Indigo

This has been the worst shout on this entire thread.

Elmo is criminally hard done by on here. He was great during the run in and probably our best player across the three playoff games. I find it bizarre that there's such a strong sentiment for Steer to keep his place while people would bin Elmo. I'd happily have him as back up next season.

Must be prefaced by the obvious - and important - points that I've never really seen him play outside of the odd highlights here and there (/obligatory YouTubing upon hearing this news), and that so much of whether a player is a success or not hinges on largely intangible things like settling into the league etc...but I like the look of this signing. As much as anything it just shows that there is a clear recruitment plan in place outside of the oft-suggested and reported moves for some of the better Championship players just because they're the easiest link to make. It's become clear that Tammy won't be happening so we've moved quickly for a replacement that in theory has similar attributes and as a result will mean it'll be a smoother transition for the team to not depart too much (if at all) from its existing style. It fills me with a bit more - possibly naive - optimism than a signing like Maupay would as it just looks a bit more thoughtful. Helps too that he seems to be highly-regarded and didn't come particularly cheap relative to his notoriety to the average fan, suggests Smith et al have a good deal of faith in him being a success. They've me on board anyway as I've not been given much reason to doubt them thus far. Just the 8 or so more to go now...

Obviously a largely hypothetical squad but it gets more unconvincing for me the further up the field you go. As much as folk seem keen on the Brentford pair I'd be sceptical personally if they were our main two additions in terms of attacking players. Don't mind the idea of the Phillips signing. He has a bit of a howler in him here and there but he showed a lot of growth this season under Bielsa and would probably fit into our side well. Saying that I think another midfielder wouldn't go amiss as we'd still be a bit light on quality in terms of depth. We really do have a lot to do this summer...

I would say that's kind to Tomori and harsh on Keogh. Tomori got dragged right out to the wing when he really didn't need to be and left the space in the middle for El Ghazi to eventually make a move into. Keogh was ultimately left to man the centre half position by himself.

Not likely if his one game against them was anything to go by.

Don't agree with anyone that wants to sign Sturridge in the slightest, but aside from that I think folks are getting carried away with this notion that we need a striker that'll be scoring us 20+ goals in a season. I've seen this used as a reason to not sign Tammy or whoever else, but realistically as great as it would be to have someone that does that...it's only Salah, Aubameyang, Mane and Aguero that managed that total last season. And that tends to be the rule (at least in recent season), that there'll only be 4/5 players that actually do so in a league season. We should delighted with anyone getting around the 15 mark really given we're a side whose ambitions lie outside of the top 6 next season.

"Purslow and Smith are adamant about our new model, gone are the days where we play silly amounts for the best players off Championship teams." *wants to sign Maupay, Bowen, Benrahma, Lolley...*

I'm not sure Rondon is necessarily the type of player that would suit us as he might be a bit lacking in mobility for the type of football Smith will have us trying to play (though he does tick some boxes considering the amount of crosses we put in), but to suggest he's the caliber of player we should be turning our noses up at is very far wide of the mark. There's a reason why Newcastle (a team that finished in a position last season I think most Villa fans would be happy with emulating) fans are absolutely desperate to keep hold of him. Not that we've been linked to him mind, but what is this thread for if not to debate about players that will never play for us.

Tomori would be a good signing but at the same time I'd be concerned if we went into next season with him as a starting CB. He's not the most directly comparable player to Tuanzebe but he'd be a downgrade all the same, and at a higher level at that. Harsh to judge him on one game but considering some are saying he pocketed Tammy in the final (which I don't particularly agree with anyway), at the same time he did get massively dragged out of position for our opener and left the space for El Ghazi to run into. Anyone that's seen him more can tell me otherwise but he seems to rely a lot on recovery pace to make up for his positioning much of the time, he'll obviously iron this stuff out in time and be a quality player but it'd be a bit of a baptism of fire to chuck him in straight away I think.

Would be very happy to have Elmo as back up to Guilbert next season at the least. Outside of a shaky time at Christmas where the whole team underperformed he's always been a reliable player, and if anything was possibly our best across the three playoff games. Has proven himself to be solid at the level before and outside of blistering pace he has enough of the right attributes to at least get by.

Absolutely no chance. He did well last season but c'mon, it's been long established that it's easier to look good in goal for a poor side that faces more shots than other teams. Even taking solely last season into account he wasn't near Alisson, Ederson, Fabianski, Leno, Kepa, Foster, Patricio, Schmeichel and probably a couple of more. Wouldn't be a bad singing by any means as we'll be looking to stay in the Premier League, but there's levels and he's not at that one. The fact that the basis some of you are going off makes Boruc a better signing should be enough to work off.

Would love to get Milner in for the season as the exception to what will seem to be the rule on transfers. Whenever names are floated about a lot of people are lazily grouping them together based purely on age/clubs they play for rather than looking at it on a case-by-case basis. Milner isn't even remotely comparable to the likes of Lescott and Richards that we've been burned on before. The guy is the personification of professionalism and has played an important role in one of the best sides in the whole of Europe this season, if you make a midfield three of him, Grealish and McGinn then we're already a cut above a lot of the teams we'll be competing with in that area of the pitch, which I wouldn't be as confident of if you replaced him with <sub-25 year old from the Championship>. This is all purely hypothetical mind, as I don't anticipate that we'l actually end up in for him at all. Whatever the case I'm confident that the recruitment team will get it right as they've not done too much wrong thus far. A lot of the links/names mentioned in here have just been either Brentford players or players that have performed well against us in the Championship, I'd expect (and hope) we'll end up with a few more thoughtful signings than that.

There's an important distinction between simply loaning a player and doing so with options to buy etc at the end of the season. Surely if we're going to be spending a lot on elsewhere in the squad (as it seems we would need to do), it would make a lot of sense to get Tammy back on loan for the season with an option of buying him for £25 million or whatever figure is floating about next summer. Purslow's point was more so about the former I think, where we were just improving players for their parent clubs and then shipping them right back without any option ourselves.

One of the most satisfying aspects of getting promoted was removing myself from those mind-numbing groups that only served the purpose of sometimes making it possible to watch games when you otherwise wouldn't have been able to. No need for that anymore now we're in the Premier League thank christ.

I can't say I ever particularly rated him and have posted in here before saying I don't really see quite why certain sections of the fan base held him in the high regard they did in terms of him as a footballer, but in an era for us where we've been cursed with a lot of sub-par players and questionable characters you can't really accuse him of the latter. The guy clearly has a real affinity with the club and for that alone I think it's unfair to be as harsh on him as some are. All the best to him, it's great that his last season was finally a successful one for the club, and that he's essentially immortalised himself with that goal vs Blues.

I hope and do have faith that the recruitment team will be casting the net further than Championship players who have played well against us. As much as they're all good players in their own right, if we go into next season with Konsa (as a Tuanzebe replacement), Lolley, Maupay (as an Abraham replacement) and Phillips or whoever else as our additions to that playoff final team...I think we'd be in for a long season in the Premier League.

Completely agree with this. I can just about understand any reservations about how effective he may or may not be in the Premier League long term, but I find the lack of love he gets in some quarters compared to similar figures in Mings and McGinn absolutely bizarre to be honest. He's played as big a part as anyone in our success this season, properly immersed himself in the club (if the words of the players are anything to go by he stuck with us when he had to option to bail in January) and clearly was a big figure in the dressing room. The fact he scored 26 goals in the league and yet could still be critiqued for not being clinical enough if anything shows how good he has the potential to be considering he's still only 21. Sure it's possible we could get better than him in the PL, but I think it's a bit naive to flippantly assume that it'll be so easy, and with continuity being so key if nothing else I'd love to at the very least sign him along with another striker if necessary (assuming we can do so at a reasonable rate...if that exists anymore). His time with Swansea is unfairly held against him considering he was a kid being relied upon by a pretty poor side. To put it in perspective, I've seen Mitrovic being mentioned as a better option by a good few people, but when he was Tammy's age he managed 4 goals in the season Newcastle got promoted... If he wants to stick it out at Chelsea and make a go of it then good luck to him, you should have that belief in yourself as a footballer. Whatever the case I'll always have a lot of love for him after this season.

I think you're thinking of Barbet. His name gets thrown about on here a bit and it seems strange as he's in his mid-20s, was sometimes in and out of Brentford's side and has been let go on a free without many of their fans seeming to mind too much. We do seem to look to Brentford a lot now due to the Smith connection though.

In the interview with Smith and Purslow, the former mentions having options on three of the loaned players. El Ghazi, Hause and...? I'm presuming he just means that clause in the Mings deal about matching an accepted offer by another team but I'm holding onto some faint hope that it's something more concrete than that for him to have grouped it in with the other two.

What a guy Have to hold my hands up and say I was wary on whether or not he was the right man for the job way back in the early days of this season when the tide was beginning to really turn against Bruce and his name was being thrown about, I grew more warm to the idea of him being manager the stronger the Thierry Henry links got though (small tangent but Jesus, can you imagine where we are in the alternative universe where he actually got the job...). Still and all I expected him to have to take stock for the remainder of the season and then still be left with a massive job on his hands come August without the likes of Grealish, increased financial woes etc. It's been a collective effort but what an amazing feat from him, especially given the context of the borderline professional negligence of Bruce that he had to take over from (the Chester story shines is one SB should rightly take a lot of criticism for). I'm at the tail-end of a Grealish-esque celebration and feeling emotional but I couldn't be any happier for him, comes across as a great man and I hope he can take comfort in knowing how proud his dad must be of him.

We've barely been a Premier League side again for a day and have already been linked with 3 or 4 players, it's gonna be a long summer... For what it's worth I think we're getting a bit blinded by the fact Lolley is a Villa supporter. It'd be great for him and he is a very good player (I've a mate who's a ST holder at Forest that loves him) but that aside...£10 million+ for a 27 year old player that didn't cut it for one of the worst sides in the PL a couple of years ago goes against much of the sentiments espoused over the last few pages of this thread. I certainly wouldn't be unhappy to sign him but I'd be sceptical if we were to shell out a decent amount on him all the same.

There's obviously a balance to be struck between the two extremes here which are people just naming random young players from the lower leagues they've barely seen play (/Brentford players that even Brentford fans think they can improve on), or bringing in as many former players as possible for some reason. Each player is a case by case basis. You can't really lump Milner in the same bracket as Albrighton etc. I'm all for the approach of signing younger players and not repeating the mistakes of the past but he is an outlier in this case and a player we'd be mad to turn our noses up at if he became available for a season on two. If anything a player of Milner's quality and experience right in midfield would be the perfect supplement for everything else we're doing. Purely hypothetical of course but that's a no brainer for me.

...who cares? Derby celebrated heavily themselves, much like Jack it was well before the game and preparations for it began. Feeding into this shite and making a story of it is exactly what the people taking and publishing the photos want. He's hardly going to still be pissed at Wembley and as long as we make it up I couldn't care how Grealish or anyone else celebrates.