El_Hierro

Others have said it already, it all depends on injuries really. No injuries on key players (not likely) then a definite 6th (behind the team we shall not speak of). Also depends on other teams' injuries of course. I think our biggest contender for the 6th spot is Newcastle, but if they struggle with injuries then we can manage with a couple as well. I think Everton will have a difficult year and I just don't see the the same quality in Portsmouth, Bolton, Blackburn, West Ham and Man City (yet). Remember after the January signings settled we were one of the very best teams in the league. Of course with a couple of signings (GK and RB) we'll be even more ready. I actually think our midfield and attack are sorted already.

Have they? I'm not sure they said that, did they promise? Would you class NRC as a big signing? I know some wouldn't, i would image the club would though... Well, they said we should be expecting quality signings, and when I was younger and my mom said I should be expecting a beating, I pretty much took that as a promise. My point though was that I think we'll see (at least) one player coming from La Liga to Villa in the summer. Haven't got a clue who it might be though, but Gudjohnsen might not be a bad shout. And yes, I would consider NRC a big signing. I believe that no matter where he'll be next season, as long as he doesn't stay at West Ham, he'll be back to his best.

It's really quite straightforward. - Fitz, the general and MON has promised us big signings, but nothing has happened yet. - La Liga isn't finished - Some guy at the Vital Villa forum said Villa have been in talks with Barca for quite a while now. - It all adds up :winkold:

Hamburg were in a relegation battle for a time in a poor league. If these three are so brilliant, the 8 supporting them must be awful. Well, it is perfectly possible to find good players in bad teams. How about Darren Bent and Luke Young at Charlton. NRC and Carlos Tevez at West Ham, Gavin McCann and Thomas Sørensen at Sunderland.........erm, forget that last one.

Somebody please find out if MON is in Germany tonight as they're fielding half of Villa's defence for next season, Lahm and Mertesacker On another note, Zoltan Gera is having a great game for Hungary against Norway tonight, maybe we should buy him? :winkold:

Don't think so. I'm pretty sure Carew is Per A Flod's only client.

To follow up on an earlier transfer suggestion of mine, Norwegian Tarik Elyounoussi, a Norwegian web paper now claim that West Ham are favourites for his signature, with Chelsea also seemingly interested. It should also be noted that he rejected trials at both Chelsea and Portsmouth last season. So maybe we'll get a chance to see if he'll make it in the Premier League afterall. To bad it won't be for Villa. My guess is he will make it bigtime. EDIT: They've got their story from the Daily Mail it seems. Transfer fee of £3M.

A bit like Gamst Pedersen then, and he's supposedly off to one of the top 4 or Spurs...

What, you mean we have missed out on yet another player?

Now, where is OF when you need him... On another note; as some have said already I think it's quite significant that NRC isn't part of the offer made from WH. In my world I'd have thought that the Barcodes would welcome such a deal if they were to lose Parker. I'd like to think that means NRC is on his way to another club, say Villa, and that the deal is being sorted as we speak.

Some excellent points. 1 Your usual reference to "the moaners." Such a loveable characteristic. 2 Referring back to an earlier argument despite a mod telling people to stop it. 3 It is indeed Afonso in Portuguese - the language they speak in Brazil. 1. I guess I have used the term on a couple of occasions, hmm, why could that be? 2. Just trying to bring a new point into an old discussion, that's all. This point being that there has been a a lot of coverage on Dutch football on TV this year, meaning people could easily have formed an opinion on Afonso, something mademan didn't seem to think. 3. Cheers, although it wasn't intended seriously, as said in my former post. I seem to have upset you, so I will log off now.

If you don't want a negative response you better keep parents out of this, :evil: His name is spelt AFONSO, as stated here!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afonso_Alves Yes, I know. I see that my post could have been misleading though. As picicata's already said I was having a go at AFONSO's parents for calling him Afonso (not that it matters much), 'his' pointing back to Afonso's, not 'Cyber's'. Although I must say that it was a rather abortive attempt to amuse people, as I obviously know that both Afonso's parents as well as the Brazilian authorities probably would have found him a proper name at a somewhat earlier stage. (If Afonso was wrong I mean.)

I wonder, on a general basis that is, if MON has several choices for each position he wants filled (which he obviously has), should he move for his 2nd choice in a situation where the transfer situation of his 1st choice might need longer to sort out? In order not to lose the 2nd choice as well I mean. Then if you buy your 2nd choice, suddenly it turns out you could have got your 1st. I don't think we should be very surprised if it turns out that we have to wait a while before we see anything happening. Unless of course MON decides to bring in a Steven Naismith or a Billy Sharp, which probably will take shorter to sort out. Say if Jagielka is 2nd choice for RB and Micah Richards is 1st. Would (or should) MON go for Jagielka before Everton gets him, or should he wait until the Man.City takeover is sorted and the new manager allows (or not) Richards to leave, and risk losing Jagielka? Or if the Sneijder to Valencia thing drags out, should MON go for his 2nd choice instead(whoever it might be) and risk losing out on both? Assuming all names are targets of course.

One Alves a day keeps the moaners away. New board's tactics. Wonder who it is tomorrow. Joao Alves of Sporting perhaps? Fantastic player I'm led to believe. In Cyber's defence, mademan, he clearly stated 'Afonso' (did his parents have problems spelling, should have been an L in there surely?) in his original post and there HAS been a lot of Dutch football on Eurosport this season. Not that I've seen any of it, of course.

That is of course assuming that these mythical links are true. After all, no-one anywhere has managed to get a quote confirming that we were after either of these players. Just because we are linked by the Sun to a player who is then not for sale doesn't mean we've actually missed out on anyone. Of course, it's always difficult to decide the accuracy of any link (that hasn't been followed up by a quote by the manager or the club), but I do think the NRC one from a couple of months back was pretty strong. And now that he's been made available for sale I think it's even stronger. I do believe that NRC (and Bellamy) eventually will end up at Villa Park this summer, other than that I don't have a clue. Which is fine, it makes it all the more exciting to wake up in the morning these coming boring summer days :winkold: The Taylor link though, may well only be the result of a bored journalist's free imagination.

And Harry Redknapp saying that Taylor is not for sale. And with NRC holding out for a move to le Arse or ManUtd, it seems it will be a more difficult close season for MON than we would have hoped. Maybe we should start preparing the arrival of half the WBA squad afterall :winkold:

With regards to the West Brom issue, they staying down and all the links to their players throughout the season, I do think MON has shortlisted three or four of their players (McShane, Davies, Koumas and Kamara), but only as 3rd or even 4th or 5th priority. Obviously MON has drawn up a list of positions he wants filled and probably got 3, 4 or maybe even 5 names for each position. IMO all the WBA players are lower priorities should it prove difficult to bring in the main targets. For fun I've made a list of the positions it seems MON is looking at and what players I believe he has on his shortlist (1st priorities named 1st and so on): GK: Boruc, Gordon, ? RB: Richards, Jagielka, Young, de Jong, McShane CB: ?, ?, Davies (haven't got a clue really, but I don't think Davies is 1st choice) LB: Antunes (cover for Bouma if we don't get Taylor?) RM/RW: SWP, Milner, ? LM/LW: Taylor, Cook CM: Sneijder (don't think it will happen), Reo-Coker, Källström, Emana, Koumas ST: Bellamy (yes I believe MON's fascination with Bellamy is quite big), Huntelaar, Bent, Fabiano, Kone, Kamara, Nugent, Naismith, Sharp Out of those players I predict we'll end up with Gordon, Jagielka, Taylor, Reo-Coker and Bellamy. And probably two or three others (a CB amongst others) that my radar hasn't picked up yet. A long shot could be Norwegian CB Brede Hangeland of FC Copenhagen.

According to a Norwegian TV channel Celtic are stepping up their search for a new goalkeeper, and were spotted watching Rami Shaaban, formerly at Arsenal, in action yesterday for his current club Fredrikstad. Seems they are set to lose Boruc then...To us maybe?

If we're even interested. I doubt we are... Maybe not. But who are these foreign players MON and Storey Moore has been watching for the last nine months? Margairaz and Emana? By the sound of it there are others as well.

If Ajax fail to beat Alkmaar tomorrow, Ajax will miss out on the chance to qualify for Champions League next season. And then if Valencia decide they don't want him afterall, he's as good as ours. Surely... Sneijder that is...

That's a good list and I'd be quite happy with that lot, but bearing in mind Ian Storey-Moore's latest comments I'm positive we'll see some signings (or at least attempts) from abroad as well. Just wonder who it'll be. I would prefer Appiah or Sneijder, but I suppose it could be anybody. Kompany, van der Vaart, Toure, Kone, Huntelaar, Emana, Nasri...?? (See I haven't even included Kaka, Ronaldinho et al :winkold: )

I'd take Reo Coker over Barton any day of the week. Probably equally good players, but I could never bring myself to cheer for a nut like Barton. NRC has IMO been treated badly by both the club and the fans and I think it's incredible that he's been able to finish the season like he has in those kind of surroundings.

I know. Here's a little algebra for you on a Friday's night. 400 pages and no signings. How many pages on August 31st, after a busy summer with 6 or 7 signings?

Psst, breaking news :!: :!: I've just heard that Matt Taylor might be on his way to Villa. What's everyone's opinion about that?

He's a he** of a lot better than MGP was at 19, that's for sure. A far greater talent than MGP ever was. No comparison really. But no point in arguing as we'll just have to wait and see. MGP went to Blackburn at the age of 23. If Tarik continues his current progress he's gonna be a star. That is your opinion. I disagree. MGP had a great talent which was Beckhamesque crosses and free kicks, very much alike what he has now. He has become better of course, but he scored many free kicks when he was 20-21. Tariq is a little pacy for playing in the Norwegian league, but he has to show a lot more to even being considered a player for the English league. Look at Kristoffer Hæstad, he had a great season and looked the real deal before flopping bigtime at measly Wigan. It's Tarik, Rocafella, not Tariq. Show some respect for people's names will you :winkold: Just learned that Tarik actually turned down a chance to train with Chelsea last year. Didn't know that. Seems I'm more spot on with this one than I was aware of. I said earlier that the big clubs would be after him in a couple of years time, but obviously they're tracking him already. I think you're a bit off with the Hæstad part too btw. Firstly Tarik is a bigger prospect (obviously not the same type of players so difficult to compare) and will go on to do greater things than Hæstad. Secondly Hæstad didn't get a fair chance to prove himself at Wigan. One big mistake against Chelsea and he was out of the frame. IMO Hæstad will do just fine in the PL once he gets the chance again. Scharner is a star at Wigan and he wasn't any better in Norway than Hæstad is. Don't get me wrong, Scharner did very well in Norway, but Hæstad is easily as good.