El-Reacho

Guendouzi's a no-brainer at that sort of money. Seems crazy cheap though. I reckon we'll go all out for an elite level right winger to take Bailey's place - break transfer record to get whoever it is. It's clear we need to invest in a No.2 goal-keeper who might be a cup goal keeper or play the European games if we make it. Wonder will they pick-up an experienced keeper from Spain with a similar age and value profile to Moreno.

Is Guendouzi still likely to be an option given that McGinn has that particular position nailed down, is club captain, and in form of his life? If he's going to cost £50-60m he'd need to be starting. Who's position would he take?

Out of interest when would this photo have been taken? Did he show the VP crowd his medal back in January?

Would be surprised if he does. I think an attacking full back on one side and a defensive one on the other is pretty much Emery's hallmark at this stage. I think the big signing this summer will be a right winger. Whoever plays at right back will be defensive minded as opposed to a right sided version of Moreno.

It's Sawaris and Edens who should ultimately determine the moral compass of the club not the CEO. It's Purslow's job to get the best deals he can for the club. It's up to the owners to say the we're not going to advertise betting companies and for Purslow to adapt accordingly.

Supposedly he got Gerrard in to make his pitch to the owners who ultimately hired him. I guess it's impossible to know if he recommended him to Edens and Sawaris, but given he didn't get anyone else in to make a pitch for the job he does have to shoulder a big chunk of the blame. I think once you bring a manager in you have to back him so you can't really blame him for signing Digne and Coutinho. The Gerrard appointment excluded I think Purslow's been excellent for the club.

Lol - that was that moment of magic Stevie G was searching for…

Wonder will they bring Elmo in to have some involvement in this. He seems to have remained quite close to Villa since he retired.

Teams are playing much higher risk passes from the back nowadays though. City have been picked off a few times recently with high risk passes when they’re being pressed. Pep’s (and maybe Emery’s) analysts will probably have worked out the risk of conceding versus the reward of beating a high press through the middle and reckon it’s worth it.

Quite similar to Liverpool game and both were after long spells without a game when Emery has had loads time to train with the players. I wonder has he been working on the more long term strategy in these longer periods without a game and the players are coming up short in the games so he’ll revert to a more short term fix again for next few games?

Also played Ramsey in the front three in that game and he was superb. Set up Bailey's goal IIRC. He never played him there again..... Bizarre manager.

Maybe Donnarumma will be higher?

I remember Gudjohnsson (possibly incorrectly) being decent enough for us no? GT Mk2 was when all of the other teams around us really started spending and Ellis tightened the purse strings even further so we were signing players for buttons at that stage.

He's been given the 22 shirt. Suggests he's not going anywhere on loan.

JPA was the first properly exotic signing we made. Big fee (at the time), striker, alice band, superb name, came from one of the biggest clubs in South America - he ticked every box. Was properly exciting when we got him. It's class that he still has that affinity with the club.

Championship clubs aren't interested in loaning academy players. The likes of Mason Mount or Abraham or Tomori were premier league standard players when they went on loan. Even the Man United guy on loan at Sunderland is considered to be good enough for United's first team. MK Dons is as high a level a player like Barry will get a club to take him on loan.

I think Ramsay is most effective in that front three. He was superb when he played there against City under Gerrard. He didn't keep him there though.

A Wim Jonk to Dennis Bergkamp or Abel Balbo to Gabriel Batistuta? Does make a bit of sense. When we signed Angel we invested a (then) fortune in him but did nothing to protect or enhance the investment. We expected him to just show up and start scoring goals, despite the fact he had no English and no one to help him do basic things like open a bank account or rent a house. I think it was only when Lerner bought the club that we recruited a player liaison officer. Suspect it's very different these days.

Thought we'd be able to get more than £15m for Ings. He's a much better player and will get more goals than Chris Wood who went to Newcastle for £25m this time last year and would've been a similar age. I guess Ings' high wages account for the difference. WHU will have to pay him something similar for the next 2-3 years.

Bound to have someone coming in. Watkins' knock against Leeds will be a reminder to the hierarchy that we'd be in trouble if we let Ings go without a proper replacement. Duran won't be available for a few weeks right?

Yeah grass is always greener isn't it. I don't think our transfer business is any better or worse than any other side. Brighton and Brentford are the outliers - we're the same as most other PL clubs. Have our successes in Martinez, McGinn, Cash, Watkins, Kamara, Luiz etc., and have our flops. Almost every other club in the league have expensive players that haven't performed as they'd hoped. The money United, Everton etc have wasted is obscene compared to us.

He did indeed make lots of mistakes, but I don't think you can absolve him because he was offered a job he shouldn't have been offered. Gerrard's ego (built by being a great footballer not a great manager) prevented him from developing in any way as a manager whilst he was here. The only tiny glimpse of self-reflection he ever showed was the interview after the Fulham game the night he was sacked, when it was blatantly obvious to even the most blind of his fans that he was a million miles out of his depth. He never once learned from his mistakes and kept repeating them over and over out of sheer stubbornness and refusal to accept he was in the wrong. That's what winds me up so much about Gerrard over all of the other failed managers we've had - and that's on him rather than those that put him there.

Just noticed he's a central midfielder for Marseille. Only a matter of time before he's back at Villa Park.

When Ashley Westwood made his debut against Sunderland for Lambert a lot of the talk on here was about how long we'd be able to keep him for before United and Arsenal came calling.

That surely goes back to the early 1990's when Villa were in pole position to take advantage of the Premier League boom and become one of the world's biggest clubs like Manchester United did. Alex Ferguson predicted it would be ourselves and United that would become the dominant force in English football as the 90's progressed. Doug Ellis realised he could make a few quid for himself rather than give the club the (relatively small) backing it needed to realise its obvious potential. That's why we've been in the doldrums whilst United, Chelsea, Arsenal have hoovered up trophies. In the first season of the PL Villa and United were very similar clubs in terms of stature/size/success/history etc.