Pez1974

This. Staying up last season was a single ambition, as part of a long term plan. We achieved it, and Samatta was part of that (I'm not going to debate how much he helped, it's irrelevant now). He is highly paid (just over £1m a year apparently), and has a 4 1/2 year contract - so he'll earning more from that than most of us ever will in our lives. For him personally - he's had a chance to reach his goal, and didn't. Most of us never have that chance. Plus, he seems unhappy, so if he can find happiness elsewhere, good for him. No-one should begrudge him that. For the club - he clearly isn't good enough for where we want to be now, let along in 2 and 3 years time. We will honour his contract (so if he goes elsewhere and is paid less, we will be obliged to cover the difference), and try and recoup as much money as we can. We'll try and work with him on this. But we move on. That's football, and there a lot of players without the safety net of that sort of contract who are treated far worse.

Good. There's a heck of a player in there; this shows faith that we can coach him, and faith that he will learn. Suspect we'll keep him around until January, then when Wesley's back fit, he can go do things on loan for half a season. Unless he steps up significantly over the next few months; in which case Wesley has a fight on his hands!

FFS

Great news. Outstanding man and a true leader at the club.

I really think this game is very, very important, and is kinda as close to a 'must win' as we can have to start the season: Sheff Utd might be a struggling team this season, so we can't be letting them get easy points (like Bournemouth last season). We need a boost before we play Fulham...them and the Boggies already look screwed, so we need to start well. If we are going to make good signings in the rest of the window, starting well against these and Fulham will help, given what comes afterwards. Confidence...imagine the difference Watkins scoring tonight will have on him and the team

True. But I think clubs especially don't want to get into bidding wars with us. I'm not talking about Man City or Chelsea - we're not competing with them for players except at youth level. But I would go as far as to include the likes of Leicester and Wolves. They might be more attractive, but on a financial level, they don't want to be up against us as we can afford it, and they know the price will rise accordingly. Of course, where a player wants to go is the overriding factor in any transfer. Hence why I don't think we were really desperate for Wilson.

No-one has bid for Hause. Someone might bid for Engels. Sometimes you can't do things in the order you'd wish.

Don't mind if he leaves; he's more competent at his job than some in the squad (I'm looking at you Lansbury), but where we want to be in a year, he isn't good enough. If we get the right price to strengthen where need, fine.

I suspect not. Plus - he always seems like a red and yellow card waiting to happen. He's needs to learn control. He's 23 in a couple of weeks, so is no longer a young player, just a player who hasn't fully realised his potential (yet?).

I wouldn't rule anything out. We have Watkins and Jack who can fulfil different roles, and we're targeting Traore and Rashica who can as well. Add another CF, and that's 5 people with 4 starting slots to fill, in a busy, shortened season.

Absolutely. Konsa was regularly picked ahead of Tuanzebe for the U21s. And that's with the 'he plays for Man U' bias. Konsa progressed massively last year in my opinion, and we'd be mad to halt that development.

He has 41 weeks left on his contract, and we would only be liable for any reduction in salary for this period - there is no compensation, just his earnings, which we can offset against his new contract. Your £2m over this period is almost £50k a week as a drop in salary, and with them giving him what, £5k - £10k a week, this would mean he was on almost £60k a week here? No, Lansbury was on the highest a couple of years ago, at around £40k (FFS). The website below has a list on contracts (no idea if they're right, but they seem pretty close overall), and they list Hogan on £910k a year - £17.5k a week. I was told it was a bit higher than this, but I have no evidence. https://www.spotrac.com/Premier League/aston-villa-fc/contracts/ In either case, there is no way he was on anything like £55-60k a week. Given recent salary info, he'd account for nearly 10% of our wage bill. On this basis, I'm happy with what I put.

Spot on. Re: getting rid of him - I don't think we as fans realise just how popular he is. Not just in that 'boss' way, but players really seem to like him, rate him and want to work for him. Especially Jack, which is very important. He's confident enough to allow Terry to be appointed; he's also happy to have Shakespeare come in - an ex-manager who could be seen as a threat to him, but he knows it will improve the coaching, therefore the squad and team, and therefore make his own position more secure. I am more confident in him now than at any point previously.

Exactly this. We might be paying the transfer fees, but it's the wages we have to build up gradually. Bring in this guy, we have to shift 3, 4 or 5 people to pay his wages - and if he is as shit as he's been for years, we're Aston Villa 2015/16 again.

Hearing it was around £1.5m fee, but we've paid up part of the last part year of his contract (41 weeks, at about £12.5k - the difference between his contract here and the contract in Mordor). So about £1m cash in the bank. But in reality - received £1.5m. Saved £0.5m in wages that we were expecting. We're £2m richer this year than expected.

Good shout, but they got Tahith Chong on loan from Man U. On 16th August. A month ago. I thought that was the trigger then.

It could be that neither was a priority, it's just that Matty Cash became available and was going to move, and he was our first choice RB so we had to get him or lose him. Our first coice LB maybe isn't available for the right money right now, so we choose to wait and use the same players who we stayed up with last season, and make sure the money is there for a CF, and wingers, which we definitely need.

Did nothing last night. Frustrating, as he chalks up with a decent amount of goals and assists (4 and 4 last season, which isn't bad given he wasn't a consistent starter). Problem is, he does nothing else so it's like we've got 10 men for too many games. If he isn't looking the part in training - i.e. he doesn't show that he has another level or 2 he can go to - I would get rid while we are still be able to get some money for him. We have bought other players, and have U23s who can be in the squad and need a chance. TransferMarkt.com shows a value of £7.2m - I'd take that (don't shoot the messenger, it's an independent opinion).

Anyone else sort of hope that Luiz gets an injury in April? Nothing serious, but enough to make Citeh not bid. I'd rather him miss a month of the following season, than lose him. I can't reconcile the wish that he fulfils his potential with Villa, and the worry that we lose him for a lot less than he would be worth.

Obviously there's an assumption Rashica will join. I also think we could see another CM join, and perhaps a CB. As others have said, it's our second XI we need to consider too, but I don't think it's awful - with up to 8 who started a lot of games last season. Plus we have a few in the squad who are flexible meaning the likes of Lansbury, Jota, Samatta and AEG should not be near the squad too often, let alone starting. And this is without the U23s, some of whom are starting to look like they could step up. We're a team in our second year, who barely stayed up, I don't think we should expect a second XI much better than this just yet. Heaton/Steer Gulbert/Elmo Engels Hause Taylor Nakamba Conor/Lansbury Trez Jota AEG Wesley/Davis/Samatta

After last night, I think Kortney is developing exactly as I expected!

In my view, he's the guy on the bench who we can bring on for the last stages of a game to try and see it through, and break the game up with some interesting tackles. I fully expect him to start 0 league games this season, but give first choice players a rest in games like last night's. I also expect him to leave next summer,, unless he fully develops into the player mentioned above with better passing, in which case he might just be here for a few years in exactly that role.

Lovely. The fact we have bought a RB and GK, when few thought these positions were priorities is very encouraging. We've got a CF, and know that a RW is imminent. Still believe that there's more to come, and hopefully one or 2 (or 5) on the way out.

All the best fella. Onto more trivial things - NSWE are amazing owners so far (but so was Lerner 2 years in). Can't fault them; they are clearly engaged (unlike Randy) and committed to the club, and don't say things for the sake of it (like Tony); or appoint some General to engage but who hasn't got much of a clue or say. The fact that we'll build sensibly is more comforting to me than them going mad in 1 year and then it's shit or bust.(Although £100m+ 2 years on the trot seems bonkers to me). I think these guys may deserve a stand named after them more than anyone once the journey is over.

Delighted for him with the goal. He has so many attributes - including the stuff you can't coach, like his size, strength and awareness on the pitch. If he can steer clear of injuries, and get a full season playing under his belt with good coaching, I really think we will have a very good player on our hands. He joined us when he was almost 18. I'm not going to slag off Stevenage or Biggleswade's coaching, but suspect that players coming through our youth system will have had a better standard of coaching that he had for many years, so he's probably still catching up a little, especially given his injuries. Definitely one worth sticking with for another couple of years for me.