El-Reacho

Young's quality would balance that out though for me. As good as Bertrand is/was Young is a level or two above him.

Athletico Madrid have just won la liga with a formation similar to what we had out today - with the rotating no.10s thing, with two wide men. It’s class to watch - maybe that’s how we’re going to line up this season.

Love the romance of this line but it should really read that they were fortunate to be chosen to pay our substantial overdue debt to HMRC and keep us in existence…..

See also his vocal support of the Catalan Independence Movement and their jailed members on the one hand and his lucrative ambassador deal with Qatar to front their World Cup and the slavery used to make it happen.

Only a matter of time before this will be back in fashion again and Europe’s most innovative and forward thinking managers will be using it.

Apparently Inter will be going after Correa to replace Lukaku. Must be pretty good!

Think they've just treated him like any other player. The open training sessions allowed the fans to see Aston Villa training not Grealish. I've no issues with how the club have handled this at all - professional and without any fanfare or theatrics.

So where does the forum stand on retiring Grealish's shirt when he leaves? Always thought that was a lovely touch when Bellingham left SHA.

Right time to move on. I can't waste anymore stress on this. Time to start panicking about how we spend the cash.

Think we're reading far too much into the training thing and interacting with fans etc. Same as the shirts in the shop. He's a Villa player until he's not. The club aren't going to start choreographing and stage managing things around him just to placate fans on the internet. He'll just turn up and train as normal until something happens.

Think the ones saying that on social media do so behind their pseudonym and wouldn't have the balls to dare saying it to him in person. Interesting to see he has what looks like a bodyguard with him though - does he always have that?

So did Shakespeare’s Sister say he’s going to STAY then?

All part of the dance. Southampton might want to cash in and we’re a willing buyer. We’ve made it clear with our opening bid that we’re not going to just throw money at him. The right deal is when all parties will feel slightly hard done by but still want to go ahead with it.

You'd imagine spending big money on a 17 year old would be pretty high risk. The Guardian do an article of the 100 best 16-17 year olds in Europe every year. Then they re-visit it 5 years on and you'd be surprised how few of them go on to be top players.

There was talk that the original Hairyhands was Ian Culverhouse IIRC. pretty sure he ended up being sacked by Lambert for leaking team news. (Might've been Gary Karsa)/ One of them was Lambert's brother in law. Hairyhands' crowning glory was breaking the news about Benteke signing a new contract and not going to Spurs.

Not sure I agree with this. When Guardiola came to the end of his career he found he that he was becoming redundant in the game because managers wanted their midfielders to carry out either the 'Makelele' role, or else the 'behind the front two' role. He wasn't fully suited to either of those roles. So when he started into management he wanted his tactics to work for midfielders like he was so he didn't use specialised midfielders that would either protect the back 4, or play off the front and went with midfielders who could pass and keep possession above everything else. I think Smith shares that same ideal so Luiz will always get in in front of Nakamba because he can keep possession better. Smith will be trying to protect the back 4 by keeping the ball at the other end of the pitch not by buying a new No.6.

Surely City should be prioritising getting Kane over Jack. They've attacking midfield options left, right, and centre. They only have Gabriel Jesus up front. I know they don't bother with a striker some of the time but surely Kane would give them a lot more than Jack at this stage?

Yeah - remember when Delph signed his contract with a release clause in it there was uproar that the club had put the clause in (led by Stan Collymore IIRC). If there's a release clause in there it's because he wouldn't have signed a new contract without it.

If he goes we need to spend like Liverpool did after they sold Coutinho and not like Spurs did after they sold Bale.

Of course he's a villa fan and always will be. If a villa fan works for AVFC in the accounts department and gets offered a job somewhere else and takes it they're still a villa fan after they leave.

Isn't Adama Traore basically the exact same player?

It's a shame Sunderland aren't still about for the like of Phil. Would've been a shoe-in.

From the reports about Lampard's running of Chelsea I'd like to think JT would be setting his sights a little higher.

Remember watching footage of Dean Smith talking to some students - he said (with respect to Terry) that he'd much rather have a coach with a determination to get better and move on to a bigger role elsewhere, than having a coach who was happy to stay in his comfort zone and remain long term.

Better for the club to bide their time and get their first choice targets rather than just rush and go for what’s available now. I suspect the links we’ve all been reading about aren’t the first choice targets.