GREAT_BEARD_OF_ZEUS

Felix went to Atletico for 126m euros, I think if I got to that level, transferring to a club in the Conference League might be a tough pill to swallow too. Take the Villa specs off for a second and it's a very reasonable position to take.

Ignoring attacking midfielders, I would class the forward positions as being: (1) Out and out centre forward, (2) Shadow / second striker, (3) Left winger and (4) Right winger. Ideally you want two players for each of those positions. So let's have a look... Centre forward: Watkins / Archer SS: Buendia? Bailey? Left winger: Bailey / Coutinho Right Winger: Diaby / Traore Massive question marks over everyone there, apart from Watkins and our soon to be new right winger. I would argue that, for us to have had a good window, Buendia and Bailey need to end up being cover options, Coutinho and Traore will be gone, and (pushing it maybe) Archer will be third option upfront. So optimistically, I would hope for at least a starting Left winger and second striker to be brought in on top of what we have.

Absolutely agree, it looks bloody awful and whoever created that version should be shot. I mean this version looks a thousand times better. Just tells me that they don't have the right people or expertise looking at this. If it's still in the hands of the agency, then they need to be sacked (if they've not been already) - worry is, it's been passed to some design intern at Villa, because that's what it looks like.

David O’Leary… we are fickle ffs

Yeah I'm weirdly in the same boat. He doesn't excite me that much either. I think it's because he reminds me of Coutinho a little bit and I feel like we've got enough small, lightweight players like that already. It's partly why I was keen on Nico Williams (until he seemingly said no). Never seen him play, but liked the idea of having a more physical / athletic player in that area of the pitch.

Very true. So we've got cover for Kamara and Mings. And people say we're paying too much!

I think Torres could play in the same way Stones did for City last season. He looks to have all the skills needed for that hybrid defender /midfielder role.

Firstly, we do need a CB. To the people saying we don’t, please enlighten me as to what happens if, in a season where we could be playing 60+ games, Mings or Konsa get injured? Or tired? Or out of form? Carlos coming off such a big injury is a big risk to take as our only back up. So him aside, what? We stick with Chambers? Or move Kamara back and weaken our midfield? Is that what a side chasing CL football and trying to compete in 3 cup competitions at the same time would do? Is it F*%<! Torres is quality, he improves our first team and builds our strength in depth. I doubt we’ll buy out his release clause, this news is probably a bit of mind games, but I’m not worrying about it. Unai/Monchi know what they are doing.

Don't have these guys down as the type to do ITK bullsh*t. Favourite interpretation is Harvey Barnes (as in Barn Owl )

The change of badge/branding should have been celebrated. I had heard that there were big plans for the last game of season to do this, but obviously that never transpired. But knowing that was the plan, and that plan was scrapped, we know this has clearly been under review for a while now. I'm therefore disappointed that yesterday was such a sh*t show. They had time to work out how best to communicate this change of thinking - and it should have been better than the short, ambiguous note they put out. They know fans are going to be scrutinising every detail. It's about getting ahead of that and they didn't.

Sweet baby Jesus, WTF is that abomination of a shirt! It's like the unwanted love child of Sports Direct and Burnley FC. Tired and unimaginative design, awful sponsor (both who they are and the logo) and Lions going in opposite directions front and back. The debacle of the badge just tops it all off.

Loving the positive thinking. I’m gonna go with it

Re him 'downing tools' unfortunately that's par for the course in today's game. Benteke went on strike to move to Villa. I remember watching Idrissa Gueye 'lightly jogging' back when Man City broke against us at Villa Park and the guy sitting next to me going nuts about it. Anyone remember Dwight's last game? Slightly concerning that he's seemingly done this for so long but you never know what's happened behind the scenes. Sounds like he wanted a move for a while but the club wouldn't let him. Might have been playing with an injury, who knows. One question I would have is that, if he was angling for a big move, would you have perhaps not chosen Milan over us now? Instead it's been said he's preferred to stay in the area. Might mean priorities have changed and he wants to keep his family settled and therefore cement a new home with us rather than keep jumping to the next stepping stone.

Monchi, the guy who signed Robin Olsen whilst at Roma for €12m

Right I’ve been thinking about this and I reckon at the eleventh hour we can still convince him to change his mind. We just need to get Unai to blow dry his hair into a Sam Malone style bouffant, stick him behind the bar at the Holte Pub with a live studio audience, and then BANG, we hit him with the song… Playing your way with Madrid today Takes everything you've got Taking a break from Champions League Sure would help a lot Wouldn't you like to get away? Sometimes you wanna go Where everybody chants your name And you get to play every game You don’t wanna go to PSG (ah-ah) The French league is really lame (ah-ah) You wanna be where everybody chants your name Then the entire squad shout “Marco" just as the Cheers theme tune fades into the background. Job done, nobody is turning down that musical montage!!

I wouldn't judge Felix based on 4 months at Chelsea, for the following reasons... The club was/is in an absolute mess. He was being managed by an unqualified manager in Lampard. Was used in a very unsettled line-up, with lots of new players trying to adjust at the same time. First experience in English football - we all know it takes time to settle in and adjust to the PL. I'm in the camp with who believe Unai would get the best out of him.

Usually bang on, sadly

Erm… I’m going to go out on a limb here lads and guess she’s more of a Paris girl.

So based on that, it doesn't matter because either way we're unseeded?

Ever been to Dortmund? No? Don’t worry you’re not missing much, but they seem to do ok attracting talent. Thing is, forget the city itself, I don’t think players don’t care that much anymore. Unless it’s London which seems to have its own draw - perhaps because it’s so big and there’s so much going on, you can be fairly anonymous in amongst it all. I think these days though, as long as the club has an area close by which is fairly affluent and pretty looking, where they can buy a nice big house and live it up with the family and kids, then they’re happy. Look at Emi Martinez for example, he’s not going large in the city like Big John Carew used to, he’s got the South American contingent round at his having BBQs instead. Changes in social culture and added professionalism have removed the need for ‘big city lights’ to an extent, not to mention the want for privacy in a world governed by social media.

Yep, him and Chuk So long suckers!!!

They knows he's going, it's just a matter of who they can rinse the most cash from. That said, they'll need to spend most of it on a replacement for him, not another DM.

I would agree if he wasn't such a sick note. Seems to pick up an injury every other game these days, his body just can't hack it.