pas5898

Leicester have basically sold their best players, except Vardy. Its just not noticed because their recruitment is good. They sell 1 very good player for a very high fee each year chillwell, mahrez, Maguire, even drinkwater and reinvest in younger players like tielemans, Fofana, Justin etc. Our fans need to be realistic and understand that eventually a Grealish, mcginn, Konsa etc will be sold for a ridiculous sum then have confidence in the recruitment to replace with a younger alternative.

Anywhere near "best of the rest" is a very successful season. Maybe even sneak a europa league place.

I don't get the hype around Potter. They pass the ball nice, but they are also 4th from bottom on less points than a Steve Bruce team. As mentioned on other threads, I genuinely believe Spurs have been overtaken in every way (except commercial) by Leicester and Everton. They'll end up with Roberto Martinez or someone like that.

The failed attempts, to me shows there will be a clear transition of power in the coming years. They (the big 6) know it, which is why they tried to shut up shop. In the PL, Leicester, Everton and us are coming and with the financial backing are now ahead of Spurs and Arsenal. When Kopp goes, I expect Liverpool to consistently drop out the top 4. Napoli and Atalanta are replacing Juve and AC Milan. Real Madrid and in particular Barca are almost bankrupt. They will come again desperately, or the clubs as we know it will just become run of the mill teams.

I'm not a finance expert. But the asset value (players) and increased value of the club would easily offset against what NSWE have spent. Should NSWE "do a Lerner", they'd easily make 250m for Grealish, Mcginn, mings, Konsa and Watkins. I expect us to copy the Leicester model in a few years, whereby we sell one big player each year for an inflated fee and offset against youth and clever acquisition. Thats sustainable.

Like every decent Dortmund player, he will end up at Bayern.

Interesting point made on Fosun by the price of football podcast a couple of months ago. . In short Porto were desperate for money due to Covid. Mendes instigated Silva sale for 35 million and made 7 million himself. According to my Portuguese brother in law, Silva had played a handful of times, maybe worth 6,7 million at most. Benfica, Sporting fans etc calling corruption. I wonder if it's a case of selling their souls to get Into the PL now they are paying their dues back to Mendes. 1,2 of Mendes younger developing players coming in, with a marquee signing or 2 out each summer. If that is the case, that's a dangerous game. You can only circle the plug hole so many times.

Gary Monk mentioned, but I can't see him going back there. Some of the deluded muppets think they could get Eddie Howe or Wilder. I could imagine they'll go desperate for a Pulis or Holloway as a quick fix to try and stay up.

Blues Relegated Villa flying high in the PL Them having to watch Grealish run the show in Euro 2020(1) Villa spend another 100 million and push towards Europe It's happening.

This. Will damage those kids. We lost 6/7 to someone in the check a trade a year ago or so. Liverpool B could put double digits past them. Not worth it. Forfeit, rest. Don't risk anymore. We are already 2 games behind.

Although it's understandable in the current climate, it's very frustrating we can't get our work done early. Using Douglas Luiz as an example is seems pretty critical thst a player gets a pre season or time to train for 3-4 weeks solid with the team.

No he went to Southampton. For a modest 13 million.

Favourites to sign Watkins and Benrahma via odds checker. Aston Villa are favourites to sign two of Brentford's star players, Ollie Watkins and Said Benrahma.   Former Bees boss Dean Smith on the hunt for attacking talent. #AVFC

I call it the Scott Sinclair test. He was a bad player, sitting on the bench in our worst team ever. Went to Celtic and looked a world beater for a couple of seasons. 40 million for any player from the Scottish league is a huge huge huge risk. That said 25-30 million for a Watkins whose only played in the championship is as well!

Birmingham mail reporting we are are in for Edouard from Celtic. 40 million. Birmingham Mail

He takes a good set piece. With Jack earning so many fouls being able to capitalise on them will make a big difference.

Agreed. Benhrama is a good player but he has absolutely no intention of tracking back. Can't be carrying a player in the Premier league.

Left a Chinese guy in charge with no real experience or UK contacts. We all know how this ends.

Pretty much every signing last summer (except the expected mings and el ghazi) came out of the blue. No clues, press briefings or rumours before.

He is quick, technically good and puts the ball in the back of the net. He's also proved. When 40 million gets you joelinton and half of Harry maguire he's a steal.

Werner had a release clause. Bayern came sniffing, essentially he signed a bumper new contract with a low release clause as long he he didn't go to Bayern. He's an elite striker, Chelsea worked wonders imo.

West broms transfer budget is around 14 pence. They'll struggle.

Their fans were on the radio last year crying about the club demanding season ticket money as early as March / April. They also pre loaned their future parachute payments. They literally had to go up this year. This season in the PL will be a case of catching up financially for them. They have a decent manager so they have a chance of staying up. If they go down it could get interesting.

Not quite ready to give up on Wesley yet, although we definitely need an additional goal scorer to compete and compliment. Preferably with Premier league experience. Someone that's strong in the air, loves scoring at Villa Park, local lad. Someone who if they signed would make Small Heath fans go beside themselves would be ideal.

Purslow and co's job is to do what is best for Aston Villa, not Jack Grealish. All this sentimental "he's too good", "he deserves the CL" doesn't wash. He freely signed a contract last year on 100k + week committing himself to Aston Villa. Reciprocally the club have to pay him his wages for 4/5 years no matter what happens. As much as I hate it, Aston Villa is a business, Grealish is a well compensated asset under contract. In order to let that asset leave we need to be compensated in such a fashion that we can buy better assets with the funds generated. The question is not what is Jack Grealish worth to Man United, it's what he's worth to us. To replace him I genuinely believe is at least 60-70million. The only way he is worth less than that is if he does a Pogba (which he won't) and refuses to play, fakes injuries etc. I genuinely fully expect him to stay, unless he surprises us all by throwing his toys out the pram. The economics have changed and I don't believe any club will offer us what we would need to replace him.