QldVilla

5 hours ago, picicata said:

When his club most needed him he could not be arsed to put in the effort, he knew he was getting paid and then getting out of there whatever. Whether he is a good player (he's not as good as McGinn or JJ) is irrelevant if he's not going to put in the hard yards

If that was true it would be reflective of his whole career, not a season where the club was relegated. The whole evidence shows a player who was a regular starter for a Belgium team which was ranked No 1 in the world for 4 years straight, played regularly in European competition and won an FA. Cup and Community Shield.

The club sold their best players the last 4 seasons and never replaced them, the club turned off the tap, didn’t sign the players the manager wanted, but the blame rests with Tielemans? 

If he comes to the club, Emery will get the best out of the player again and Villa will benefit as a club.

36 minutes ago, KMitch said:

Not at all.  I've actually watched a lot of Leicester this season which is why I don't want any of their players.  Tielemans is incredibly overrated by the neutrals and goes missing most games.  Leicester fans call him "the fat kid" because he's put on weight and didn't try at all this season.  Pop over to FoxesTalk and see how much he's getting slated by their fans.  They're all glad to be rid of him now, but he's somehow better than our best young player since Grealish and our resurgent captain, who has been a gladiator under Emery?  

I respect your opinion, but what I have seen of him there’s a player there, the question is whether his time has passed or whether it can be resurrected. Let’s see what happens.

1 hour ago, Kiwivillan said:

I didn't write Mcginn off like some

I know mate, but many supporters were, Luiz also.

6 minutes ago, Kiwivillan said:

Nonsense

It was also nonsense that 12 months ago most people were thinking McGinn wasn’t good enough to take us forward to the Top 6-7. His form for the club for the previous 12 months hadn’t been great.

Sometimes perspective and opportunity is required.

1 hour ago, KMitch said:

Who does he upgrade?  McGinn, Douglas Luiz, Kamara, & JJ are all better than him.  He's be fighting with Dendoncker for rotation spots, IMO.  

If Emery wants him, I'll 100% back him to be a success, but I don't think we'll be interested in any of Leicester's players.  

I said he upgrades our squad, which he does. Tielemans at his best is still an upgrade on both Ramsey and McGinn, the question is whether he still has his best football in front of him and will Emery make him a better player as with the rest of our squad?

Ill leave it to the Manager if this is a target player for the club.

Tielemans is a quality player who’s had a poor season in a poor team. He instantly upgrades our squad in the midfield if he joins. He’s played consistently in Europe and won Cups in England.

Leicester being on the decline for the past 18 months just may be the reason why his and others form has been poor. If Emery wants him, I’m not going to argue given his history with these players.

1 hour ago, villa4europe said:

Agree

But would add other teams in to that too

We could spend £200m on some very good players that were all happy with (!) only to see Newcastle, Chelsea, utd etc spend more on better

Edit - its not impossible that we spend £120m on 3 very good players and Chelsea spend the same amount on one absolute world beater

Maybe, but Newcastle have CL football and their manager has never coached at that level and believe Emery has his number.Spurs still don’t have a coach and no money, no guarantee Poch makes Chelsea a Top 4 team again. I believe we can compete against Manure and Chelsea, even Liverpool, it’s whether we can be consistent against them during the whole season.

These will be the challenges and why our recruitment is so important.

I want to see who we bring in before making a prediction of where we will finish.

If we bring in the right players we can definitely compete for that 4th to 7th position.

4 hours ago, KMitch said:

Should we start a Slabhead thread???  

 

Screams like a West Ham/Everton type signing, but wouldn't be surprised to see him end up at Newcastle.  No way we go for him...  Doesn't fit Emery's system at all.  

The only way he's getting picked to start in a Premier League Top 8 team is if Southgate's the manager.

36 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

AM signed Felix for 113m i think, on a 7 year contract.

3 years left on his contract, although weirdly Transfermarkt says his contract expires in 2027, but a 7 year contract from the summer of 2019 is 2026, so not sure....will go with 2026 expiry.

So to break even in FFP terms they would need to sell him for 48.5m (obviously thats super basic calculations and the facts may be more nuanced/different).

"IF" Emery could get a tune out of him, he would 100% be worth 50m, but i also probably wouldnt want to be paying any more than that tbh.

That’s the conclusion I come to as well, but AM have stated consistently they want their money back. Time will tell whether they are willing to cut their losses.

5 minutes ago, paul514 said:

No way, we can’t pay the fee and wages required. Totally out of our league 

The problem for AM is they overpaid for a player who has potential, that doesn’t suit their playing style and who the manager doesn’t want. Reports are they have offered to PSG who said no earlier in the week and Newcastle. They are trying to unload him, whether as a transfer or a free, what happens after all the big CL clubs say no?

AM may have to be more realistic, or make a huge loss on a free in a few years.Not saying it will be us, but we know Emery is a fan.

1 minute ago, Mic09 said:

Both PSG and Real can guarantee Champions League football, and getting far in those competitions.

Villa can make no such guarantee, in fact finishing in top 6 next year would be seen as a success. 

But CL football isn’t what he has been saying or he would have stayed at Real. He wants to be the main man and wants to start, something neither PSG nor Real can offer.

1 hour ago, Mic09 said:

Well, yes, but it is PSG. It's top models and £1000 steaks in Qatar, it's F1 Grand Prix Royal box, it's many many $$$ more, it's higher profile for Fifa playing youth.

He might play less than at Villa. But it's not like PSG isn't a big pull. We are talking about one of the best squads (not teams) in the world. 

I'm sure he will fancy his chances against the likes of Soler. 

Let's not kid ourselves. We are an interesting project on the up - not much more (yet). 

As I said, if the quotes attributed to h8m are true, then what PSG offer him is nothing different from Real. He won’t be the main man at PSG, but he would at Villa.

1 hour ago, Hank Scorpio said:

They can make plenty financially.

The lure of playing again with big name players, they will promise him the world, then use him sparingly.

We will offer him everything yet my head says he takes the psg option. 

Maybe, the quotes attributed to him say otherwise. Time will tell.

4 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

They could be asking him to wait as they will be getting Mourinho in. 

Maybe, but how many managers have those players burned, some better than Mourinho.

PSG can’t make any guarantees. They have  no manager, Messi and Neymar are leaving  and they couldn’t even keep their promises to Mbappe. 

He’s not really serious if he goes there.

For me it was what he did off the pitch in the last 2 years that I’ll remember him for.

Since probably O’Neil’s days we have lacked depth of leaders on the field, yes Mings has shown his qualities as a leader, but over the past 12 months we have seen Martinez, McGinn, Luiz and Ramsey really step up. To me that is because of Young and we will be a better team for it. 
 

I see why the club let him go, but he changed my view of him on his second spell at the club, not just his playing, but how he supported and encouraged the rest of the squad.

Villa Legend.

On 30/05/2023 at 23:02, Pinebro said:

It's a real shame the newcastle takeover happened.

They are blocking that spot.

Because I think Man City, Arsenal and Man Utd will be difficult to move.

If Newcastle spend 150M every summer they just aren't catchable.

I believe Arse, Manure and Newcastle are catchable because we have a better manager and we saw glimpses of that this season. All while they have had a head start over Emery.

The owners need to show their ambition and back Emery season on season, if they do that, then we can go toe to toe with them.

The reality is there’s no guarantee that Young’s body will hold up for another 12 months and the level the manager will be wanting the team to play at next season, let alone the extra games.

Just like when he left the club for Man Utd, the manager has made a decision which is best for Aston Villa. We can be sentimental about it as fans, but we are in a far better place now as a club and Young has been part of that journey over the past 2 seasons and helped make us a better team with his leadership.

7 minutes ago, PaulMcGrath_5 said:

He is so good. Don't want to get my hopes up..

Agree, been a huge fan of him for several years, I’ll believe it when he’s in that villa kit.

15 minutes ago, Pinebro said:

Win conference league, qualify for Europa League.

Win Europa League, qualify for CL.

Win CL.

Simple as that.

To be honest, I think this is probably the most likely scenario.

I believe we have a better manager tactically than most of the so called Top 6, but we still lack the depth and quality to be a Top 4 club next season. I believe Top 6 is achievable, but may take 2-3 seasons to make a serious Top 4 challenge. Depends on how much the club is going to back Unai and whether consistent over several transfer windows.

3 hours ago, villa4europe said:

Forget the boss it's the wife I've got to try and tell 

Mate, if your wife is anything like mine, she knows how much the club means to us.

PS the wife set the precedent in 2019 when she let me fly half way around the world for the Championship play off final. I plan on milking that

I don’t see how Barnes improves the current squad. There are flashes of quality but far too much inconsistency for me.

Very happy for Marvellous, look like he’s found a club which he can call home. Hopefully Luton can get a deal done.

Also happy to see Luton back in the top division again. Makes the PL interesting, rather than the same yo-yo clubs returning.