Indigo

Akpom to Ajax has been confirmed. Obviously the reports and likely reality is that Archer will prefer a Premier League move, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Boro make even more of a push for him too.

I like the versatility of it in terms of he suits playing the offensive left back role like Moreno has, but equally he could probably do a good job of playing the wide midfielder role in front of the wide CB. For example in pre-season when Konsa/Chambers played as the more defensive full back tucking into CB, Philogene did a good job of playing in front and holding the width in attack and essentially becoming a wing back in defence. Acuna could do that on the other flank in front of Torres were that to be tried again.

Good few reliable people saying this now. Safe to say the interest is more than there regardless if folk think it makes sense or not.

Found this an interesting one. This guy - who is a good follow for what it's worth - only really posts about tactical stuff and doesn't get involved in any kind of speculation outside of the odd time he might hear something. Not sure if he's just reiterating that he got Zaniolo right or he's hinting at Acuna/Montiel also.

Feel like in much the same way that Mings and Konsa suited each other as a partnership, he and Torres are the best for one another out of the other CBs at the club. Fitness permitting would be interesting to see how they worked alongside one another.

Kudus was linked to Brighton previously, West Ham now apparently in for him too.

Could do with getting in on that.

Matteo Moretto - an actually reliable guy out of Spain - has linked us to Marcos Acuna.

Without sounding miserable, for all of his undoubted ability he's the kind of player that if he signed for another PL side I'd assume he'd fail to find his feet in the league and end up being a bit of a dud signing because he just has some of the hallmarks of one. However if he can click then he has a lot of the attributes you'd want in a forward player, and we really, really need one right now. Hopefully it gets sorted ASAP.

I think it's almost safe to assume the worst just because of his reaction, unfortunately. It wasn't like he was simply in pain, it seemed like he was devastated because having suffered the injury previously he already knew what it was.

Similarly to what has been said above I'm still gutted about this one, has hung over the weekend far more than the result of the game. Not really one to get attached to players given being older + the general murky world of football at the top level nowadays, but Mings was a bit of an exception for all the obvious factors of being a great player in terms of importance as much as ability, having a story behind him and just seeming as an all-round good egg. It's the kind of thing that puts a dampener on the season, at least in the short term, but fingers crossed he'll be alright and back just as strong whenever that may be.

One thing I think has been apparent since prior to Emery's time and hasn't been addressed by any of his signings is that we're miles off our competitors in a physical sense. Big fan of all of the three signings this window but still and all I feel like it's so apparent when we compare the squad to Newcastle, City, Arsenal etc that as well as being good technical players across the squad also these teams are bigger, stronger, faster etc than ours and it'll show. There were times where it was competitive today and could have gone differently dependent on certain chances but ultimately they were just bullied out there.

It's just so shit. For me personally I tend to struggle with how gross this sport has gotten at the top level, so outliers like Tyrone in terms of personality and everything else that comes with him are some of the few things that still endear me towards it. It's a killer for the entire season to see that happen to someone like him. A great player but more importantly clearly a great person and he just doesn't deserve something like this considering the impact it could have on the rest of his career. 

Really hoping it isn't as bad as it seems.

18 minutes ago, Don_Simon said:

Oh you're quoting yourself! Sweet. Good work.

You'll be alright mate.

Harvey Barnes isn't good enough for Villa I heard.

Cash played Botman onside and the ref didn't give an offside against Digne, he gave a foul for Kamara blocking Trippier off. Clutching at straws blaming the officiating for us losing here.

What happened to Mings has put a dampener on this whole game for me, whatever happens. I'm absolutely gutted for him.

In terms of the game itself, I don't like getting on players' backs but this half has just continued to affirm that Bailey isn't good enough outside of isolated moments and we still need a right back. For that second goal Cash is again breaking the offside line by standing two yards behind it and playing everyone on. He's a decent player but not at the level we want to be at, and feels like one of VERY few players that haven't kicked on under Emery.

I'm desperate for this to not be as bad as it looks. Please.

11 minutes ago, duke313 said:

Will he?  He's a good player, but is he that much better than Fabinho was?  

I meant in the sense of things weren't looking hugely promising for them due to the hole in midfield and their solution to that seemingly being Lavia, to now having Caicedo filling that position which is a bit of a game-changer.

But yeah I also think he's a lot better than the current version of Fabinho. Obviously in his prime he was an excellent player but he's had quite a steep decline.

Caicedo is genuinely an excellent player in fairness. I think it's a bit redundant asking if he's "worth" the money because this sport and the money involved at the top level have become preposterous to the point where none of these fees are objectively worth it, but he'll be a transformative signing for them.

Big Fab with the direct line to the Don, VT Transfer Speculation Deniers in ruins.

9 hours ago, rodders0223 said:

This will be my last post on this site as it is now impossible to display an opinion or be contradictory in any way to the club without being belittled.

Everything is brilliant and the club will never get anything wrong every again or do something someone might actually not agree with.

Brilliant.

End football.

Shock as world's angriest man gets easily upset.

14 minutes ago, useless said:

"He played very well last year at Middlesbrough," Emery said when asked about the striker's future. "He scored goals and his level increased. We are with Ollie Watkins, Jhon Duran and him in the squad. Duran is still injured but he is coming back next week and hopefully we can add him in two or three weeks after working with us.

"With Cameron Archer we were playing him in pre-season and we were thinking it could be a possibility to let him go and play and continue improving his level in another club. Actually, he is our player and we want to keep him under our control always because we believe in him. Sometimes the plan that we have to do with them, or him in this case, is to try and help him continuing taking time and minutes and confidence in another club."

Emery added: "We have always two options, sometimes on loan, sometimes selling them. We are analysing each case individually and trying to get the best option."

 

Birmingham Mail

The word "control" is operative here. The manner in which the elite clubs are able to hoard (young) players and utilise them in every way from squad building, managing homegrown quotas, keeping in line with FFP etc but inserting buy back clauses at the same time has all changed the market. Villa aren't quite at the level of some yet but you can see that the aspiration is there and it's why I think people are off with saying City, Chelsea and so forth are irrelevant comparisons when the prospective sales of Ramsey, Archer etc are being discussed.

It's so typical ffs, it's like a lottery as to which player picks up a serious injury each season.

All the best to him, was going well in pre-season and it's an awful injury at the best of times.

7 minutes ago, Rustibrooks said:

Aston Villa, for Nicolò Zaniolo.

The English club is already negotiating with Galatasaray and there is a good predisposition on the part of everyone.

Zaniolo has already said yes.
 

Sounds like this could get wrapped up pretty quick

Moretto is a reliable source as well as Romano, seems this has legs.

6 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

Is this guy going to be able to play as a striker in the PL? I thought the idea was we would let Archer go and get in a striker to cover/challenge Watkins . . . seems like he's more of an attacking midfielder? Or am I mistaken?

In the system we play he can realistically cover both the second striker and wide/attacking midfielder positions, that's where he's predominantly played in his time. I think it's one of the interesting things about how Emery has us set up that the likes of Zaniolo and Felix that have been linked have obvious positions as opposed to being square pegs in round holes for many other sides.