good engine Can push/challenge Digne in training Less than £20m (Athletic article from today states that they're not willing to spend this much, e.g. the likely asking price for Aaron Hickey, on this backup role) And in an ideal world, ready to take over as Starter for Digne in 2 to 3 years. There are multiple ways you could tackle this requirement. You could get a left sided centre back who is also able to play left back (hence the links to Calvin Bassey) or a pure left back (such as Aaron Hickey). The signing of Diego Carlos makes the CB/LB less likely (but not altogether impossible). My thought was they would go for a young left back, with the hopes that he can push Digne for the starting role over a couple of seasons. When you take all those factors in to account, it is relatively easy to narrow down the list of potential targets which meet that criteria. Sergio Gomez is one of them. I can go in to details about what I like about Gomez specifically, but there will be enough "scouting reports" and the like generated by the usual twitter accounts and blogs, plus my lunch break is almost up so I've ran out of time! However one of the things I particularly like about this supposed target, if true, is quite how opportunistic it is. Typically, signing a player one year after they signed with another club is very rare. Usually see it only if the club wants to get rid! Gomez signed a 4 year contract last year, and still has 3 years remaining, but because Vincent Kompany, the manager who signed Gomez to come to Anderlecht has just left the club, perhaps Lange and company think there's a narrow pathway that can be navigated to pluck Gomez out of Belgium. They were just as opportunistic with the Carlos deal - they knew Sevilla needed 30m Euros by the end of the month to balance the books and acted decisively. TLDR - Obligatory youtube video:

Particularly as Dan Ashworth has left - although he has yet to formally take up position at Newcastle as they still need to technically buy out his Brighton contract.

I wouldn't mind it if it was a 1year + 1year option - like with Ashley Young. Remember we can use 5 subs next season. The plan may be to continue Archer's development with a full season in the Championship, but still have three options (plus Bailey/Traore) for up front. Going to be hard to judge until the window is closed.

I absolutely love how decisively we move in the transfer market, and how "under-the-radar" we are as well. Just great stuff.

Welcome!

The most robust link we've had to Diego Carlos so far. Wonder if we see Romano put out a video/article later about this.

More on link https://www.coachesvoice.com/cv/boubacar-kamara-aston-villa-marseille-tactics/

I like the Bassey link - like the versatility of Centre and Left back. Work rate and stamina by all accounts are off the charts. Still developing which is promising. Links to Gerrard's time at Rangers is a big plus also. As for Diego Carlos, my preference - and I think he's been mentioned by others on this forum over the past 6 months - is if we were going for a stand out centre back would be to try to go for Gleison Bremer from Torino. He's had a sensational season. If he doesn't end up at one of the Serie A European sides this summer, I'm sure he'll be in the Premier League. Really enjoying this philosophy of "you don't know until you ask".

So most likely "if Carney doesn't accept Villa's new contract, we will sign him on a free next summer"

The clues from Gerrard about improving "the spine" and from the recent Percy article suggests that those will be the three positions targeted. As for names, these are all the ones we've been linked with for this summer so far in those positions. Listed in no particuluar order and obviously some sources are much better than others. Centre Back Stefan de Vrij (Inter - via Football Insider) Victor Nelsson (Galatasaray - via Tumspor) Caleta-Car (Marseille - via Daily Mail. Note: They may have been mistaken as we were obviously scouting Kamara, however we could have been scouting them both.) Maxence Lacroix (Wolfsburg - via Jeunesfooteux) James Tarkowski (Burnley - via James Percy, Telegraph) Calvin Bassey (Rangers - via James Percy, Telegraph) Centre Mid Kalvin Phillips (Leeds - via James Percy, Telegraph) Yves Bissouma (Brighton - numerous sources, bid made in January) Joe Aribo (Rangers - via the Sun) Ibrahim Sangare (PSV - via vi.nl) Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Roma - via @AlfredoPedulla) Georginio Wijnaldum (PSG - via Daily Mail) Forwards Jonathan David (Lille - via butfootballclub.fr) Luis Suarez (Atletico Madrid - via Daily Mail)

I don't think Konsa is sold this summer. He's currently injured, so unlikely that people buy him during his current condition. Plus he's on one of the longest contracts at the club. Yes, he's had a down year by his own standards, but it's a bit too soon to move on from one of the better English central defenders in the year. I think with the recent performances of Chambers, and Konsa's injury status, it's more likely that Hause will be allowed to leave but we will try to bring in a top level centre-back, a level above any of our current defenders, to force competition between Mings/Konsa/Chambers.

Incredible signing. Really well done by all involved. Another statement of intent.

In my view, the correct squad building approach would be to get a left sided centre back (or ideally comfortable on both sides) to understudy/rotate with Mings, then sell Mings next year with a year left on his contract. With Mings performs so well to the point we want to extend his contract, then we haven't lost anything. Barring injuries and such, the four main transfer decisions for the starting eleven I see for the summer are: Defensive Midfielder Future CB partner to Konsa Make a decision on Striker Situation Coutinho or new #10

Indeed! People should have a bit more trust in this recruitment team rather than the sheer panic that occured in here last night when the loan to Newcastle was mentioned.

Starting today for PNE at home against Bristol City!

Uruguay play Venezuela in WCQualifiers on Tuesday so any accepted bid needs to be soon to allow for a member of the medical staff to get across to Uruguay for the medical. To facilitate that, any bid would really need to be accepted in the next 24 hours for all the knock on things to be able to happen in time.

So obvious. Spurs flailing around and latching on to any potential deal moving at the moment. They need to appease both their fans and Conte.

Absolutely knew Spurs would get involved in this somehow.

Gerrard's January Signings so far - Combined Stats: International Caps - 162 International Tournament Wins - 1 Champions League Winners - 1 League Champions - 8 Domestic Cup Winners - 12 With Bentancur too it would be: International Caps - 207 International Cup Wins - 1 Champions League - 1 League Wins - 13 Domestic Cup Wins - 14 Quite clear what he's looking for in the immediate term. Interesting to see what the policy and long term strategy is like in the Summer.

Can see an agreement eventually being reached somewhere in the middle, it's convincing the player (and also stopping other clubs swooping in - I can see a desperate Spurs for example coming in at the last minute) that I think will be the bigger hurdle. Hopefully those conversations have already happened behind the scenes though.

There's the 4th CB. Contract was up in the summer so it will be a low fee. Can also cover RB in a pinch. Re-evaluate starting CBs in the summer. This is a good squad move.