Philosopher

Duran looks desperate to play and impress (when he does play).  He has massive talent, but is still very raw. 

From Duran's point of view leaving Villa where he second choice to go to a club like Chelsea where he will be at best second choice, and who won't get champions league, from Villa where is 100% second choice and getting minutes, with a fair chance of champions league at end of the season just doesn't make sense however you look at it.

Duran needs to keep working hard and be patient, his chance will come. He just needs to focus on what he is asked to do , and being clinical in front goal when chances arise.

I rate him highly, potentially world class. 

Players like him, Zaniolo, Ramsey, and Iroegbunam can be top, top players. It's all about application and a bit of luck. Of those only Ramey is showing he is firmly on the road. Zaniolo, was, but has stalled and needs to get going again. Duran us just getting going, and Tim is about to get his chance.

There players excite me so much. Many may scoff at Me mentioning Tim and Zaniolo in this manner, but I see something special in them.

5 hours ago, GlobalVillan said:

Read above. This has been done to death now.

Just responding to what you said. If you don't like the response try saying something more considered.

1 hour ago, GlobalVillan said:

I sincerely hope we aren't buying Championship players in another yea or so.

Depends on the players. Some of the best players in the Premier league have been championship players. Grealish was a championship player at one stage, Watkins, Mings, Konsa, and McGinn too. Maddison, Dunk, Bowen, Vardy, a many more were once championship players.

Transfers can fail regardless of where players are signed from. It's all about the scouting being on point, and the player being suited to the teams style and managers plans.

He's a big talent no doubt. Comparisons to JPB are unfair as they are very different players. Emery clearly wants player with height and power as we do mix in long balls out from the back as well as playing out.

JPB is a hardworking winger that lacks in stature. For me JPB is the best winger in the championship and we will hopefully be buying him back in another year or so.

Rogers is being signed to offer us a different threat behind Watkins. He is similar to Zaniolo, which doesn't bode well for Zaniolo's future.

10 minutes ago, mattyvilla said:

definately played there at times

He won the u20 euros playing there!

Tim can play DM, he's tough in the tackle, and good at driving out from deep. He also he a good range of passing. Not forgetting he is tall and athletic. 

He has the potential to be a top player. All the raw materials are there. He needs to improve his concentration and reading of the game. But those are things that come with experience and good coaching.

Our system will suit him with lots of the ball in this area of the pitch. Playing in a counter attacking team like QPR under Gerrards second assistant manager (forgot his name) isn't making the most of his qualities. Especially as he is still learning where to position himself and what runs to make. Playing DM makes this easier as the play is in front to you, and you have the extra time on the ball  you more time to judge.

Playing DM at this stage of his career will suit him. Gerrard,  Lampard and most of the best central midfielders played DM early in their careers.

Donk leaving means he will get his chance. And staying at Villa the whole season make him Villa trained. Meaning he will be an extra man in our European squad. (Currently limited to 22, as only one 1 of our squad count as homegrown and Villa trained, as you have to name 4 such players in the 25 man squad).

Emery must rate him. And he's the best judge of us all.

The technical level in the the Spanish 3rd tier should be a little higher than here. And playing out from the back is in their football culture.  

As a result it looks like a good move for Feeney. First team football, playing out from the back, and learning and new football culture should aid his growth.

3 hours ago, RichW said:

Not sure how you can say the highlighted bit tbh. Big big difference between balancing the league with Champions League and Europa Conference league. Emery won't be resting players for Champions League matches.

We will just have to wait and see how the fixture list turns out but not sure how you could suggest we can balance it better then they have. I do agree though that qualifying for the Champions League should help the club make a big money signing in the summer (if they choose to) without selling a key player.

The experience of travelling to the far reaches of Europe and 2 games a week while being in the top 4 if the league is a good foundation. We have also been playing a strong line up in many of the games. So I believe we will be able to balance things better given the experience. 

The quality of opposition is clearly higher, but we will be a better team come then (should we qualify). Players like Diaby, Torres, Carlos, and if his loan becomes permanent Zanolo will all be better placed to make telling contributions.

Additionally we will have Mings and Buendia back. There are no guarantees, but we look to be in a better place then last seasons Newcastle.

13 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

Newcastle were last season too. Leicester even won the league. How are they doing now?

You know full well what I mean by my post. Emery is a great manager and I have full faith in him but it’s going to be one hell of a slog trying to consistently compete at the top end of the league without CL money on a regular basis. 

Unlike Newcastle we are doing this while also playing in Europe. So we should be able to balance league and champions league better than they have. Also our depth in midfield is far better than theirs. Plus we have done everything sustainably so we have fewer concerns regarding ffp.

If we get champions league, that will facilitate another Diaby type signing (in regards to finance).

We already have built a profitable youth set up, and have a better foundation than Newcastle had at the start of the season. Compared to what we will have come the start of next season if we have champions league.

8 minutes ago, Shaun Teales Moustache said:

Anyone know the actual details about signing youth players and FFP?

I tried briefly to look it up, but the details were a bit nebulous. Seemed like if you sign an u-21 player and they go into your academy rather than straight into the first team, they don't impact FFP, but there were some caveats to that as well. Basically though, whatever we spent on the young Serb mighn't count against FFP, which might explain a big outlay if we are tight for FFP. Anyone actually know though? If not, someone get Chris Purslow on the case!

Other thing I read was that wages were a bigger issue for FFP than transfer fees for us right now, as the wage bill has ballooned relative to a fairly moderate net spend. Dendonker, Chambers, Olsen, Traore, are all on big money without contributing equivocally. We couldn't have signed Pau, Tielemans or Diaby without offering them a massive pay increase. Lenglet and Zaniolo were not planned, but are on big money, replacing injured players already on big money.

Emery wants 2 elevens, and doesn't want deadwood, but we currently have deadwood on big money and can't afford to replace them all with big money signing due to FFP, so a couple of signings like the ones suggested might be necessary. 

The Middlesbrough guy seems a wierd target, but Finn Azaz was also a weird signing that went entirely against the grain of everything the club was doing at the time. He was older than most of the guys they were cutting from the academy, and they immediately sent him out on loan, so they didn't seem to want to train him up. I don't know if they ever thought he'd be good enough for the PL, but someone (probably from his West Brom days) obviously thought he was worth more than what he was at the time. So with the West Brom connection, I can only assume it's a similar deal with this guy. 

In regards ffp and our transfers plans I think you have hit the nail on the head. Higher earners that aren't really suited to the team's set up or aren't considered good enough for where we want to be are available for transfer.

Traore isn't likely to be sold this window, as his contract expires at the end of the season, but a loan could well suit all parties. Sanson is up for sale and on in region of 50k pw, so we need him gone. Dendonker is on around 80k but doesn't have the technical qualities we need in our DM's. Chambers is on good money, but simply not good enough, so he has to go. That lot is over 250k pw in wages. That's 2 high quality players wages they're taking up. Then there is Coutinho who is on over 120k pw who is also surplus to requirements. Another high quality player wage. Plus I forgot Hause, who is probably on about 40k pw.

Then there are cases like Digne who is very good, but also on high wages 125k pw and we have a player as good and experienced as he on half those wages. So it makes sense to find him a new club while he is still a saleable asset. 

Probably only Dendonker, and Digne would get a reasonable fee the rest will basically go for free, as some wage supplementation will probably be necessary to move the likes of Coutinho and Sanson on. Lucky they will only have a year left on their contracts at the end of the season. 20 mill for these sales at best really. But they free up over 400k pw from the wage bill, which is huge!

In regards to the youth team, the model we are going for is where our youth development is geared toward developing players good enough to be sold on to clubs at championship level and above. The youth team expediture is exempt from ffp, so if we can follow Chelsea's model of developing young player for sale, we can create more money for first team use. Since the Youth setup is exempt from ffp, the sale of the youth players appears as pure profit on the books, which can be used to offset transfer fees for senior players.

Finn Azzaz was probably seen as a player we could sign cheaply, that wouldn't count towards ffp, as he was signed as a youth player, whom we expected to be able to sell on for a fee. We spent 1mill on him apparently, he been on loan almost the whole (so his wages have been at least contributed to by the loaning clubs) and leaves for 2 Mill plus adds ons. That's 2mill profit on the books, and 1mill (minus wages) in actuality.

The ideal for the youth teams is to develop enough players good enough for the first team so that we can maintain at least 4 Villa produced players and selling the rest for pure profit. 4 of 25 squad places for European competition are reserved only for own club developed players. We only have JJ so, our European squad only has 22 players. Also all Villa trained players under 21 can play in Europe without being registered.

So in 3 and a half years when Kosta is 20 he will be considered as Villa trained, and can play in europe for us without being registered. I suspect Tim being kept with us this season is for him to qualify as Villa trained. I believe he is in Emery's plans.

A highly productive youth setup is essential to the success of our project. Both in football terms and in regards to profit and sustainability.

20 hours ago, Jas10 said:

How long does he have left on his deal?

Known for being loyal and a “homeboy” (does that make sense? ) so may struggle to settle elsewhere or get homesick… especially abroad…

Surprised he’s left footed… but a LW…

we do love our left footed players

 

Sociedad have some great players that would be very welcome here… 

but must have a host of clubs interested in most of them…

He a very well rounded player. Has the technical qualities of a central midfielder, with very good passing and crossing, high work rate and no shortage of skill. Not the fastest, but no slow by any means. 

Best way to describe him is a traditional crossing focused winger, that has to qualities to play in central midfield as a press resistant passing playmaker. Perfect to have in front of the marauding Moreno.

With Pau and Moreno, and Doug (who's is fluent in spainsh) the left hand side link up would work nicely. And with the Spanish manager and coaches we have at the club, he'd settle better at Villa than any other club outside Spain.

But he is highly unlikely. Coveted by many top clubs, high transfer fee required, high wage also. We'd need to qualify for the champions league to have any chance.

37 minutes ago, Jas10 said:

 

So it's probably BS, but he would walk straight into that left midfield position. Instant upgrade, and perfect for the role.

53 minutes ago, smokingzen said:

The difference in revenues is quite significant, we'd have to win the ECL to get the same revenue we'd receive for getting into the group stages of the CL.

If things are tight around FFP then i can see why we won't be doing much business until the summer when we have a better understanding of what our potential revenue is next season.

                            Champions League         Europa League        Europa Conference League

 

Group stage      €15.64m ($17.17m)       €3.63m ($3.98m)            €2.94m ($3.23m)

 

Round of 16       €9.6m ($10.54m)            €1.2m ($1.32m)             €600,000 ($658,530)

 

Quarter-finals  €10.6m ($11.63m)         €1.8m ($1.98m)               €1m ($1.1m)

 

Semi-finals       €12.5m ($13.72m)         €2.8m ($3.07m)               €2m ($2.2m)

 

Final                      €15.5m ($17.01m)        €4.6m ($5.05m)               €3m ($3.29m)

 

Winners              €20m ($21.95m)             €8.6m ($9.44m)               €5m ($5.49m)

 

 

 

They give teams an extra 2.5m per win in the group stage and beyond, on top of that. 

6 minutes ago, Enda said:

I’d say Kamara and Luiz are about equal in importance to us.

Nope. Kamara hasn't proven that yet. He may be. But Doug rarely misses a game. Kamara missed 14 games last season because of injury, and 4 this season due to the suspensions. Luiz is a leader, he orchestrates the play. And pulls the strings in midfield. Kamara can't compete with that.

4 minutes ago, burchy said:

I may get shot down in flames for this but I’d rather we cashed in on Bailey and/or Ramsey than sell Luiz. 

Bailey I’d replace with Bakayoko, younger, better dribbler and similar stats wise.

Wide left is where I’d like us to splash the cash in the Summer, a Xavi Simons/Florian Wirtz equivalent out there could really help push us on.

I’d like us to look at Veerman at PSV but not as an out and out replacement for Luiz, I’d buy him as Luiz comp/cover and keep Luiz. 

For me Bailey and Ramsey would be easier to replace.

Bailey has been good for half a season. So if 50 million  was put on the table we'd be crazy not to consider it. 

Love JJ, he is a Villa lad, and we need to keep the homegrown players that are good enough, and he is good enough. We need him for our squad lists alone. Before we even talk about ability. Then he is still very young with lots of room to improve. However his injury record is starting to look a bit dodgy.  But regardless we CAN'T sell him as we wouldn't even be able name a 22 man European squad. 

However in terms of importance to the team; in terms of consistency, style of play, leadership, and regular starts Luiz is bettered only by Martinez. Luiz and  Martinez are our most important players and no one else is even close.

3 minutes ago, Awol said:

I’d buy him for the right price, direct competition for Buendia but favouring the left side of the pitch - which wouldn’t hurt. Thing is Arsenal wouldn’t sell to us for the right price, so he’ll like end up at West Ham - and do brilliantly. 

It's risky business buying players failing at top clubs. This is because firstly they haven't been good enough to stay there. Secondly any subsequent move is a step down so motivation is often an issue. And when injuries are a problem, that rarely changes. ESR's long periods of being fit mostly coincide with when he's not getting many matches. But once the appearances and starts rack up he breaks. He's a talent, but a risk. Let West Ham take the risk!

We have been burned by this many times. Barros, Djemba- Djemba, Barkley, Richards to name a few!

1 hour ago, duke313 said:

Hypothetically, yes or no?

West Ham have basically done this by selling Rice and buying Kudus, Alvarez and JWP and look the better team for it.

No.

Merino went to Newcastle and couldn't settle so ran off back to Spain. The reason Arsenal, Liverpool, and Barca are being linked to Luiz is because of the quality he has, and the level he is at. I don’t see Barca trying to sign Merino! If he could replace Luiz then wouldn't he be on all threes I just mentioned shortlist!? He is cheaper after all.

Nico Williams is a very similar player to Bailey and Diaby, so how much would he really add. Frimpong is playing right wing, not fullback or even wingback. Defensively he is poor in one on one situations, so I am not convinced.

Also remember what happened when Tottenham sold Bale, or when we sold Grealish. All 3 players we signed combined haven't returned Grealish numbers in term of goals, assists and many other metrics. One flopped, one has finally come good, and the other has been up and down and is out for the season. The fact is Grealish is still better than any of our current creative players. We would be stronger with him, rather then have 3 players that replaced him. 

This would be a huge gamble. Then on top of that Williams has already turned us down. Merino probably doesn't want to leave Spain, and Frimpong will have many established champions league teams after. We would struggle to bring just one of those players through the door.

Then you have the West Ham example of it working. But people forget the season before last West Ham finished 6th and performed better than they are this season. It can easily be argued that their current improvement is them coming to terms with European competition, and now having more depth, rather than more quality in the first team. In addition West Ham's Best midfielder after Rice was Soucek. We have Kamara, Tielemens, and McGinn in order improve in midfield we would need a player better than Luiz.

How many midfielders can you name that are better than Luiz? Then ask if we can afford any of those players? Now ask would they come to Villa? The answer to both latter questions are a resounding no!

We need 50 million plus players to improve or first team now. Transfers are a gamble 1 in 2 transfers fail. Add to that it requires more than a good signing to replace Luiz. It needs a fantastic signing.

Fact is no team elevates themselves to a top club in the world by selling their best players. It simply doesn't happen. Every club that has come from nowhere to the top have done it like Chelsea and Citeh. By out spending everyone else on fees and wages. 

The prem isn't Germany or Spain where a smaller club can get champions league by virtue of being the best of the rest. We have 6 or 7 teams at the top compared to Germany, which has only Bayern and to a lesser extent Dortmund and Leipzig. Or Spain who has Real and Barca and then to a lesser extent Athletico. 

Napoli were a smaller Serie A club until they signed and kept Maradonna, and his presence lives with them to this day as he made them a top team. Keeping your best players  and building on that is the proven method to ascension not selling them to by 2 or 3 slightly lesser ones. You only sell your best players when they (the player) are near the end of their peak and the club need to build a new first eleven, because the current one is becoming to old to compete consistently. 

9 minutes ago, duke313 said:

Are we doing a Brighton now like everybody wanted?  Will people still be annoyed when these players aren't PL ready for another couple of seasons?  Judging by the responses in the Duran thread... 

Well if we can't develop players in the first team like Brighton do I doubt we'd get such good results.

Also that Barco kid they just picked is a HUGE talent. Tipped to be world class by most in Argentina.

10 minutes ago, Jas10 said:

Guess we can rule this one out, unless we make a sudden/shock announcement… might have been a decent move for a decent/low fee… but we were probably never interested.

 

If he was fit then yeah he'd be great. But he spends an awful lot of time on the treatment table. And the prem is a faster, more physical league than serie A, which means more injuries. Also wrong side of 30 which also means more injuries.

2 hours ago, maqroll said:

I'm inclined to agree with the first sentence. Not sure if you can say his decisions are "very American" unless you think arrogance and poor judgment are uniquely American. Your last sentence is not accurate. Baseball and gridiron were both first played mid 19th century. Ice hockey since early 20th, and basketball mid century. If any country's sporting history rivals Britain, it is the U.S. 

Baseball is based on English bat a ball games. Cricket proceeds baseball. But yeah I was wrong there. Thanks to those who rightly corrected me. I'm just really pissed with this badge.

24 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

That's not going to be done based on the badge and the brand

That's done on winning football matches and buying "big name" footballers 

That is true, but that is also the case further afield. Ultimately winning games and trophies is what will spur our growth not a badge. A badge is about history and tradition for me.

This new badge is terrible, not matter how you look at it. It's a step backwards. The round badge is far superior, even the Lerner badge is better, and this is just a poor rehash of that. The Lerner badge to be fair wasn't and bad badge. This new one just wrecks the simplicity of the Lerner badge which was It's strength.

Just now, villa4europe said:

With a saturated market in this country but an ever expanding global market waiting to happen... 

None of these decisions will be for us, sad reality of it

They're not doing this to make B postcode 40+ year season ticket holder die hard fans like the club a little bit more 

But if we want more through the turnstyles we have to cater to the b postcodes as well.

Chris Heck doesn't understand the football culture. He is making very American decisions on things, but this isn't America. This is a sport and club with more history than all American sport put together.

Playing for himself today. Looks like an unhappy player. He wants to go and get games. He is clearly fed up!

I can't blame him, because he is good enough for this level, but he has a quality player infront of him. Loan him out I say.

Just now, sheepyvillian said:

Kamara has been quality. 

Our man of the match. Made crucial interceptions, been solid with the ball.