TartarugaJones

If that was the case then Benteke would be a Spurs player right now, not rocket science is it? I don't follow...?

The only somewhat mild point I made is that there's a good chance the clubs have a different valuation than the respective fans - they may not, but they may - and I posted it because some of the posts were making it sound like a battle between the clubs, and if Spurs were to transfer him for less than £25m it would be heralded as some kind of 'victory' for Levy, when in fact it's quite possible that were he to be transferred for less than that it would have been because that's the price Villa valued him at, and therefore there are no winners or losers, but two clubs having made a fair deal. That's a misuse of language by me, I'm of the strong opinion that Villa will have spoken to Kismet first, because I'm of the strong opinion that all transfers happen in this way, and that because all clubs carry out their business in this way nobody gets het up about it except for fans. I was making the same point last summer and the one before when it concerned Spurs players being targetted. I think it makes perfect sense to speak to the player and see if he wants to come, what his terms are etc before entering into negotiations with the selling club, however if the selling club says they won't sell at any price, or the price they quote is outrageously high then the buying club should then consider whether it's worth pursuing that target, not on moral grounds, but because it can end up with everyone losing, a la Chelsea and Modric. In the case of Benteke it seems Villa have said they will sell, the price they've quoted is not outrageous, and so what is left is the negotiation. The closest analogy I can think of is our sale of Carrick to Utd, or our sale of Berbatov to Utd, in both case we didn't want to sell, but had a price at which we would sell, in the first case Utd met it and the deal was done, in the second case Utd wouldn't meet it and ended up paying a premium very late in the window, whilst we also took a hit for sending out an important message. I very much hope that the Benteke saga will turn out the same way as the Carrick one, and as I said earlier in this thread, if Villa really do have a non-negotiable price, and it really is more than we're prepared to spend then we should be straight with club and player and move onto to other targets.

Actually get your facts right on AVFC about tapping up, many times under Randy Lerner and PF, we have been praised about the way we do business. Donb't think the same is said about Levy. As for your latest rumours, they're changing everyday. Thought it was all wrapped up for 23million yesterday according to Spurs ITK's. On the facts straight thing, I haven't got any facts, just opinion. On the rumour/ITK thing, I called it a rumour for a reason...

I've left in the parts of your post that interest me. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!

We as fans tend to over-rate the value of our own players and under-rate the value of players from other teams, if this is true there's at least a chance that there's a price at which Villa will sell and Spurs will buy which is higher than many Spurs fans think it should be, but lower than what many Villa fans think it should be, but at exactly the price the two clubs are happy for it to be. Anyway the latest rumours are Villa are asking £18m + add-ons + 25% sell-on, and the quibbling is over the size of the sell-on. On the one-season wonder thing, we have seen Adebayor twice have a very good season, and follow it with a very poor one: 2007/08 - 24 goals, 4 assists, 2008/09 - 10 goals, 4 assists, 2011/12 - 17 goals,11 assists, 2012/13 - 5 goals, 1 assist. Personally I think it's largely a confidence issue with Ade, but most people think it's an attitude issue, and that's also the one big negative on Benteke; how will he play if his heart isn't in it? In addition to this the very fact that he'll go on strike etc. means the selling club will be unlikely to ever realise the value his talent may warrant (in this case I'm thinking of a scenario in which in the future he wants to move on from Spurs). Both these things surely must have deflationary impact on his value? On the tapping up issue, basically I think all clubs do it, I'm certain Villa will have spoken to Kismet before speaking to Genk, and I'm sure they'd have been partially party to his strike action even if they didn't encourage it. In short, all clubs will be trying to get in their transfer targets for as little as possible, the only question-mark over these tactics and how far they should be pushed is whether they actually work, e.g. Chelsea and Modric, Berbatov and the premium Utd ended up paying to purchase him. We as fans should get our heads around this imo, and the authorities should change the law to reflect this.

Imagine a Chelsea fan coming on a Spurs board (a place for people to chat and vent about the team they love, not to be fair, reasonable, or balanced about the teams they don't!!!) a couple of seasons back and telling us how we're all delusional, that Modric of course wants to move to them, to think that he could further his career at Spurs was insanity, and that we shouldn't dare to compare ourselves in success or stature to the mighty Chelsea!!! We'd have **** him out of there in no time. The real irony being that at least in the case of Chelsea they have actually won some stuff, where as the pinnacle for us in modern times (so far) has been a couple of 4th places, and a fast receding CC win! Basically if you want to comment on other fans being delusional do it on our own boards - there a re plenty of thread for it - don't come and piss in other people's houses though, because it's **** ignorant!

What could be the possible reason for doing this...? Levy has a history of doing this. He definitely did it when we sold Robbie Keane to Liverpool. He managed to use the press to change the focus away from the fact we were yet again selling one of our prize assets, to the fight he was in with Liverpool. Our fans backed him, yet remarkably we sold Keane for the exact amount mentioned in the NOTW the day the story first broke. It was almost as if the deal had already been struck. If this time last week it was announced, out of the blue, that Benteke had been sold to Spurs for £25 million, wouldn't most on here gone mental? Lerner et al would have been crucified. But the way this story is evolving is making such a deal far more palatable. Why did Villa announce he'd made a transfer request? Often we later learn that players make these requests, but they get instantly turned down, so at the time we don't know about them. For example, the window before he joined you, Bent wanted to go to Turkey, but Sunderland refused and no one knew. I don't see the benefit of telling the world a player has asked to leave when he still has 3 years left on his contract. Why accept the request, especially given he has 3 years left on his deal? Man Utd have been very clear that Rooney isn't for sale and he's only got 2 years left. If you really want to keep him, then just say no. Surely the only reason can be that there is a price you'd actually be happy to sell at. With that in mind, why do Midlands based journalists continually talking about a £25 million fee? £25 million seems low for setting a price. If you want £25 million it would be normal to quote £30-35 million. Nothing has been said by the club itself about the actual price, but it's journalists that report on Villa and are based in Birmingham that are saying it. They aren't going to want to low ball Villa, as their livelihoods depend on good relations with the biggest club in the region. If you were trying to sell a player for £25 million, wouldn't you get your allies in the press to talk much higher numbers? Wouldn't the likes of Moxley and John Percy be suggesting figures of £30-£40 million? It seems really odd. Why would Benteke's agent seemingly be so dismissive of other viable options? I've never heard of an agent ruling out big clubs the way he has. Chelsea don't even have a decent striker at the moment bar Lukaku. It seems odd to rule them out stating worries about playing time given their strikers last season were Demba Ba and Torres. I'd imagine any £25 million striker going there would expect plenty of playing time given his competition. Can any of you remember an agent saying things like that before? If you got £25 million now, I bet most of your fans would be a lot less disappointed than they would have last week. It all seems very similar to when we sold Robbie Keane and Levy used to the media to take the focus away from the fact we were yet again selling one of our star players and onto the deal itself. Doesn't it seem to you as if the focus has now shifted onto whether Lerner can hold firm and get his £25 million? It's almost as if it's now becoming more about whether can stand firm and get the £25 million, rather than the fact another star player is being sold. I just don't get why Villa didn't flat our refuse to sell and now journalists with links to Villa and quoting £25 million. It's almost as if it's being managed so the deal is seen as a triumph. I would never had thought Levy would or could pay so much, but now I wouldn't be surprised if a deal for around £25 million was announced in the next couple of weeks. Load of bollocks!!

[Edit] Just realised you're a Spurs fan. Going to delete as I see it's annoying to most of the regulars... I don't think any of our players, other than Bale, will be on wages unaffordable to Villa. Probably what you pay Bent is equal to our top earners. If we're looking at a player plus money type deal then Gylfi's a good shout, however I think it's much better to just pay cash and if we want to recoup some of that out lay later we can always sell Gylfi (or whoever), and if you're interested at that time you can always put in a bid. Doing one transfer is hard enough, but trying to to do two at the same time and have them contingent on each other seems a nightmare!!! I agree with this. On spurs forums people are always moaning that we don't get our deal done early enough, but what they don't realise is that we're actually trying to get next year's deals done this year, and so in that context waiting until the end of the summer doesn't seem so bad! I agree that selling Bale will be huge to overcome, on the other hand I'm a great believer in the Borussia Dortmund/Arsenal approach which puts an emphasis on finding player to fit the team as a whole, rather than on any individual. I think it's very hard to do it this way, but if you can find a model that works (which basically means a player recruitment team and a coach and coaching staff), then you can end up with a team greater than the sum of it's parts. The evidence for this can often be seen when players who shone in one team are sold for mega bucks and go onto to disappoint slightly elsewhere. I think this is also the model Villa are trying to follow, and also Liverpool. It's tough, but it's how clubs of our size have to operate. I also don't think Villa are a million miles away either. The gap in points between us last season would suggest a gulf, but because I believe in this approach I also think that teams can just click, and when they do everyon'es perceptions change quickly too.

How much is Sigurdsson on and would he drop it? These type of players are out of touch whilst we have our current pay structure. Not sure what Siggi's on, but I'm guessing it's under £50k, our over all wage bill isn't a lot higher than yours, £90m to your £70m (6th and 7th highest in the PL), and the main difference will be between the absolute top earners rather than at the mid-level I'd have thought. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/apr/18/premier-league-finances-club-by-club

I've read this on here loads of times the last week or so and it just seems weird to me. I remember that season when you got all those away wins and looked nailed on for fourth and I was willing you to do it, as I reckon half the country probably was. I loath Chelsea and City and all they stand for, for all my lifer Arsenal were the ones I hated, but these days I can't find it in me (except on match days), but I always want City and Chelsea to **** it up. I even used to quite like City, and admire their fans (35k attendances in League One), but Chelsea can basically **** off, when Abramovich bought them they should have forced them to change their name or something because the Chelsea that went before, and the fans which made that club overnight became irrelevant. Without being bailed out they'd have done a Leeds, and that year you almost came fourth you would have been! I think that what I'm saying makes sense, feel rivalry for the proper clubs, but contempt for the plastic ones, so what I don't get is why all the love for plastic Chelsea and City on here, and the hatred for a rival, but a proper club like we are? We can still catch Spurs and Liverpool in the next few years but Chelsea and City might as well be playing in a different league. They are not on our radar. I've read this on here loads of times the last week or so and it just seems weird to me. I remember that season when you got all those away wins and looked nailed on for fourth and I was willing you to do it, as I reckon half the country probably was. I loath Chelsea and City and all they stand for, for all my lifer Arsenal were the ones I hated, but these days I can't find it in me (except on match days), but I always want City and Chelsea to **** it up. I even used to quite like City, and admire their fans (35k attendances in League One), but Chelsea can basically **** off, when Abramovich bought them they should have forced them to change their name or something because the Chelsea that went before, and the fans which made that club overnight became irrelevant. Without being bailed out they'd have done a Leeds, and that year you almost came fourth you would have been! I think that what I'm saying makes sense, feel rivalry for the proper clubs, but contempt for the plastic ones, so what I don't get is why all the love for plastic Chelsea and City on here, and the hatred for a rival, but a proper club like we are? It's not about City Or Chelsea "love" mate it's about the fact that we know we realistically have no chance of ever catching them. Why should we strengthen our competitors? Even if Spurs are ahead of us now. I know what you mean there, I'd prefer Bale to go abroad rather than to an English club, and felt the same about Modric. On the other hand there seems to be a genuine visceral loathing amongst some on here for us, but nothing like the same level of vitriol aimed at City, or Chelsea, despite both historically being smaller, less successful clubs than Villa. I guess part of that is because the circumstance of the current Benteke thing, and also not helped when smarmy Spurs fans come posting on your boards too (sorry for that ), but if it were coming down to the wire and it looked like being between say Spurs, Liverpool, and Arsenal for that third, fourth spot who do you reckon most on here would want to miss out? I can say if Villa were in that mix, and we weren't, I'd 100% want Villa to do it!

I've read this on here loads of times the last week or so and it just seems weird to me. I remember that season when you got all those away wins and looked nailed on for fourth and I was willing you to do it, as I reckon half the country probably was. I loath Chelsea and City and all they stand for, for all my lifer Arsenal were the ones I hated, but these days I can't find it in me (except on match days), but I always want City and Chelsea to **** it up. I even used to quite like City, and admire their fans (35k attendances in League One), but Chelsea can basically **** off, when Abramovich bought them they should have forced them to change their name or something because the Chelsea that went before, and the fans which made that club overnight became irrelevant. Without being bailed out they'd have done a Leeds, and that year you almost came fourth you would have been! I think that what I'm saying makes sense, feel rivalry for the proper clubs, but contempt for the plastic ones, so what I don't get is why all the love for plastic Chelsea and City on here, and the hatred for a rival, but a proper club like we are?

Off topic, but here's our starting line-up for next season, as it stands: Lloris (26) Walker (23) Kaboul (27) Vertonghen (26) Rose (23) Paulinho (24) Sandro (24) Dembele (25) Lennon (26) Adebayor (29) Bale (23) Subs: Holtby (22) Townsend (21) Carroll (21) Naughton (24) Sigurdsson (23) Friedel (42) Defoe (31) Dempsey (30) Parker (32) Huddlestone (26) BAE (29) Of the above the one's we're looking to shift are the ageing players (obviously), our oldest first 11 player is under 30, the average age of the first 11 is 25. Basically it's a squad full of players in their prime. In fairness not a bad team, maybe you should offer it to PL in exchange for CB Big problem Mr.Spud is Adebayor is gone and you have no strikers.......... who is more desperate for Benteke? I think we hold all the cards on this one jog on! I think you do too.There's no way we'll get Benteke. Adebayor hasn't been sold btw. I hope we don't as I rate him, just think he's a confidence player, I also believe in regression to the mean

Off topic, but here's our starting line-up for next season, as it stands: Lloris (26) Walker (23) Kaboul (27) Vertonghen (26) Rose (23) Paulinho (24) Sandro (24) Dembele (25) Lennon (26) Adebayor (29) Bale (23) Subs: Caulker (21) Dawson (29) Holtby (22) Townsend (21) Carroll (21) Naughton (24) Sigurdsson (23) Friedel (42) Defoe (31) Dempsey (30) Parker (32) Huddlestone (26) BAE (29) Of the above the one's we're looking to shift are the ageing players (obviously), our oldest first 11 player is under 30, the average age of the first 11 is 25. Basically it's a squad full of players in their prime.

Well if you admit it, why on earth do you feel in any kind of position to say what level of fee is justified and what isn't? Do you not see how daft that sounds? You haven't seen enough of him to have an informed opinion. I've already told you why I think he is a talent, seemingly either you aren't convinced by what I've said or haven't read it or think I should spend more time trying to convince you. I'm not going to do the later and I can't do much about the former. The goals scored is significant, the variety in type of goals scored is significant, his age is significant and the fact so many of his goals came in the second half of the season is significant. Just remind me, when exactly did Andy Carroll score 19 PL goals? I would also point out that take a look at his fee when he joined Newcastle or the fee West Ham paid for him this summer. Then try and tell me a player who has just turned 22, has scored the goals Benteke scored in our team and was in the running for young PFA player of the year isn't worth £25m in this market. It matters not what you think of him as a player, in the PL transfer market that is the value that sort of player can command. Like it or not. With respect, you are missing quite a bit and by all accounts around 37 games and 70 odd minutes. You appear to be making your assessment on the player and his worth on the basis of 20 mins of a game in which we were playing a significantly superior side who had some months earlier put 8 past us. We therefore didn't exactly go for their throats in the first 20 mins, so we weren't committing players forward so Benteke wasn't much in the game during this spell. I guess it depends what you want from a striker, if you want someone to chase defenders Benteke might not be the man. If you want someone to be able to score 20+ league goals a season even with poor service he has already shown he is the man. Had you had him this season you would likely be playing CL next season. I'd imagine you are perhaps drawing mental comparison to Bent when you talk about his lack of movement off the ball, there is no similarity to be drawn believe me. Yes it is one season in the PL but what a season it has been, can you name me a striker who has had as good a season in their first season in the PL at the age of 21? I rather suspect you might struggle. You might not particularly rate him, but plenty of others do including those fellow pro's who voted him in the running for Young PFA player of the year. You might think £25m is ridiculous for a player with one season in the PL but put it this way, if he repeats it next season what is he then worth? Ultimately it is up to Villa to state what he is available for, Spurs can either match that price, try and get us to lower it or they can go away. Without meaning to sound rude, I rather suspect your scouts have done a bit more of a thorough scouting job than you've managed and like us, they realise how good a player he is and if they are honest they probably know he is worth the figures being talked about. I don't blame them for trying to get him for less, but in a market that see's Henderson join Liverpool for £20m Benteke is worth at least £25m. You might think that crazy but that is the market. Take it or leave it. I admit to all you say. I haven't watched him enough to form a decent opinion, which was my point. What I have seen hasn't made me think he's amazing, so I'm interested to know why you think he's amazing, how does he compare to Berbatov of two or three years ago for example? On the goals scored thing, I think that they are significant, but as you say it's only one season, if he'd done it for consecutive seasons then I think £25m would have been a fair evaluation, in fact any player who's scored a hatful for two season in a row is worth a look at, but atm I'm worried he's this seasons Andy Carroll. Tell that to my wife But seriously, I watch just about every game Spurs play, then a fair few of the other big games, but in all honesty I'm not going to spend my weekends watching Villa am I? When you come on MotD, when we play you, and then trying to get an idea of the quality of Benteke... that seems a decent amount of football watching to me!! I don't think Arsenal or Chelsea want him, both have bigger fish to fry... if Arsenal were interested I'm sure he'd be there in a shot... in the case of Chelsea it seems he thinks he won't get enough game time. Just watch the game away to liverpool, then you will see what he is capable of. Your comparison with berbertov is invalid. Benteke bests 90% of defenders for both strength and pace (Berbertov is not in the same league physically) Benteke puts himself about, he may not charge round the pitch like a headless chicken but he always closes down the closest defender and for us he saw so much of the ball as not only was he our main outlet, but also our most creative attacker. He doesn't have the same composure and touch that Berbertov has but the fact is he is a much more well round player. He is the complete striker. Power, pace, decent first touch, can dribble, can shoot long, places his shoots, the highest leap in the league, and over the second half of the season he became much more clinical too. I don't see how he can be a one season wonder unless he completely loses his head or injury destroy's him. He has all the talents to be the best out and out striker in the world, period! Believe it or not that's the information I was looking for... I was giving an opinion based on my honestly admitted lack of knowledge, i.e. I don't know enough, but based on the little I do know I think... but can you inform me why that's wrong. Based on what you've been saying I'm a lot more excited about the prospect of potentially signing him. That said, also from what you've said, sadly (but happily for you guys) I think there's no chance, it seems there's potentially three strikers we can sign: Soldado, Benteke, Damiao. Of the three though Damiao is reportedly the cheapest option, Soldado the most reliable, and Benteke potentially the most exciting, knowing our budget, the fact that we're a mid-sized club like yourselves, and that AVB supposedly really rates Damiao I think that's who we'll plump for. I think having Benteke on a three year contract puts all the cards in your hands, and you'd be mad to sell him for less than you value him, because you could sell him for the same or more next season. The only question in my mind is whether Villa really value him as highly as you lot all say, or whether that £25m is the first price in the negotiation. If £25m really is the price then I hope Levy cops on quickly, decides if he wants to pay it, and if he doesn't withdraws from the negotiation with respect. I'd absolutely hate it if we went down the Chelsea, Utd, Real type route and try to destabilise the player. If we don't want to pay the fee, then we should move on and let everyone know that's what we're doing. That's what all clubs of our size need to do. Dortmund's CL final squad was put together on a shoe-string, Reus cost £15m, all the other players under £5m. I agree with your sentiment though, if we want to target players of Benteke's quality then we have to stump up, otherwise we need to do like you did and take a gamble on this year's Benteke, signing a less well known player for under £10m.

With respect, you are missing quite a bit and by all accounts around 37 games and 70 odd minutes. You appear to be making your assessment on the player and his worth on the basis of 20 mins of a game in which we were playing a significantly superior side who had some months earlier put 8 past us. We therefore didn't exactly go for their throats in the first 20 mins, so we weren't committing players forward so Benteke wasn't much in the game during this spell. I guess it depends what you want from a striker, if you want someone to chase defenders Benteke might not be the man. If you want someone to be able to score 20+ league goals a season even with poor service he has already shown he is the man. Had you had him this season you would likely be playing CL next season. I'd imagine you are perhaps drawing mental comparison to Bent when you talk about his lack of movement off the ball, there is no similarity to be drawn believe me. Yes it is one season in the PL but what a season it has been, can you name me a striker who has had as good a season in their first season in the PL at the age of 21? I rather suspect you might struggle. You might not particularly rate him, but plenty of others do including those fellow pro's who voted him in the running for Young PFA player of the year. You might think £25m is ridiculous for a player with one season in the PL but put it this way, if he repeats it next season what is he then worth? Ultimately it is up to Villa to state what he is available for, Spurs can either match that price, try and get us to lower it or they can go away. Without meaning to sound rude, I rather suspect your scouts have done a bit more of a thorough scouting job than you've managed and like us, they realise how good a player he is and if they are honest they probably know he is worth the figures being talked about. I don't blame them for trying to get him for less, but in a market that see's Henderson join Liverpool for £20m Benteke is worth at least £25m. You might think that crazy but that is the market. Take it or leave it. I admit to all you say. I haven't watched him enough to form a decent opinion, which was my point. What I have seen hasn't made me think he's amazing, so I'm interested to know why you think he's amazing, how does he compare to Berbatov of two or three years ago for example? On the goals scored thing, I think that they are significant, but as you say it's only one season, if he'd done it for consecutive seasons then I think £25m would have been a fair evaluation, in fact any player who's scored a hatful for two season in a row is worth a look at, but atm I'm worried he's this seasons Andy Carroll. Tell that to my wife But seriously, I watch just about every game Spurs play, then a fair few of the other big games, but in all honesty I'm not going to spend my weekends watching Villa am I? When you come on MotD, when we play you, and then trying to get an idea of the quality of Benteke... that seems a decent amount of football watching to me!! I don't think Arsenal or Chelsea want him, both have bigger fish to fry... if Arsenal were interested I'm sure he'd be there in a shot... in the case of Chelsea it seems he thinks he won't get enough game time.

yep. You give us 30M and we give you Benteke Depends on what he's worth next summer and whether we're still interested...

Well that's what I was saying in my first post that I hope we don't do, and hope doesn't happen. I don't think we've crossed the line yet, but if we start seeing us playing silly-buggers I'll be very disappointed, primarily because I think everyone ends up a loser that way!

Nice to have you on here, Just a few things think its gone past Levy behaving nicely, if you think he or your club have nothing to do with Benteke transfer request then I'd say you need to catch up with what goes on. You do not want to pay what we want, this will be a deadlock IMHO. I think all clubs tap up players before speaking to clubs. It would be crazy to go through all the effort of negotiating a price with a club only to find a player wasn't interested, plus it can make the price cheaper if the player wants to come and doesn't want to stay. Imo the madness is the rule which says you shouldn't tap up, when it's unenforceable, and flagrantly ignored. What we're actually talking about is a food-chain - real or perceived - which sees clubs trying to poach the best players available to them. Villa and Spurs do it, City and Utd, Preston and Barnet... In the case of this transfer I don't want Levy to behave nicely just for the sake of it, but because I think the alternative will be the worst of all worlds both for us and for you. It's not worth playing the games if you don't end up winning, and I don't think Levy will win!! If I were a spurs fan - I would want my club to pay £25m for Bentekke. He's only only 22 and scored 19 goals - and created in 40% of villa's other goals. Ive been watching villa for 40 years - In my opinion he really is that good. If you kept Bale and had Bentekke - I have you as a good outside bet for the prem title next year. The only doubts I have are:- He only has one season in the prem Towards the end of season other seemed to try and wind him up - and Bentekke took the bait. But I really think he would be last peice of the jigsaw for you. I agree with almost all of your post except your valuation of him. The guy just scored 19 PL goals in his first season, in a struggling side and has just turned 22. Add to this the fact most of his goals came in the later stages of the season once he adapted and you start to see the true potential of what he can do. He scores from range and in close, he scores headers for fun and with both feet. He can play in behind people or with his back to goal and can play other people in. Compare his stats for goals and assists to Suarez last season, then take into account his age, the time it took for him to settle, the team he was playing in and his attitude/behaviour. Then come back and tell me he isn't worth £25m. As you say, you've watched him from afar a couple of times so that isn't really any basis to judge the fee. Realistically, forgetting the fact I'm a Villa fan and just looking at it in pure footballing worth I think he is closer to being worth £30m. That is without taking into account our desire not to sell him and the premium that puts on prices. He was, I think I'm right in saying, the 4th highest league scorer in Europe post Christmas behind the finest names there are out there. If you get him, you will get a gem of a player but hopefully you pay the price for doing so. Other than that I agree with you. As with most fans I only see players from my own team regularly, and the players of other teams if they play in high-profile matches, or against us, for this reason I haven't seen a lot of Benteke. I did go onto a site this morning and watch the first 20 minutes of your match against Chelsea, just to see what impression I could glean, and to have a comparison between him and a similar player in Ba. The impression I got was that he's a very good hold-up player, he won most balls which were cleared in his direction, and got involved in a couple of good moves, and scored a great goal, what concerned me though was he seemed a bit lazy off the ball, and just kind of strolled around when you didn't have the ball. He also looked a bit clumsy - and this came across in the youtube clips too - no where near as cultured as a Berbatov for instance. For me, it may well be that he goes onto become the next Drogba, but I'm not convinced. People point to a decent first season in the PL and that should be taken into account, but it is only one season, and £25m is a ridiculous amount for a player with a single season and all those question-marks attached. You guys have seen him more though so perhaps you can tell me what I'm missing? I also want to reiterate that this is not in anyway saying he should be sold for less than it's thought he's worth, if it's though he's worth £25m+ then that's the price which should be hold out for, and anyone trying to buy him for less should be told to do one. Sorry you just contradicted yourself, you stated you hope Levy doesn't do a Man Utd or a Chelsea, but then congratulate him on doing it. I don't think I did. I think every club taps up players before making a bid for them, Utd and Chelsea went a step further and spent the entire respective windows briefing their friends in the press and refusing to pay the asking price. Both Berbatov and Modric had a price we'd have been prepared to sell at, in the case of Berbatov it was around £25m, for Modric closer to £40m. Ironically Utd ended up spending over £30m on Berba, so a £7m premium and **** their own season a little, and our's a lot. In the case of Chelsea they simply failed and we sold him to someone else the following year. I'm suggesting that having established the player wants to come (if we have established that) we should not then try and over lever that position by putting in ridiculous low-ball bids in the hope that the player strikes and turns Villa into a stressed seller, if that happens I can only foresee a similar kind of outcome to those outlined, instead we should establish in fairly short order the actual price Villa are prepared to sell at (be that £40m, £30m, £25m, £20m whatever...) decide if we think he's worth it, if he is pay up, if he isn't, shake Villa's hand, inform the player we can't afford him and move onto our next target. If we do that, then Villa will respect it, the player will have to, and if at a later date Villa decide they do want to sell him and we're still interested there's a chance we can come to an agreement.

Nice to have you on here, Just a few things think its gone past Levy behaving nicely, if you think he or your club have nothing to do with Benteke transfer request then I'd say you need to catch up with what goes on. You do not want to pay what we want, this will be a deadlock IMHO. I think all clubs tap up players before speaking to clubs. It would be crazy to go through all the effort of negotiating a price with a club only to find a player wasn't interested, plus it can make the price cheaper if the player wants to come and doesn't want to stay. Imo the madness is the rule which says you shouldn't tap up, when it's unenforceable, and flagrantly ignored. What we're actually talking about is a food-chain - real or perceived - which sees clubs trying to poach the best players available to them. Villa and Spurs do it, City and Utd, Preston and Barnet... In the case of this transfer I don't want Levy to behave nicely just for the sake of it, but because I think the alternative will be the worst of all worlds both for us and for you. It's not worth playing the games if you don't end up winning, and I don't think Levy will win!! If I were a spurs fan - I would want my club to pay £25m for Bentekke. He's only only 22 and scored 19 goals - and created in 40% of villa's other goals. Ive been watching villa for 40 years - In my opinion he really is that good. If you kept Bale and had Bentekke - I have you as a good outside bet for the prem title next year. The only doubts I have are:- He only has one season in the prem Towards the end of season other seemed to try and wind him up - and Bentekke took the bait. But I really think he would be last peice of the jigsaw for you. I agree with almost all of your post except your valuation of him. The guy just scored 19 PL goals in his first season, in a struggling side and has just turned 22. Add to this the fact most of his goals came in the later stages of the season once he adapted and you start to see the true potential of what he can do. He scores from range and in close, he scores headers for fun and with both feet. He can play in behind people or with his back to goal and can play other people in. Compare his stats for goals and assists to Suarez last season, then take into account his age, the time it took for him to settle, the team he was playing in and his attitude/behaviour. Then come back and tell me he isn't worth £25m. As you say, you've watched him from afar a couple of times so that isn't really any basis to judge the fee. Realistically, forgetting the fact I'm a Villa fan and just looking at it in pure footballing worth I think he is closer to being worth £30m. That is without taking into account our desire not to sell him and the premium that puts on prices. He was, I think I'm right in saying, the 4th highest league scorer in Europe post Christmas behind the finest names there are out there. If you get him, you will get a gem of a player but hopefully you pay the price for doing so. Other than that I agree with you. As with most fans I only see players from my own team regularly, and the players of other teams if they play in high-profile matches, or against us, for this reason I haven't seen a lot of Benteke. I did go onto a site this morning and watch the first 20 minutes of your match against Chelsea, just to see what impression I could glean, and to have a comparison between him and a similar player in Ba. The impression I got was that he's a very good hold-up player, he won most balls which were cleared in his direction, and got involved in a couple of good moves, and scored a great goal, what concerned me though was he seemed a bit lazy off the ball, and just kind of strolled around when you didn't have the ball. He also looked a bit clumsy - and this came across in the youtube clips too - no where near as cultured as a Berbatov for instance. For me, it may well be that he goes onto become the next Drogba, but I'm not convinced. People point to a decent first season in the PL and that should be taken into account, but it is only one season, and £25m is a ridiculous amount for a player with a single season and all those question-marks attached. You guys have seen him more though so perhaps you can tell me what I'm missing? I also want to reiterate that this is not in anyway saying he should be sold for less than it's thought he's worth, if it's though he's worth £25m+ then that's the price which should be hold out for, and anyone trying to buy him for less should be told to do one.

Spurs fan here. I think this whole situation is a bit shit and totally understand where most of you lot are coming from. Basically the whole process of signing a player seems like bullshit. As a Spurs fan we've had to put up with it for years, in recent memory first it was Carrick (although in his case we agreed the fee pretty quickly), then the whole Berbatov saga, then Modric to Chelsea, and next it will be Bale. One thing I thought Levy got right in most of those negotiations was he didn't let himself be bullied by a player who went on strike. In the case of Berbatov he went right down to the wire to the extent that it **** our season quite badly, but for me it was worth it because it sent a message to Utd, other clubs, and players that it wasn't worth playing those games. Next to try was Chelsea, and here the message was reinforced, we kept the player and he played very well for us in the subsequent season and then we sold him to a club of our choice and not the one that had tried so hard to unsettle him. Then this summer comes along and Real start making a big play for Bale and Levy says he's not interested, but the player (perhaps?) decides he can't stomach the fight and so to does Perez with miracle of miracles Real backing down. The moral of the tale being that sometimes you have to be prepared to screw yourself in the short-term for longer term gain! On the Benteke thing then I think that Villa need to decide what price they think he's worth. If it's truly £25m, if they think he'll be worth than that next year, and will add a lot to the side in the mean-time then they should hang on to him. Personally having watched him a few times I wouldn't value him anywhere near that highly, and I'd be surprised if other clubs do either, but that's not the point, Villa should have a valuation (which doesn't have to be the first price they set-out in the negotiation) and not sell him for less than that. Which brings me to our potential involvement in this deal. I really, really hope that Levy doesn't try and play games on this one, I hope he doesn't try and do a Utd, or a Chelsea on you guys because if he does I think everyone loses, and if I were Villa I'd play the same trick on us as we did on those other clubs. Surely Levy gets this though? I think it's perfectly reasonable to test the water with a low-ball offer, because that's all part of the negotiation, but at the same time we should quickly move towards the price we're willing to pay, and if that happens to be too low for Villa, then we should shake their hands and move on to a different target. Basically I don't think we should try and leverage a player's discontent to get a better price, Benteke's already done what he's done and that should be it, now negotiate like grown-ups and do our best to reach a deal.

Hi, Spurs fan here, come in peace, obviously drawn by the Benteke connection, interested to read the views of Villa fans and would like to put my own (respectful) tuppence worth in.