Sam-AVFC

6 minutes ago, Teale's 'tache said:

We've also produced plenty of Premier League/Championship level players through the academy like, Barry, Cahill, Gabby, Hitzlsperger, Vassell, Samuel, Davis, Clarke, Ridgewell, Bannan, Whittingham, Hogg... it's not like our academy doesn't produce players. Like you say it's lucky if you get 1 or 2 really good ones a decade. Look at Liverpool, Who broke through their academy between Gerrard and Sterling? Not many at all.

Sterling was a QPR youth player. I think Liverpool bought him at about 16 when he was already recognised as a serious talent.

12 minutes ago, Nigel said:

Don't know how much of a choice he will have. Also I doubt they would tell him before the sale.

I don't know why people keep saying this. You can't force someone to put pen to paper and sign for another club - just see Real Madrid wanting rid of Bale.

I also don't think he could have signed a pre-agreement with Man City to get around this as there is no fixed date for him to return which I'm pretty sure would be needed for a valid contract.

If Man City did want to buy him back to sell on he would also be well within his rights to accept the transfer back to Man City then refuse to move on to whatever club that want to buy him.

The only thing that likely stops any of this happening is an 'understanding' and people sticking to their word.

2 hours ago, HanoiVillan said:

Seems like that would be a major conflict of interest? 

As long as the terms of the loan repayment are met and Fortress never took control I couldn't see an issue.

If the buyer defaulted and they took control (much like Elliott Management at AC Milan) it could get interesting.

43 minutes ago, El-Reacho said:

I actually remember Shearer doing a similar analysis of Neil Taylor when he broke through at Swansea a few years back. Pretty sure he predicted that he'd be England's left back for years to come.

He had his Wales debut the same year he first played for Swansea so if Shearer did say this (and it wouldn’t surprise me) its pretty dreadful punditry! 

16 hours ago, villalad21 said:

Pellegrino got schooled by Bruce.

Fair play to Bruce. 1-0 over West Ham is a good win.

You know Bruce wasn’t even allowed to manage them because he couldn’t get a work permit in time?

19 minutes ago, Jonsi77 said:

Guðmundsson was injured most of the last season but season before he was number 4 overall in assists in premier league for whole season

Really? This suggests he was joint 11th.

16 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

Stop signing those "has been" players, stop signing players that are already on the decline. Sturridge was relevant 4-5 years ago, he isn't now.

I can't think of a single one of our signings since NSWE took over that fits in this bracket to be fair.

Aren’t transfer fees amortised over the life of a contract?

If they are wouldn’t it mean Mings on a 4 year deal would be an annual loss of £8m (£5m transfer fee + £60k week wages) as opposed to £23m loss in year 1 then just wages thereafter.

Like I say, I think the man is a bit of a knob and not a great manager.

That doesn't mean I couldn't see how well they got on based on intereactions between the 2 during/after games. It might also be a coincidence of timing that the whole kidney thing happened that summer so he was just in the right place to put an arm round him.

Agreed that as he doesn't coach he doesn't deserve credit for improving Jack's technical ability.

I just wanted to post a balanced comment so when I inevitably end up slagging him off I can just vaguely wave towards this...

@NurembergVillan

Really interesting.

Forget football, I just find it fascinating that it basically means ‘those islands’ are basically called the equivalent of Jumper and Sweater.

2 minutes ago, supermon said:

That is one conclusion that you can draw from the clickbait sources, I have no idea if the application has been made or not, as I said its possible to keep your passport sometimes, so feasibly he could have applied in Spain (played in Spain)/Brazil kept his passport, in the interim traveled to USA, no has to go back to Spain/Brazil...again just my hunch

Interesting stuff. Thanks for the insight! 

5 minutes ago, supermon said:

- if he's been granted a Tier 2 visa (work permit) and as its reportedly known he could not get one for Man City, would mean that he applied for the visa from outside the UK.  So generally migrants entering the UK can only apply for a UK visa from their country of origin or from their country of residence

Presumably this means if he has gone back to Brazil (or wherever is being referred to as "home" by various clickbait sources) it could simply be a requirement of applying for his visa?

Not a great fan of Bruce as a manager or bloke, but one thing I’ll always be thankful for is the role he seems to have played in sorting Jack’s head out.

1 minute ago, Demitri_C said:

So if that's the case then why do they need VAR?

Have you never watched a replay and changed your mind on an offside decision that was/wasn’t given?

Not defending VAR by the way. I think the whole thing has been very poorly implemented so far.

4 minutes ago, Villarocker said:

Judging by some recent posts on here, there's gonna be one or two disappointed to know that Small Heathens have agreed a fee of 750k with Willem II for Daniel Crowley. 

 

I wouldn’t have expected him to make a big impact in the PL, but that actually strikes me as very sensible business for them if they’re trying to improve the style of football.

8 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

35-40 million for one good season in France is value for money? 

It’s all relative. Joao Felix only had one season for Benfica first team to go for 120mil.

I’ve not seen Leao play, but he seems very highly thought of.

Just now, kurtsimonw said:

Nyland was poor, agreed. Kalinic is a better keeper, but still wasn't good enough and cost a fortunate at that level too. SO that same stick can be used to beat Smith, surely?

I agree regarding Chester.

 

To be honest I don't attribute blame to either keeper being sub-standard to the respective managers.

The mistake was sending Steer out on loan, but trying to be balanced I guess he'd hardly got a sniff before from any other managers.

1 minute ago, kurtsimonw said:

Could you give me a list of the players we were forced to regularly play, who were in no way good enough, to label it a "mess".

Nyland when Steer could have got a shot?

A one-legged James Chester? (granted he was actually OK, but it sounds like having to play him in this period will ultimately cut his career short)

9 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

why doesn’t he just resign if it’s his dream job? Probably just sticking around for money. He has no class  

*resigns*

oh my god how could he resign like that? He has no class. 

Who said both?

Although I think Tuanzebe on loan would be great cover I really can't see him coming to us now.

Even if we were interested it would be as a backup as we'll prioritise developing our own player and I don't see him taking a loan move to sit on the bench for most of a season.

5 minutes ago, useless said:

Webster is injury prone, last season was the first time he's made more than thirty appearances in his career. I don't think they were ever going to get £20m plus for him, that was just paper talk.

Tyrone Mings...

10 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

So confused. 

Sorry mate!

BOF made a comment in the Konsa thread about the incorrect spellings of his name to come.

6 minutes ago, jonjon said:

Be patient, he's on his way to you 

Having just looked at your forum I’m not sure whether to take comfort as a Villa fan that we’re not the only ones who struggle with release clauses or despair for humanity!

16 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

It will be konza or chester. 

@BOF