Indigo

I'm not particularly up in arms about this or anything but it is a bit weird isn't it, as much as people are doing their utmost to make it seem as though it's not.

I was just saying that with them going that's the squad as it would stand, not that specifically Trez and Steer going means there's a massive void left. It's lighter on numbers than you'd have expected to see, all going well it looks healthy but doesn't leave much wiggle room in the event of an injury here or there.

So assuming Targett, Steer and Trez (according to Basaksehir's chairman anyway) all leave on loan, that would leave the squad looking like: Martinez, Olsen Cash, Mings, Konsa, Chambers, Hause, Digne, Young Luiz, Nakamba (injured for season), McGinn, Ramsey, Sanson, Chuk Buendia, Coutinho, Bailey (injured for who knows how long), Traore Watkins, Ings So 20 players when you minus Nakamba, obviously doesn't factor in any youngsters to make up the numbers. Does just seem a little bit light in certain areas of the pitch for so many players to be leaving without anyone then coming in.

Of course, as I said that's just a personal feeling and not how anyone should actually run the club. I'd be with you unless as reported it is in fact just a straight 6 month loan in which case maybe the loan fee was too big to turn down but I can't see an enormous amount of sense in it otherwise, even just from a squad depth perspective. The folk running the club aren't mugs though, I trust they see what everyone is saying, in which case the reasons for going ahead with it evidently outweigh the reasons not to for them.

On a personal level I just don't like the idea of aiding Newcastle in staying up, but even beyond that unless we're definitely bringing in Hickey or whoever I just can't fathom why this would be happening on these terms.

The 6/not a 6 debate on seemingly every player we're linked to is wild to me. Regardless of how good he is, how much money he'd cost and whether it'd be worth it, the majority of his best output is done defensively and I just skimmed through Brighton's average positions for the games he played in this season and in more or less all of them he is the deepest of their midfield, with his average position often being around the base of the centre circle in their own half. To all intents and purposes he is a defensive midfielder.

Campbellinho123?

Regardless of how much anyone thinks he's worth, any club Newcastle are trying to buy from and eventually overtake should be rinsing them for every last pound that they can.

Confirmed to Spurs by Romano. Have a sinking feeling that folk will be wishing we'd gotten him in the not too distant future but if it's true that we weren't pursuing him as keenly as Italian media had us believe then what can you do.

I did literally say that in the post. The point isn't why aren't they allowing themselves to be extorted more why are they (apparently) wasting time and energy on bidding for numerous players where there's zero chance of it happening at the fees being reported.

It does seem odd to me that - outside of your odd exception like Ings - despite the club being rightly unwilling to pay the added premium that comes with signing current Premier League players they're making a bit of a habit of faffing about trying to do so anyway. The (reported) bids for JWP, Smith-Rowe and Bissouma are ones that anyone could have told you were never going to work.

My number 6.

To be fair signing players as back-up that aren't as good as the starting players makes more sense than signings players as back-up that can slot in and...be better than the starters.

I think how comfortable Konsa looks on the ball and the reputation he had as a ball-playing defender when Villa signed him masks the fact he's had quite terrible stats in terms of passing/general possession in his time here. I'm not sure whether it's a matter of not being brave enough, the instructions he's gotten or what as it seems to be the case that the ability is there but you're talking bottom 10% in Europe on a lot of his numbers as the majority of his passes are either to Mings or Martinez and he does little carrying of it himself. It's strange. Cash I think has been great, so sound defensively and has amazing energy but I do agree with folk that he needs to find more consistency in his end product, especially in this system where there's more of a reliance of the full backs. He regularly gets himself into great positions and just seems to lost his head when it comes to his decision making in those moments.

Preece seems like a nice fella but really does tie himself in knots at times. Spent the summer saying Grealish was 100% staying, he was told as much etc, then City sign him and he's saying "oh well I thought he was" before writing scathing opinion pieces on the matter. Honestly wouldn't be surprised to see Dougie putting up a post slating him within the week.

Seen it mentioned on Twitter that it's on a free? Quite an impressive signing if so, no he's nothing special but as outright back-up players go a club of Villa's current level won't do much better than him, especially given that he can cover three positions to an at least passable standard.

I'm the same. I appreciate what people are saying re: the Man City performance in that more advanced position, but I'd need to see a bigger sample size first because as far as I'm concerned he's played in both positions for Villa and his best, most consistent performances have been as a 6.

Bissouma literally wears number 8 for Brighton, how can people think he's a 6 when it says otherwise on his back.

Yeah but Bentancur is too skinny so we're now moving from height to body mass. Get Neville Southall in, proper 6.

If you go by VT general consensus then I genuinely don't know of a single player in world football who is a "number 6" because anyone who is mentioned for the role is immediately written off as an 8. He has the attributes to play there, has played there, and evidently Gerrard, Lange etc believe so too and are better placed to say whether or not he can undertake the role they want filled. I'm even seeing people say he "isn't a 6" because Allegri said on TV two seasons ago that he didn't like him there, despite the fact that as his manager he is literally playing him there at this moment in time which most recently included a MOTM display in the one game most Villa fans have actually watched him play. All seems a bit mad to me.

This is both of their respective heatmaps. How wildly different.

I for one am delighted at the idea of signing another player where certain people have already made up their minds and will end up having the same circular debates on here in the process.

To be fair Luiz himself described himself as a 6 previously so it's evidently not a black and white matter, especially considering how many coaches of his have utilised him there. There's this idea that he's "not a 6" when it's simply possible that he's capable of playing in both roles well.

The graphic says it was made in May 2021, Bentancur would have still been 23 at the time.