joey55

I think if a deal is struck it will suite both clubs, but perhaps neither set of fans. Those dealing with the transfer are going to be much more reasonable and objective than fans. Spurs fans (and Liverpool, Arsenal etc) think he is worth around £15 million, whilst you guys want £25 million+. The reality will be a deal that is much fairer for all parties involved. So it will probably be £15 - £18 million and then additional payments will be made according the Benteke's success that could total another £10 million+. That way if Benteke really is the player you think he will be, then you get the money (£25 mill +) for him. If he isn't and fails at Spurs (or wherever he goes) then you've still more than doubled your money and we haven't been stung quite so badly. As I said, it's not the deal either set of fans would like, but it's what will most likely happen. There is no way we are going to stump up £25 million+ for him and there is no way you'll accept £15 million. A compromise is far more likely than no resolution at all, despite what fans might think.

Nonsense. Ignore the reputation and the "star dust" that playing for Spurs sprinkles over them. Villa are aiming for the league position higher than Spurs. If they don't want a player, we don't want him. When I use the phrase "star dust" I actually mean "raw sewage." You could say the same about Man Utd and Chelsea. But in reality , when Lambert sets his targets for the next couple of seasons, it wont be to finish above us. Rebuilding a club takes years. We've finished 31 points ahead of you for the last 2 seasons. Lambert has a big job on his hands and isn't looking for a quick fix. He seems to be trying to implement a sustainable model. Players like Sigurdsson would be one of the best players at West Brom who finished 8th. He was the best player at Swansea and they finished 9th. You can't expect to just go from being a relegation scrapping team to one buying CL standard players and it's totally unrealistic to expect Lambert to consistently find players of that caliber cheaply from the lower leagues and abroad. You need players that can get you into the top half and then look at a top 7 challenge. The likes of Sigurdsson and Townsend are very much in that mold. They are young, fit, talented and work very hard. Townsend is only on £1500 per week! Once you are established as a top 7 team and are in a stronger financial position, you can look to push on into the top 4 or 5. But the idea that if players aren't good enough for Spurs mean they aren't good enough for Villa just suggests you have unrealistic expectations at the moment.

The story about him being at our training ground was mentioned by one our ITK's a day before Benteke handed in his transfer request. It seemed odd to me at the time, but seeing as he handed in a transfer request the next day it suddenly seems more plausible. Personally, I'm like the majority of Spurs fans in that I'm not keen on this. It's not that I don't think Benteke is good, but that he seems too expensive and not as good as the strikers the top 4 have or are looking at. I think he's got way over hyped over the last couple of months and the way he's spoken about on here now simply doesn't reflect the comments in your match day forum. In terms of swaps I think Lambert will and most certainly should be interested in Sigurdsson and Townsend. Iago Flaque is another he should be very much interested in, but you can't really expect Lambert to have followed the Segunda Liga, so may not know much about him. Sigurdsson would be one of the best or the best player on most teams outside the top 6. He really started to show his quality in the second half of last season. Almeria fans said Falque was the best player in the Segunda last season. QPR fans think Townsend in brilliant, but I think he's highly rated at Spurs, so don't think we'd let him go.

If prefer you to prefer Remy too. You clearly didn't watch Benteke close enough. I don't think we'd sell Benteke to Spurs unless you offered ridiculous money because I don't think it's a move Benteke would push for. He sees himself at the very top and he's at the perfect club, for him, to prove that. And I don't think you'd offer ridiculous money. I'm not saying I prefer Remy as a player, but that I'd prefer we signed him as the price difference is vast. I think Remy will be in the Prem next season and I would expect him to score similar amount to Benteke. We are talking about a guy who has a 1 in 2 record here, for a team that had pretty much given up for the last month of the season. Yet he'd cost around £8 million while Benteke would cost £25 million. Remy is faster and can play as a wide forward which makes him much better suited to AVB's system.

I think we are quite likely to sign Villa. Personally I'd prefer Remy to Benteke. He's much cheaper and I think he's so well suited to the Prem. I watched him closely at QPR last season and he really could be a 20+ goals per season striker. I think someone is going to get a real bargain with Remy.

A midfield 3 of Dembele, Sandro and Paulinho is one of the best in the league.. It's so powerful. Dembele Paulinho Sandro If they play 433 of course.. As good as the above midfield is, I still think we need a top class creative player in there and we were after Moutinho last season. Despite us not having been linked with him for ages, I can't imagine Levy isn't doing all he can to sign Eriksen. The idea of a player of his quality being available with just one year left on his contract and Levy not wanting him just seems bizarre. The only club he's been that heavily linked with is Dortmund, but it always has seemed as if De Bruyne was their number 1 choice and they've now signed Mkhitaryan. Some teams have to be quietly working on a deal to buy Eriksen that the media haven't picked up on. I'd be amazed if Levy hasn't been trying regardless of what AVB or Baldini say on the matter. I heard you were after Pjanic? Apparently, but he's supposedly going to cost £20 million. If it's true then it suggests we really are looking at a more creative CM, which again makes it seem very odd we haven't been heavily linked to Eriksen. Other than Dortmund who have been heavily linked to him in the past month? It doesn't seem like he's going to Dortmund now, so someone must be working on a deal to get him.

A midfield 3 of Dembele, Sandro and Paulinho is one of the best in the league.. It's so powerful. Dembele Paulinho Sandro If they play 433 of course.. As good as the above midfield is, I still think we need a top class creative player in there and we were after Moutinho last season. Despite us not having been linked with him for ages, I can't imagine Levy isn't doing all he can to sign Eriksen. The idea of a player of his quality being available with just one year left on his contract and Levy not wanting him just seems bizarre. The only club he's been that heavily linked with is Dortmund, but it always has seemed as if De Bruyne was their number 1 choice and they've now signed Mkhitaryan. Some teams have to be quietly working on a deal to buy Eriksen that the media haven't picked up on. I'd be amazed if Levy hasn't been trying regardless of what AVB or Baldini say on the matter.

I thought you might be interested in this, as it was posted on a Spurs forum by one of our ITK's called Hoofharted. This is rock solid information and fare more reliable than the usual ITK stuff posted on our forums. It's well known that Hoofharted definitely is good friends with DB's family. When he was first being linked with us Hoofharted proved beyond doubt that he knows the Bent family very well and everything he said proved to be true and the same can be said of when he left for Sunderland. "Re Villa; At the start of last season Lambert made him Team Captain, then didn't start him, was told he would play a rotation system and would not play every game, he was okay with that. There was no fallout with Lambert, training as normal, then Lambert took captaincy away, no reason given then he didn't figure as a starter, again no reason given. Got injured in training and that was basically it. Nothing from the Lambert or the club, then near the end of the season Darren, Dunne, Hutton and Ireland were told they no longer had a future at the club. There have been bids from Newcash he doesn't want to go there out of respect for the Sunderland fans and Fulham. He is annoyed with what has transpired, he feels totally let down after all the promises made by the club and Villa and it has affected his England chances which pi55es him off most of all. Whatever you think of him he has never been a trouble maker at any club, and where might we have been without his 19 goals (including the Sandra header) in his last season. My money is on a move to Fulham" It's not exactly ground breaking information, but hopefully it clears some stuff up for you. Also if HH says his money is on a move to Fulham, then it basically means Bent wants to go to Fulham and Bent seems to always get his way when moving clubs.

Why do you doubt you'd be in for Benteke joey? I think he'd be a great buy for you. From what I've seen of Spurs this season you're desperate for a decent striker. Adebayor and Defoe are just too inconsistent. I very much doubt he will be going to Liverpool. he's much better than that and I think Lambert will be telling him that. Because we've been following Leandro for 2 years, so it would be very odd to suddenly to change at look at Benteke. Personally I don't see what the fuss is with Leandro but our board seem determined to land him. Also there is much better value available elsewhere. Buying from the Premier league is expensive. You'd want over £20 million for a player who has scored 16 goals from open play. He's had a very good season, but outside of the Prem, that would be seen as crazy money for a guy who has had 1 year in a league. I think the Andy Carroll has scuppered that chances of you being able to get a huge fee for him until he's shown he can do it for more than 1 season. The Carroll deal is often touted as a reason why you'd value CB so highly, but in reality, to potential buyers, it's a stark reminder of why not to pay so much based on a relatively short period. Levy tends to learn from past lessons. After spending £16 million on Darren Bent, I can't see us spending big on an inexperienced Prem striker unless he's obviously exceptional. I know many will argue CB is exceptional, but it would contradict the match reports threads here at VT. Our scouts will see the same games you guys do and though CB has scored goals and had some great games, many times he hasn't been that great, as has been the consensus among your fans who post here. I'm not saying he isn't quality and it isn't my opinion of CB I'm talking about. I'm pointing out that the general opinion of him over the last month or so far exceeds what has been said in match day threads by members of this forum. I stress there has been no suggestion that he isn't good, but that opinions expressed based on his performances in post match threads don't really match the hype he's now receiving. Generally speaking I think his value to Villa is simply higher than it is to most clubs touted as being interested in him. For example, he can be linked to Athletico Madrid all summer, but are they going to be more interested in him or Negredo/Salgado? Which club need to sell more, Valencia, Athletico or Villa? I just don't see serious offers coming in for him based on the price you'd want, the history of players who have had good 1st seasons and the players going to be available this summer. I hate Liverpool as mush as ever other football fan does since RAWK came into existence. But I think some of you are under estimating how enticing they will be for many players. We've finished above them 4 years in a row and I still think they are seen as a step up from us simply because of the scale of the club offers such great potential.

I seriously doubt we are interested in Benteke and also doubt Defoe is for sale. This story is complete rubbish in my opinion. Benteke will stay at Villa unless Liverpool are interested. All the other links seem hugely speculative to me.

Unless he leaves England, I can't see him leaving you. I think you'll be surprised at the lack of interest. It's not that he isn't a good player, but at the price that would be required, which clubs would be interested that could afford him? I really don't think we (Spurs) could drop £20 million+ on one striker, as we need to buy a few quality players. I can't believe Wenger would be interested in a player like Benteke and think links to the likes of Jovetic seem much more in keeping with the type of player he'd go for. I see Liverpool in the exact same position as us, as they too need to buy a few players. Chelsea already have Lukaku and the Manchester clubs will only be looking at the worlds best. I can't see anyone else in the Prem being in a position to buy him. The new TV deal is often mentioned but that isn't going to make that much of a difference, as most clubs are still looking to lower their spending.

Did you see him playing for Spurs? His goals scoring record for us was just as good as it was for you, but our fans largely think he's average. What does it matter if he gets goals but the team is worse? So much of the play broke down due to him being rubbish at football. There is no way DB can play in a decent possession side. He's a bottom half of the league player, where teams set up to feed him. In a decent side when opposition teams play a deep block, he's next to useless. No top side would be interested in DB. I've watched you recent games and Lambert has you playing some brilliant passing football, where everyone works hard to make angles and keep the ball. It's really progressive stuff and the reason why decent sides wont be interested in Bent. Mid to bottom half of the league teams, that will look to play wingers to cross the ball and hit teams on the break will be interested.

The key to your future success isn't keeping Benteke, but using the money you get for him well. At the end of the day, all good player want to play for the biggest clubs, so he will leave. In the past you've had a pretty bad track record when it comes to selling players and reinvesting. Barry, Milner, Young and Downing have all been sold and the result has been a relegation battle. But it doesn't have to be like that and there are clubs that often sell their best stars, but still manage to stay in that top 6. Valencia in Spain are the obvious example, but in the Prem, us (Spurs), Everton and Arsenal have all frequently sold our best players and remain in the top 6 or 7 most of the time. Carrick, Berbatov, Modric and VDV have all gone, but the club moves on. Bale will go and I still think we'll challenge the top 4 spots. Trying to hold onto a 22 year old and build a team around him is a thankless task. The quality of Benteke isn't going to be what makes Villa challenge the top 6 again. It's the players you buy with the money raised from selling him and the same cycle will continue until a point in time where Villa can compete financially with the big boys. It's the same for all of us. Maybe Bale will be at Spurs next season and Benteke at Villa, but will they still be there for the 2014/15 season? I seriously doubt it and the decision both clubs need to make is whether they are more likely to raise more this summer or next. The large majority of fans of both clubs will want their star players to stay that extra season, but that is a massive gamble, as a players form can change so quickly.

Dont big him up! The fact that Spurtz fans cannot see what a class act Benteke is says more about them than Benteke I can see what a class act he is, I'm saying I don't think he's the type of striker we are after.

But your a Villa fan and have seen him play loads, so you know those stats don't tell the full story. I've read loads of times on this forum about your fans frustrated with him missing easy chances. In the Prem he's scored 8 times from 74 shots. Maybe this will change and he's definitely a player with huge potential and has shown real quality to date. But to date, the only real complaint Villa fans seem to have of him is that he isn't clinical enough. Using those stats to claim otherwise makes you seem like a used car salesman and contradicts what the consensus of this forum seems to have been over the season so far.

We can only hope!!! Benteke has a lot of qualities, but I think we are looking for someone who first and foremost is a great finisher. We tried to sign Damiao again in Jan and he seems to be a different type of striker to Benteke. The difference between us, Chelsea and Arsenal compared with Man City and Utd, is that they have the likes of Rooney, RVP, Tevez, Aguero and Dzeko. The only way for us to move forward is to try and get a striker who can compete with them. Benteke has potential, but I don't ever see him as a clinical finisher, more a scorer of great goals. He seems to miss quite a lot of sitters and then score a quality goal and I'm not sure that's what we need. I think we are after reliability.

I don't think we will be after Benteke. Dawsons contract has another 2.5 years. I doubt we'd sell him anyway. AVB made a mistake by saying he could leave, having not worked with him. Now he has seen first hand just how good he is and I'd be amazed if he'd let him go. We will release Gallas in the summer instead.

That wasn't in his contract. Everyone made a big deal about his tax court case, but part of that revealed that when he became manager he no longer profited from transfers. The percentage of transfer fees was part of his contract when he was Director of Football. He left that role when Pompey were still in the Championship. The reason Kranjcar was so cheap was because they were desperate. Levy screwed them. In normal circumstances Kranjcar would have been another player that would have made them a lot, like Defoe, Kaboul, Muntari, Mendes, Diarra, Distin and Johnson. When you look at the profits they made on those players, it seems they would have effectively paid for themselves as it more than covered their wages. We also had a pay £5 million in compensation for Redknapp himself. The trouble at Pompey was Mandaric was investing his own money into the club to bring success. He sold it to the Russian who was supposed to do the same. Instead he allowed the purchase of expensive players, but to be paid in installments. He then sold the actual club, but retained many of the land assets. So the club had to pay him money to use things like the car park and were left with large amounts of transfer fees still to pay, whilst struggling to stay in the Prem with a terrible manager (Tony Adams). Gaydamak was meant to be a sugar daddy, but he simply drained the club. He kept the valuable stuff (the land around the stadium etc) and sold the club itself which.

I would have thought he'd jump at the chace of claiming credit for nabbing VDV for less than £8m. I do believe Levy was resposible though and as Fernandes is in charge of the finances at QPR not Droopy the fans should be venting at their chairman if the clubs finances are in trouble not the manager. Whilst true, he has previous for this. It takes two to tango. Though the Spurs fan defending him CLEARLY has no idea the impact wages can have on a club. Neither do the chairmen of said clubs unfortunately. It's hard not feeling sorry for the fans. That's not true at all. You probably just weren't aware of the facts. Southampton fans hated Redknapp prior to him joining. Surely simple math would show that the profit from the sales they made on the players he bought in his short stint there more than covered any increased wages. He didn't damage them financially, you justw ant to believe he did. It's the same with West Ham. They never even went bankrupt, but there is a myth that they did. In the first season after he left they finished 7th. So the squad he left them with was clearly capable of competing in the Prem. The following season Roeder several expensive, high profile names (as I mentioned in my previous post). They then got relegated and thus had financial troubles. Their wage bill wasn't an issue until they got relegated 18 months later. You must be able to see this isn't Redknapps fault. He wasn't even at the club and they never went bankrupt anyway. Bournemouths debt increased at a much lower rate whilst Redknapp was there. But again, you must be able to understand that no club that size could afford to pay the riots. The cost was £1 million, which back in the 80's would have been an insane amount of money. Being a Spurs fan has nothing to with it. Most Spurs fans hated Redknapp before he arrived and about half hate him now. West Ham fans hate him for replacing their hero Billy Bonds (who got them relegated). Redknapp apparently told the board Bonds was the problem. He was proven right, but their fans never forgave Redknapp. He was at Pompey for years under Mandaric without problems. The Russian came in promising funds that never turned up. At Spurs our wage bill went up inline with increased revenue from playing in the CL and higher finishes. Our net spend was very low during Redknapps reign. At West Ham, Bournmouth and Southampton, they profited from transfers and wages were fine. Due to myths about what happened at previous clubs, which are made up largely by West Ham fans and lapped up by others, people think what happened at Pompey is normal for clubs managed by Redknapp. But in reality it has as much to with him as Leeds troubles have to do with David O'Leary. A manager can only spend when the Chairman allows. In the case of Pompey under Gaydamak and Leeds under Risdale, they spent money they couldn't afford to. These things didn't happen when Redknapp was at Bournemouth, West Ham, Southampton or Spurs.

Redknapp had nothing to do with Bournemouths financial problems. The club got charged over £1 million for the damage done in riots after a game. But most people ignore that as they'd love to blame Harry. They profited in the transfer market during his reign and the rate of debt growth reduced. He was at the club for 8 years and they only signed 19 players, most of whom were youngsters. Wages went up as they moved up 2 divisions and 8 years went by. In his time at the club he made £500,000 profit in the transfer market, which back then, for a club in the third tier, was a vast amount, which puts an entirely different spin on his time at the club. He also gets blamed for West Hams financial problems. Of course to do this you have to ignore the fact their financial problems happened 18 months after he left the club, when they got relegated! It's unbelievable that he gets blamed for that. He got them promoted and kept the in the Premier league for his entire tenure, gets sacked, when in mid table, a new manager comes in, spends £15 million on transfers, vastly increases the wage bill on players such as Les Ferdinand, Lee Bowyer, Repka and David james, gets them relegated and thus cripples them financially and somehow this is Harry Redknapps fault! No one at Southampton blames or relates their financial problems to the time Redknapp was there, as the problems were there long before and after his short stint, in which he signed players costing £2.5 million and sold players for £10 million. As for the troubles at Pourtsmouth you have to ignore that there were no issues for the year Mandaric was in charge. You also have to ignore the fact that from the players signed by Redknapp, Pompey made a profit of £30 million, something his critics like to ignore. But most importantly you have to ignore that the £15 million of investment promised by Gaydamak never arrived and that a huge part of their debt was not football related (ie caused by player transfers or wages). But you have to ignore these things otherwise you have to look at things objectively and realise that Redknapp did a fantastic job their. As for his time at Spurs, his net spend was low. I think we spent about £10 million in total, which is much lower than previous regimes, yet we achieved much more. People try and say it can't be a coincidence, but it blatantly is. You simply can't blame Redknapp for the riots that bankrupted Bournemouth. But he did take them up 2 divisions and win them their only ever cup! He didn't relegate West Ham. In fact he took them to their second highest league finish ever and into Europe. Southampton were in trouble and in the relegation zone before he arrived. How can he be blamed for the plight when he signed so few players and they sold one of them, Crouch, for £8 million? We didn't have any financial problems, but played he took us to new heights in the Prem era. Pompey were fine until the Russian turned up. He also took them to new levels and won the FA Cup.

Forgetting who is better and speaking purely in terms of who is more suited to your team, I think you'd be mad not to prefer Bale. For all Mata's quality, you are a struggling side at the moment, who aren't dominating the ball and not seeing a great deal of it in the final third. I thin to suggest Mata would be better for you is over complicating things. You'd be far, far better off with a player who can do this out of nothing on a regular basis. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0vRcqw3XTo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFNswz9olsg As great as Mata is, surely given your current predicament, wouldn't it be much better to have someone who can score the sort of goal Bale did on Saturday against Newcastle? He's lethal on the break and given your current issue's I think it would be far more useful to have a player who can charge from the half way line and finish.

I know the Dutch were crap, but I thought Sneijder was brilliant at the Euros in the summer.

The stadiums are in London, but they only play there 20-30 times per year. Most of the time players are at their training facilities, which are based out in the countryside. Fulham train in Surrey. Cheslea do as well and it's at least a 40 minute drive to the Kings Road. I doubt many players of the London clubs actually live in London. Though BAE lives in Cannary wharf.

I really don't think I'm being biased in saying he shouldn't have had his last 3 yellows. There was contact on each occasion. He made a shocking dive against you (I think it was you), but since then he's been victimized. Maybe understandably given then terrible dive I just mentioned, but refs can't just decide he's dived and booked based on his reputation. Today's contact really wasn't even that minimal. It was knee into knee, not just a mild brush with the edge of the foot.

Jesus! I hardly watch Villa and I'd easily recognise Albrighton, Bannan, Dunne, Given, Ireland and Nzogbia. Surely every football fan would recognise Dunne, Given and Ireland? Edit, just realized the recent team is being discussed, not the squad.