B.Robinson

Really hope we sign this guy, as his name really reminds me of the Irish for "round of applause"

"Bualadh Bos"

pronounced:

"Boolah Bus"

Such a shame if he goes.  It's not even like you could say "well if we had another striker, he probably would be on a similar tally", because a good few of Benteke's goals have been right out of the top drawer.  That and the sheer power of the man holding off defenders.  I'd say in 5 years we may be looking at a real world beater.

Maybe Palacios just didn't suit Pulis' team.  Give him a chance.  At the very least he might injure Bannan in training.

Now, I suspect you Villa fans out there are hoping your soon-to-be new signing Yacouba Sylla is a battle-hardened Patrick Vieria clone ready to add some authority to the their club's midfield, as well as possessing the goal-scoring touch of Frank Lampard and the silky skills of David Silva.

Sorry but French football expert Matt Spiro has some bad news: "Yacouba Sylla is an intriguing signing for Aston Villa. He's a big, strong tackler who will certainly add physical presence in the middle of the park, but if Paul Lambert expects him to make an immediate impact in the Premier League he may be disappointed.

"He's only 22 and has never before played in the top flight, making 65 appearances for second-division Clermont. Although he played one game for the France Under-21s, Sylla remains relatively unknown this side of the Channel."

Not ready to make an immediate impact in the Premier League? Sounds to me like he will fit in nicely with the rest of the Aston Villa squad..."

Permit me to de-construct this "journalism"

Villa fans are hoping for a good midfielder.

French football "expert" Matt Spiro, however, is on hand with information everybody already knows from wikipedia, thus offering no further insight into the player whatsoever.

P.S. Villa are shit.

Yours,  The Beeb.

He's a DM and his name rhymes with the club, that's good enough for me.

Plus, who in their right mind would pass up on the opportunity to refine one's craft at the feet of Master Barton.

I hope to God they aren't playing this tin-pot beggar card to save a million pounds or so.

Yes, to me and you that's silly money, but we need to look at this in perspective.

The cost of being relegated is £34m, assuming we come straight back up (£45m PL TV Money we would get, minus the £1m Championship TV money and the Parachute Payment of £10m). We need 21 more points to guarantee safety, from 17 games. Every win between now and May is therefore worth £4.8m, every draw, around £1.6m. Those stakes are only going to keep increasing as the games tick down.

So to hold off on bringing in a player who could have real impact, to maybe get him cheaper in a few games' time, is unpardonably short-sighted of the club.

Better than QPR

Anton Ferdinand must have warned him about the racial abuse...

The bars around LA will think all their birthdays have come at once if both Dunne and Keane are living in the area.

The only conclusion to be drawn from JulieB's posts is that she is, in fact, in New Zealand.

If we are to be going into a frenzy whenever we don't appear to be in for a player who QPR are allegedly in for, it's going to be a very, very long transfer window. Might I remind people what blabbering hog-like media-whore is currently serving as their manager?

Not sure whether the lack of transfer goss is a good or bad thing? We all know Lambert prefers a certain discretion when dealing with potential targets.

Would have preferred the Coutinho interest to have gone by unnoticed for sure (if accurate or true). Agents, eh?

Not just Agents, agents in Italy. A country defined by its inability to keep its beak shut.

Billy Beane didn't start the moneyball approach. The film is quite deceptive in this regard. The A's were using sabermetrics long before he arrived as their GM.

He will be picked so people can get extra midfielder/striker points.

How would that work?

Delighted for Brad getting this chance. We always knew he could stop shots, but he now seems to have matured as a man, barking orders at his troops, imposing himself in his area, coming out to take crosses, etc. Also, as stated, he also seems to have learned the dark arts of Premier League keeping. I only hope that when he inevitably has a wobble that he can bounce back and not let it affect him too badly.

Hope this is the start of a decade of dominance for the big man. Still only 27, which for keepers is more or less adolescence.

So our strike force will be Bent(1+eke) for all you mathsy nerds out there.

Like the sound of Beneteke - hes a punt though - thought we would go for more experience. - but I suppose we won't get that at the price were prepared to pay.

Would like Olson\Cresswell and Charlie Adam on loan.

Poulsen has joined somebody now. Can't remember who though...

Sampdoria

I'd blast enough man-cream to fill a medium sized Easter Egg if we got 1m for Warnock.

Could that just be because you live in Georgia?

Could what just be?

The size of the portions and over-emphasis on fried food!

brazilians must have seriously calorie high diets, because it seems as soon as they stop playing football, even during the close season, they pork up an incredible amount

There's a massive Brazilian population near where I live, so there are several bakeries, cafes and such I go to occasionally. A single slice of their cake (let alone a whole meal, which is usually almost entirely meat, cheese and bread [often stuffed together and fried]) will ground me for hours, and I'm 6'7", ~235 lbs.

Could that just be because you live in Georgia?

He looks the face of Feyenoord.

£6m - £8m seems a bit steep. According to twatter, that is the fee.

Are we signing the white Ronaldinho??

Did MON use that dug-out too?

The last time I was in VP was a good few years ago for the home leg of the intertoto tie against Odense, and unless I'm mistaken we were behind the Holte-side dugout in the Trinity stand, where the Villa subs were sitting.

reports over here are that all that is missing is signature and it's a done deal for zeman, didn't know AVB was over here!

avb would be more suited to a job in italy i think though at the moment and then go for a crack at the big time again after getting his stock back up. he could try and do that with us but he wouldn't have the resources or squad that he'd have had with roma so would be a lot more difficult. then again if he got us top 6 and playing decent footy he'd be in demand again from the big names.

we really need our own zeman though! someone a bit enigmatic and mad, who plays crazy entertaining football we'd fill VP every week!

Problem with Roma though, as I'm sure you know better than anyone, is the Totti factor. AVB would basically be facing the Chelsea situation times 10 if he tried to drop him. Plus, the fans all want Zeman, there have been demonstrations on same on the Curva Sud. AVB would be up against it from day one if he took the Roma job.

Weird scenario yesterday - AVB was in Rome talking to the club, while Zeman's associates were discussing a contract with other members of the board. It looks like it's between those two for the position. However, Zeman is the fan favourite to take that job; he is respected by the players (well, most importantly, Totti!) and plays very attacking football. I get a really sneaky feeling that if Zeman takes the Roma job AVB might then be on our radar.

hendrix101 is clearly a confederate for the bookies, to get money on Lambert, seeing as Villa will actually sign up OGS and they need to recoup some of their losses....