ChinlessWonder

Not optimistic. That's not a gripe as i think the players did well in those last few games to get out of the shit and can't complain at the work done in the close season, but i think i'll need to see us play with more energy and threat in attack over the first few games to start to believe. I'll go with a 0-0 or a 1-1 tonight. Martinez, Cash, Targett, Konsa, Mings, Luiz, McGinn, Hourahane, Grealish, Watkins, Trez

I think there is definitely something in it but whether he actually comes remains to be seen. For me, we definitely need 1 more, either him or alternate winger or a centre mid so that we can play Grealish wide. Another CB also if Engels goes.

Makoun was one that didnt settle IMO. He was indeed a decent player, albeit a bit lightweight for the PL. Djemba was frighteningly shit for us, but again i dont think the fee was too high from memory and he wasnt here above 2 years.

After reviewing the photo finish (by checking Wiki) :-) Zog, 5 years 80 games 4 goals, £9.5m (winger) McCormack, 3 years, 20 games 3 goals, £11m (striker) So yes, i'll hand it to McCormack because of the fact that Zog did at least play 4 times as many games in less that twice the time.

I think in the 'who was the worst Villa signing of all time' contest it's neck and neck over the finish line for N'Zogbia and McCormack for me, probably N'Zog by a photo finish. The fees at the time, the wages, the length of time they were here and the fact that there was no excuse for them not playing for us for all of that time, other than the fact that they were both complete and utter words removed make them stand out above all others. Richards was a massive clearing in the woods but he was an injured massive clearing in the woods, Lescott was only here a year, Balaban and Kalinic just never really fancied and tried, Balaban wasn't here that long either from memory. Curcic and Collymore were the original disaster signings but those 2 i mention eclipsed those by some distance.

Yeah, watching James Rodriguez yesterday kind of reminded me of those 2 :-)

Benrahma, skillful as he is and as well as he did in the championship last season looks like a right cock to me that will implode sooner rather than later. It sounds like the fee would have been closer to £30m for him as well. If he'd have come i wouldn't have written him off either but i'd have been no more optimistic about him than Traore. Probably less so if he'd come without Watkins being here.

That's encouraging then. I was going off what that Lyon fan saying that he goes missing after 20 mins. This is definately one that is splitting opinion anyway.

He does look to have much better technique and close control than Trez though, and stronger and more direct than El Ghazi, so the raw materials are better to work with ! He looks quicker than both too. If it's just that he's a half assed piss flap of a player then maybe it won't work but we've got to hope they feel that they can get a tune out of him. I'm not overly bothered about this one myself but he's far from someone we should write off before he's had a decent run in the team, let alone before he's kicked a ball. I try not to do that for any player we sign, except Danny Drinkwater anyway.

Yes, i agree. He looks as though he might be a lot like his namesake at the Wolves, a bit of a headless chicken that could easily miss a sitter but he also looks quick and skillful and he plays right side. Like the Wolves version, with the right coaching and instruction he could turn into a useful player (unlike the shit show we had here in the year Adama was with us), he's not too old and the price is about the going rate. Honestly, i think he'll end up being an upgrade on the wingers we have. It's important that we get Rashica as well though, i wouldn't want this guy to be our only wing purchase.

Well, if we sign Traore and they sign Benrahma we'll see for ourselves i guess but as i say i'm not bothered about losing out on Benrahma. If the chap wants to stay in London it's out of our hands anyway.

Meh. If we're signing Rashica and Traore we won't need him and i wouldn't lose any sleep over it. I'm quite sure he won't be any better than those two, probably not as good if anything. Similar situation to 'losing out' on Wilson and then signing Watkins.

I wouldn't read too much into all that bollocks to be honest. If they can sign the right quality for the right positions at the right price and within FFP rules they'll do it. We're not going to sign all of Brewster, Rashica, Edouard, King, Traore and Benrahma, there's obviously some bullshit there. I'd think they'll bring in 2 of those, 3 if Grealish ends up leaving but i don't think he will. Otherwise i'd like to think that they'll still be looking at a centre mid as it stands, they'll probably look to offload Lansbury and Jota and maybe Samatta as well as the 2 surplus GK's and then if the rumours are true about the likes of Engels and Nakamba possibly going then i think they'll directly replace those too.

That does sound quite good, i agree with others saying that we need another centre mid of at least the standard of Luiz and McGinn though. Hourahane and Nakamba are ok but you wouldn't want them playing a great many games if either of those get injured. It's also assuming that all of the new players are up to scratch. Wouldn't mind seeing King come in as well just as an extra option, he has got PL experience unlike the others.

Yes, over the course of his Bournemouth career i'd say so, if he's been out wide most of the time.

Right, Left or either? I don't know much about him but can see his goalscoring record was dismal last season and average before that. If he's versatile he'll surely be an upgrade on AEG, although that isn't difficult of course. If he's one of a few coming in and can play right side i'd say give him a go.

Yeah, he’d be a decent bet to provide competition for McGinn and Luiz in midfield but I can’t honestly see anyone from that horror show of 15-16 re signing for us!

Depends on what formation we’re going to use.

That was my first thought when the story was that he preferred Newcastle, I’m not sure why you would otherwise currently. It also occurs to me that if we’re intending to play the same formation, if we signed both him and Watkins we would then have 5 players on the books to play the 1 central role and 2 to play the 2 wide roles which doesn’t really add up. If we do sign Watkins then it will look to me like the Wilson rumours could well have been bs. I think we’ll get Watkins and loan out Davies, eventually offloading either Wesley or Samatta as well. I wouldn’t have minded Wilson but not any more than Watkins and probably not as much as Origi. I could see us getting Origi in to play left with Watkins central.

Was just about to post the same, that or Matty Cack anyway. Seriously though, hopefully be a good one, Forest fans speak highly of him and i definately think we need to strengthen the right side.

Although you can never be sure I very much doubt that there isn’t an intention to spend what is required to get us closer to the middle of the PL this season. It’s just maybe that the sort of players that can do that are taking some convincing or are maybe ‘considering their options’. A lot of the players mentioned so far should be good enough to make us a bit safer but are perhaps not the level required to ‘push us on’ properly to use football bullshit Even maybe some of those are having to think about it considering how shit we were last season until those last 4 games.

Bizarre? What would be bizarre is if he's still our first choice left back at the start of the season. Still there as back up with the potential to take the spot at some point would be ok, but he's not a currently anything like a £16m left back or a £14.5m left back for that matter. Have you forgotten that we avoided relegation by the skin of our teeth, players such as Heaton when fit, Mings, Grealish, McGinn, and eventually Luiz and Konsa certainly not being the problem so maybe the likes of Targett were? Just a thought.You're also assuming that we have to go out and spend way more to improve, since when has transfer fee been a guarantee of standard, we could bring in a free transfer that performs better. How much did we pay for McGinn again, or if you want a full back comparison Mark Delaney some years back admittedly. I've got no problem if as expected he stays put and fights for his place but you talk as though he's actually a quality player who we can't do without. Hopefully the scouting will improve so that if we sign a £14-15m full back again, we do get quality, or even better pull someone in for half that who's better, it's not impossible.

Could well be and your year would be spot on from my memory although i thought it was when we signed Harewood, although i could be wrong. Someone came up to me in the office, a fellow Villa fan, getting all excited and i was taken in a little as well. Anyway, i thought it was quite creative and always remember it as probably being the most amusing bit of transfer BS i'd heard and as you can see i still joke about it now.

'My sources tell me' that there will also be a table along with the chairs, which will help enormously should we need to 'table' a bid.

Well, we have 'lodged' a lot of bids so it's possible. 3 alone in the 'raid' on Brentford. As yet though i think the 'warchest' is burning a hole in our pocket.