hanxamillion

Well simply put the transfer window is not yet closed and there will be some teams selling players that they don't want to ( eg rooney bale suarez maybe ) and the proceeds would finance knock on purchases which affect what could happen to our highly rated striker.

Would you say then BG if an offer came in for him which was in the region of say the Carroll transfer the club would reject it The've missed out on one striker already, the suarez deal is a long way off sorted if liverpool want 50 mill so given that the season start is now on the horizon (especially there first game) who knows what they might do ?? stranger things have happened and when was it that our christian arrived at villa park exactly ?

Spurs are also close (apparently) to signing Soldado though. Adeybayour is still in turkey he's maybe gone ? the'll need more than soldado,dempsy and defoe you know - they are a CL team after all.....?

Great post Macca 100% agree. I hate the shit that Bannan has received and Bennett is currently getting. If Bennett doesn't play much this season then the "rent a gob" fans will be looking for their next victim unfortunately it may be Clark. That doesn't mean I support every player like Hutton although I would not give the opposition the advantage by slating a Villa player at a game. I believe that the young players that have come through the ranks deserve our support even if they aren't quite good enough, Lambert will get rid if he thinks they can't do a job for Villa however it seems not before these mouth pieces have destroyed any confidence the player had. 100% Over the passed couple of years the crowd expectancy and vocal disapproval that sometimes cascades from the stands does put extra pressure on the team. In my opinion the play has at times been conservative and cautious as a result of this. Continuing to concede late goals and losing / drawing games we could have won and so on - the disapproval piled on pressure to the players to perform and given the're relative lack of experience in either 1st team appearances or playing in front of large crowds has contributed to the drop in form of quiet a few promising players over this time. Bradford and Millwall seemed to be the watershed for me and I think we all suddenly realized the team needed our SUPPORT and nothing else. It's something that Lambert mentioned from the time he came in and hopefully under his guidance we are now full steam ahead in the right direction. For me the jury is out on Clark and the competition for places will mean unless he comes up to the mark and standard required he'll be in the reserves for some time. Bannan has had his chances and had he got stuck into the task like Sylla has he may have made a better job of his opportunity. Ce La Vie £20k at week they do have a part to play and the clock is ticking. We've still got our job to do in encouraging them all when they pull on the shirt. This time next year we could be league champions

Well her's my two penneth ! I am 90 % sure he's staying and all the signs on our side of the fence are now very good. However IF Spurs sell Bale to RM they could come back with 40 mill. and I THINK that could tempt Lerner to sell. OR If Arsenal fail to land Suarez and have got used to the idea of spending 40 mill they could turn there attentions to Benteke. (especially if he gets a hat trick at the emirates). Just saying like, Roll on September 2nd - or whenever the deadline actually is. UTV

Thing is Baker makes good tackles, win headers - that makes his mistakes excusable. Clark is mediocre, then drops a clanger, which makes it less excusable. To be fair any player can make mistakes it's just that in front of the goal it too often means a goal against I think Vlaar has had his share too. Part of the team building process is not conceding as a unit and would LOVE to see a clean sheet soon........Luton would be a good place to start ffs. Really hope Okora turns out to be a step up on all of them and he can raise the bar. With better combative midfielders and Luna in for Bennett hopefully the'll be less pressure on the two Central defenders anyway.

I could see Okora coming in for either Vlaar or Baker depending on form / clean sheets etc. But would wean him in he's only 20 I believe Baker has done enough last year to get the nod - initially anyway.

Results, goals conceded and defensive errors seemed to improve last season with the Baker Vlaar central defensive partnership after he came back from international duty injured. Maybe Clark could be versatile cover for most of the back four positions but I think we've all seen enough of him in the first team to know he is still 'work in progress'. Okora will be in front of him this season to prove himself, not sure Clark was worth the 3 year new contract to be honest - would have offered him a 1 year extension for his EFFORTS but not necessarily his results.

I see Helenius as more target man and Weimanns work rate gets him in my starting 11 every time. - Tonev or Helenius could come on as a sub depending on how it all works out

Assuming all players are available my first 11 would be as follows - 1 Guzan 2 Luna 4 Baker 5 Vlaar © 3 Lowton 6 Sylla 7 Westwood 8 Bacuna 10 Weimann 11 Agbonlahor 9 Benteke With Bennett, Okora, Clark and Herd as defensive back up Delph,Tonev, El Ahmadi , Gardner, and Johnson midfield cover and N'zogbia, Heleinas, Bowrey and Carruthers forward options Depending on the form / rotation policy and tactics relating to the opposition this seems to me the best formation

Was at the game yesterday and have to say it was very disappointing how easy the second goal was for them to score, it really seemed like deja ve from some of last season's dark days. Without blaming any of the players I felt when Baker came on in the second half he seemed up to speed and dealt with most of the threats well. ( it was at the other end though and I could be mistaken). Big season for concrete Ron he's big and strong but not as mobile as some on the pitch. Fairly composed on the ball - the Wycombe forwards were quite intense pushing for tackles and regaining possession etc. For me i'd start with Luna, Vlaar, Baker and Lowton, I know Okora is injured but even when fit I think he'll need a steady introduction to the vigours of the premier league. We all know what could happen when an inexperienced defence faces the top premiership forwards. I think Clark is still learning his trade a little and will hopefully prove to be a great all round defender in the future, really happy with competition for places and it looks like most of the players are bothered about getting a crack at the first team. UTV

Nobody knows how much he was offered. Clearly he wasn't happy with whatever it was, my point is how does he negotiate for more ? transfer request is the way he has chosen( it's the best way fo rhis agent to get his hand on some more money too). the rest of the spurs interest / how much is he to be sold for / won't turn up for training / go on strike - is all cockney press speculation.

Still think he's doing what most would have done after scoring 23 goals in his first season and then be offered around 40K a week as a wage increase in the premier league. He's trying the club's resolve in the best way he can by asking for a transfer. IF we get any offers for him we can then consider how much he is worth to keep him pay wise or if we sell then to the highest bidder. The best solution is a performance related deal e.g. games played / £25K each goal bonus he scores - £10K for assists, along with the whole team getting a reward for final league position / points won. This time next season who knows how much better / worse he maybe ?

I've got the Stoke match on my DVR and watched it again the other day, CB really had a very poor game. His goal was well-taken but it's the only worthwhile thing he did in the whole match. He let Shawcross and Huth bully him the whole time, and just kept petulantly appealing to the ref for fouls that were clearly never going to get called. That was one of his off-days (and he still got a goal out of it). Delph was the real stand-out for us in the Stoke match (and of course Lowton's screamer). Sunderland was CB's highlight match for sure. But the Stoke match reminded me that he is still very much the unfinished article. He's also got some disciplnary issues, like grabbing Bassong by the throat in the Norwich game, throwing the elbow and kicking John Terry in the chest in the Chelsea game, etc. I think that's why we're not seeing much interest other than Spurs, and why Spurs are reluctant to value him as highly as we do. Was at the stoke game and although we outplayed them for 70 minutes Benteke really did not play well at all. At the time i felt that maybe he had been told to keep away from the thuggish challenges with the stoke center half's as we would need him fit for the rest of the season. If you watch closely he hardly challenged for any of the 50 / 50 aerial battles, more waiting for the second ball or knock down from the defenders who anticipated his challenge. He still has a lot to learn to be in the same class as Drogba although i'm sure he's had his fair share of knocks coming from the Belgium league and on the international front too. A little short tempered maybe - given the petulant transfer request he has put in.

Got to be £30 million to START a negotiation about IF we want to keep him - how much more we are prepared to pay him OR if we want to sell him to a team that we will be competing with next season ( if spurs do table an offer). We could still get a CL club in for him ie ci£eh or elsewhere in Europe. If he's going I would prefer he goes abroad - he might do our defense some damage if we have to play against him. I have seen posts referring to the fact that he actually wants to go to spurs ? I think this is just the're fans wishful thinking - David Villa was going there last week and he has moved for less than £5 mill.

If we do somehow hold onto Benteke he will easily score 25+ Premier League goals next season.I base this on 2 key factors: 1. Benteke is World Class. 2. We will be a far better team next season. It's not that easy and the whole league will be more wary of his potential this time around. Don't get me wrong he's a great prospect - and i'd love him to do even better for us this season but it's a tough league and he's still a very raw talent. Defenders will be out to rough him up a bit - he might retaliate like he did against chelski and get sent off.

'I also believe that unlike Barry, there will be no depreciation in the value of Benteke if we do somehow manage to hang onto him.' That's the £50 million pound question, if he improves he'll be one hell of a player and would command a mega pay deal and transfer fee from Europe's finest BUT if he turns into a one season wonder then the reluctance of any team stumping up what he's worth to us at this moment is probably justified. Ah well............... best just get on with the new season with him in the Villa line up.

It's pretty much what we did with Gareth Barry, we got another season out of him - pushed for Europe etc. and still got a decent price for him ( considering his age) with only 1 year on his contract. I understood during the season that Lambert told journalists that £25 mill wouldn't get anyone around a negotiating table. It's GOT to be £30 mill or above - and spurs won't stump that up. The only ones that might are Chelski and Ci£eh that's if they havn't got enough strikers already

he's worth £30 million + to us and we have no reason to sell for any less. I still think he's mainly trying to get a better pay deal with us or see who comes in for him. I'm not convinced he actually wants out, after all he seemed to enjoy the games he played for us and got on well with team mates and fans etc. Asking for a transfer is the best way for him to get what he wants / better wages etc. .If he replicates or improves on last season maybe a ridiculous offer in January could prise him away, however we could be pushing for Europe / silverware ourselves this year Thing is, the club are in a sticky position whilst they have people like Bent and Ireland sitting around doing nout for 60+ k a week, and we are offering our best player and one that arguably saved the club millions by scoring the goals to keep us up, is offered considerably less. All it does is give his weasel Agent something to bite on. tbh i really don't get why that ireland guy gets 60K/week and benteke got only offered 40K? he singlehanded saved villa from relegation. while ireland was watching him do that from te **** bench... Thing is that bent, ireland and others were all part of previous regime's dealings PL cannot change those and has signed up to Lerner's new model for the club. With a new wage structure in place we would have off - loaded some these first before addressing what Benteke is really worth to us in terms of wages. He's forced the issue somewhat and will obviously get a hefty pay rise from somewhere. His agent would benefit most from a move elsewhere and as Benteke is his main client he'll be pushing for a move to get his cut. Best to offer Benteke a performance related deal £15k / £30k a goal that he scores for us on top of a wage rise. Still no bids in from Laandaan ??

he's worth £30 million + to us and we have no reason to sell for any less. I still think he's mainly trying to get a better pay deal with us or see who comes in for him. I'm not convinced he actually wants out, after all he seemed to enjoy the games he played for us and got on well with team mates and fans etc. Asking for a transfer is the best way for him to get what he wants / better wages etc. .If he replicates or improves on last season maybe a ridiculous offer in January could prise him away, however we could be pushing for Europe / silverware ourselves this year

I am absolutely certain neither PL or anyone else at the club had any ambition to move him on this transfer window and that has not changed now. We are in a strong position and hopefully the deadline we have set will pass without a suitable offer for him. My original post referred to the fact that it is REPORTED that we have offered to double his £20k a week wages and this, we would all agree is the least he should be offered in light of his first season here. The attempted clarification was in response to your own guess that we have offered him more already. I'm not really into guessing as to what may or may have happened, I am frustrated that he has asked for a transfer but LOOKING AT THINGS NOW feel he has perhaps just done what many would do in the present circumstances i.e. get a much better pay deal here with us or see what else gets put on the table from elsewhere. It would appear that most of the CL teams have not felt like he is worth the risk of £30 mill + and only the cockney press favorites are supposedly preparing bids....................?

I still think he is testing both how much we will increase his wages by and also who - if anyone comes in for him. I would guess that we have not offered him any more than the reported 20k a week more for good reason - that we need to off load some of the high earners that Lambert feels are of no use to the new evolving team before committing to more than we could get away with. Given also that we have just signed 6 new players, those fee's and the future wages for them probably account for £20 mill over the next few years. As he has three years still to go on his contract his value to us on the back of 23 goals last year is understandably high - we will be severely tested on how much this is IF and WHEN any actual bids come in, and still choose whether to cash in now or pay him what he is currently worth. the performance related pay would be the best way for us . If we keep him, he value would obviously increase over the next year if maintains or improves on last year and obviously go down if he fails to continue in the form he has achieved. Good reason for the 4 year contracts we seem to offer most up and coming players.

Just as a certain Mr Rooney used this 'put in a transfer request' a couple of years ago when he felt he was worth more than he was being paid, Benteke has PERHAPS been advised by his money grabbing agent that he should try it on also. Him doing the same would achieve one of two things :- 1. He gets a move to a CL club this transfer window and his present club gets a decent amount of compensation ( £30 mill + ) so everyone is happy ( relatively) 2. Villa are forced to offer him a lot more the the reported extra £20k a week that WE value him at, given the success he has enjoyed playing for us last season. If we were honest and looked around our dressing room through his eyes, looking at Given, Bent Ireland etc. all on 50k plus a week, how would we feel if we were being offered less considering the contribution to the season he has just had ? Knowing full well what the wages are being paid at so called bigger clubs. I was really disappointed to hear that he had put in a transfer request, the same as everyone else on here but looking at things now, even if Spurs came in with £30 million (which I don't think they will) we could still offer a higher wage deal than we have and hold him to his contract for the three remaining years. We aint going to lose him without a fight Lambert and everyone else behind the scenes are fully aware of how to play this and Benteke himself has not actually been reported to have said much about where or where not he actually wants to go too has he ? How about a performance related bonus e.g. £10k for every assist he gives us and £25k for each goal he scores us ? Just asking like .........?

Hi Been a regular viewer on the site for some time but never really felt the urge to post up until recently. Villa fan for 35 years live in east anglia so not a regular match goer but get to around 6 or so a season.

Why not take a leaf out of fergie's book for this one, put the regular first teamers on the bench to a certain extent and let the youngsters who made the club proud against juventus start the match. What an experience for them to play in front of circa 25k at villa park. Introduce gabby, milner, ash young and carew as the second half unfolds