KMitch

I'm not expecting promotion this season and if we fall short, it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. If we somehow win promotion through the playoffs, that'll be a huge bonus and will massively change our summer plans, but I don't think the powers that be at the club are counting on getting promoted this season. Purslow mentioned a 3 year promotion plan when he came on board, so I think they're going to do some massive rebuilding over the next two summers. With all the contracts expiring this summer, it should free up 200-250k/week in wages. I'm going to guess that the club will sign 6-8 players on Frees/Permanent transfers and we'll probably get in another 3-5 on loans with options to buy. This is based on nothing but my own gut instinct.

The "Reo-Coker Syndrome". The longer he sat on the bench, the better he got. Hell, some were saying we didn't need to replace Barry when he left, because NRC could "do the job" there. hahaha

He has been playing well enough to be linked to even bigger clubs than Fiorentina this window. Honestly, I was surprised we even signed him in the first place. It's such a shame that we had a clown like Sherwood managing the club that season. Another manager would have kept us up and avoided signing garbage like Gestede and Lescott.

I've seen several Fiorentina games this season and Veretout is playing the same role as McGinn is for us. He's much more of a "Box-To-Box" type player.

I'm very surprised that we haven't gotten in a DM yet... I think a DM which fits Deano's system is more important this month than a LB to challenge Taylor. There were rumblings in Spain that we made inquiries into 2 different DMs around Christmas, and I saw an article that we're also looking into possibly doing a deal for James McCarthy.

With all the loans we have right now... Does anyone know if we can still loan Januzaj???

He has the vision and passing ability of what we need in that deep midfield position, but I don't think he has the mobility/defensive side of the game required. We'll see, though.

If you include all the U23s out of contract too, we'll have ~£240k-250k/week off the wage bill. This is why I don't expect a lot of ins this month. Maybe one more permanent signing, but that's it.

Hutton, Jedi, Whelan, Bunn, Steer, Elphick, De Laet, and Richards are all out of contract this summer.

He has 67 appearances for Wolves... He isn't unproven at this level. The question marks are over his current fitness and if he is the same player he was 2 years ago for Wolves.

What if we only wanted to pay 2 mil for him, but Wolves wanted 4 mil, and the loan with an option to buy for 4 mil was the agreed upon compromise? If he is as good as Wolves rates, 4 mil will be a steal. If he isn't, we send him back while only spending a fraction of what we would have to begin with. It doesn't mean we don't have money, it could mean we're trying to be frugal for once.

I don't like writing off the remainder of the season, but I'd rather get some conservative deals done this month for another 1-2 players, then open the coffers this summer. I know a lot of fans would like to see us go for broke this month with signings, but I don't want to see the club in the same financial situation we were in at the end of last season. With the contracts we currently have expiring, we can free up 200-250k/week off the wage bill, not to mention any players we sell on top to generate funds. If we can get more signings in the mold of Kalinic/McGinn, we'll have a team solid enough to push for promotion while playing Deano's way. Tammy is a big loss, but now it's time for Kodja/Hogan to step up and show why we paid so much money for them in the first place. I'm confident that one of them will find their footing for us, once Jack comes back from injury. I'm also happy with more loans like with Hause, promising players not getting game time at bigger clubs, with an option to buy if they turn out to be good. I still feel like for the first time I can remember, we finally have the right people in place at the club to rebuild us properly and take us back to the Premier League and beyond. We have to remember to be patient and remember that Rome wasn't built in a day. Need to give the club time to rebuild the squad to take us up.

Have to look at the marketing potential of Pulisic for Chelsea, though. He's possibly the best American player of all time and will sell a lot of shirts/create a lot of Chelsea fans over here. Fulham has a fairly big following in the USA just because of the former American nationals who played for them over the years (McBride, Dempsey, Bocanegra, Ream, etc.). Pulisic can possibly be the first true "superstar" we've ever had. Has a lot of work to do still, but he is a talent.

He actually crosses the ball now? I thought he just tried to dribble past 7 defenders every time he has possession...

Remember reports of Bruce chasing Joe Bryan down the freeway? The press doesn't know what they're spouting most of the time. Don't let some unfounded rumor flip your opinion on this kid. He gave his all for us in every single performance this season. If he actually does go to Wolves this week fair play to him. He deserves his chance to play in the Premier League and I won't begrudge him in any way.

I don't know why everyone is complaining about this being a loan. If the kid turns out to be a diamond in the rough, we have a fixed fee already agreed for him. If the coaching team doesn't rate him this season, he goes back to Wolves and we pass on overspending on a dud. Either way, we now a have a left sided CB who can fill in at LB, instead of Hutton in both roles. Welcome, Kortney! UTV.

I'll let the legend that is Jim Mora sum up our situation...

He has the passing ability we need in that deep midfield spot, but his tackling/pressing is horrendous. If Hourihane can't track runs into the box from midfield, Lansbury isn't going to do better.

Well, I guess everyone knows why he hasn't been playing. I didn't even realize he was on the pitch until around the 25th minute when a chance fell to him that he squandered.

Yep. I love that he isn't writing off the cup. Sounds like Taylor is fit as well. I'm looking forward to seeing how our new defense will fair. This will be, on paper, the strongest defense we've sent out all season. Will be interesting to see how we do. Kalinic Bree - Elphick - Chester - Taylor

Staying with us for the remainder of the season seems like the best option for both Tammy and Chelsea. Going on loan to a struggling Premier League team isn't a great idea. We're creating chances for him left and right to put away, a struggling Premier League team won't give him that luxury. He's the current Championship top scorer, and has played less games than all the other people around him on the top scoring charts. If he keeps this form going through the rest of the season, Chelsea will be able to get more for him in the summer, Tammy will have more interested clubs in him to choose from, and we might possibly have a chance at signing him, if we go up. The only reasoning for Chelsea selling him this month is if they think his stock is at an all time high and will be able to get more for him now than in the summer.

Hope he grabs a goal tomorrow and puts himself into contention for more minutes. I know Tammy is a monster and the first name on the teamsheet right now, but if we can find some way to play both of them together to try to grab a late winner, it can help us get more points added to the tally this season.

Smith likes to play with a very high line. The pace will help when the opposition tries to go long on the counter. This was one thing Tuanzebe brought to our backline this is really lacking right now. Another rapid central defender will help us make up for our fullback/midfield issues.

...and we got McGinn for £4m. Shows what they know!

I think we're all so used to everything going to shit when it involves the club, that it's only natural for some of us to start to question things that aren't exceeding our expectations. We're a miserable lot, us Aston Villa supporters.