DakotaVilla

McGinn will get moved forward. It will be Ramsey that will get dropped… initially, if we land the CM.

We’ve been strongly linked with Sangare and others so my personal view is that it is very much the plan.

I think it’s good for McGinn/Ramsey as well as will free whichever one is playing to focus more on supporting the attack, which is where their strengths lie.

Unless McGinn progresses significantly this season I suspect Ramsey will be starting ahead of him at some point. 

The club has done extremely well to get such a significant transfer for a kid who could have signed for someone on a free in 5 months. The boy has done next to nothing in a villa shirt, despite ample opportunity to make an impact, and clearly had no intention on signing a deal with us. Added bonus is that we won’t have this circus ongoing and can start the season with everyone that we want fully committed and pulling in the same direction.

I feel sorry for the boy. He seems like a decent kid but has been horribly advised. Chelsea’s youth set up has swallowed up the likes of Salah and De Bruyne (who fortunately ended up making it elsewhere) and literally a hundred+ similar youth prospects so it’s a “brave” move at best. 

It’s more likely than not that come the end of the season he might be viewing the premier league game time Ramsey, Archer and Tim get this season with more than a little envy.

Tim should be the first back up to Kamara. Gerrard has already spoken extremely highly of him. The new CM signing will be to replace McGinn’s starting position. Leaving Mcginn and ramsey to fight it out for the final spot. 

I’m disappointed he hasn’t been released already. Come on Purslow, pull the trigger so this guy can go back to carrying bags for his brother. 

2 hours ago, Sam-AVFC said:

Is elite the newest football buzzword? Of course we have always tried to sign who we think are the best players available and affordable at the time, including when we signed Traore.

Sorry to break it to you Traore was never an elite player. Lyon fans were doing cart wheels when we signed him and the only reason we did is because terry convinced smith and the owners that he had the potential to be a world beater based on his huge talent as a youth at Chelsea. 
 

9 hours ago, paul514 said:

Traore is easily good enough for 4th choice both now and for where we want to be finishing.

Ha. Talk about damning the guy with faint praise…..4th choice. 
 

We should be signing elite options that push our existing first teamers to 2nd, 3rd, 4th option or giving our high potential youths that opportunity or buying elite young players and showing that we have that 3rd, 4th spot open for them. 

2 hours ago, Delphinho123 said:

El Ghazi was our second top scorer 2 seasons ago. Why does he need to go? 

Because he’s simply just not good enough. 
He couldn’t get a kick for an Everton team that was an inch away from relegation.

To think he’s suddenly going to transform into some world beater if Gerrard gives him a pat on the back, runs his fingers through his hair, and tells him what a good boy he his every day is utterly fanciful.

I’m gobsmacked that Smith hasn’t tried to take him to Norwich but again that tells you everything you need to know about Ghazi as well. 

1 hour ago, foreveryoung said:

 

Someone is.

I’m a person of colour. 
To me it’s absolutely blatantly obvious that there are deep systemic issues in womens football.

I’m not saying there’s racism in the squad per se. Only those close enough to the squad itself, especially the black girls on the fringes, would know that. I doubt there is, based on the success achieved so far.

By the way, that doesn’t in any way detract from the amazing achievements of the girls that have been selected. Hopefully, they win the final and go and inspire a generation of girls, of all backgrounds, to follow in their footsteps in the future. 

There’s definitely an issue. In a diverse country such as the UK it is pretty much statistically impossible to have an all white line up based purely on footballing merit.

All you have to do is look at pretty much every single UK XI in the professional mens game as supporting evidence. 

It means he is a highly inconsistent player that has nothing to offer any team with serious aspirations of challenging for Europe. He’ll end up back in France or turkey or some other similar league. That’s his level. 
 

Teams have been trying to sign Rice and Bowen for years and when they do go you can bet it’s going to be for 50m+ and to the biggest teams in the land. 

1 minute ago, Zatman said:

Them 7 goals 7 assists in his only full season dont count?

All those teams above us and elite teams in Europe are clearly beating the door down to sign him aren’t they…..

Traore has done nothing, absolutely nothing in his time here, to suggest he has a significant part to play in the future of this club if our aspiration is Europe. 

Don’t blame Gerrard for being ruthless. Blame our previous manager for signing a highlights reel player. 

Traore will definitely go if a sizeable bid comes in. Shame but he just doesn’t suit Gerrard’s style of play or player.

I’m delighted Gerrard is here. Coutinho, Digne, Kamara, Carlos weren’t going to join us if Smith was still here. I’m not a smith hater but he’s not exactly done an amazing job at Norwich so far either.

Gerrard is trying to play a far more dominant brand of football and understood that we needed some better players to execute on this properly. We’ll be far more stable with Kamara and Carlos. Just need another CM and we should be a totally different proposition this season. Next upgrades after that will obviously be Mings and Watkins and then we’ll really be flying. 

Why would that be a concern? Gerrard has played Ramsey consistently and given game time to Tim and Carney. 

He even spoke about the importance of it as he was a home grown player himself. If they are good enough, they will play, regardless of their age.

Let’s not conflate Carney’s position with the rest of our youth teams prospects. 

4 hours ago, TheAuthority said:

 

Surely you've just completely contradicted yourself. You are praising agents for squeezing every last penny they can for their client. But when presented with players for whom agents did that and it was absolutely the wrong move professionally for the athlete, you blame the player and their families.

Any good agent will understand where a player is going to best develop their career in addition to getting them an appropriate financial deal. An agent who solely focusses on the best money package at that point is doing their client a disservice.

Where is the proof that either player suggested made a decision based solely on money?

Just because villa have made an offer doesn’t mean it’s the best offer (financial and non financial) for the player as much as we want him to stay.

Maybe the player has the view that his development is best placed away from Villa? 

The agent has played a blinder because his player currently holds *all* the cards and can make a decision based on what he wants to do.

It’s incredibly lazy to assume it’s just due to money or a dodgy agent if he does choose to leave. 
 

You’ll never know what would have happened had those players made different decisions and ultimately none of that is on the agent. It’s the player and their family that make the decision.

Also if we take off our claret and blue specs his agent has played an absolute blinder. 

He quite obviously wants to play as much as possible and also have the best deal for him and his agent. He owes Villa nothing from a professional perspective. 

We need to give him playing guarantees,  a large signing on fee and also grudgingly pay his agent over the odds or he’s probably gone. 
 

21 minutes ago, WallisFrizz said:

We’re not done but we’ve made 2 additions to our last registered squad not 4.

Making desirable loan players permanent is good business but it’s not strengthening us from where we were last season so people aren’t wrong or ungrateful for wanting more from this window. Plenty of time though.

It is strengthening us because loans are temporary given their very nature. We know all about that after Tammy didn’t sign etc.

The stability and commitment provided by a long term deal - particularly for elite players like Coutinho - and the impact that us on our appeal to other players should not be poo pooed. 
 

We still have over t-w-o months until the window closes. 

*If* we do sign another CB it’s to play with Carlos and  replace Mings not to play 3 at the back. 

19 minutes ago, tomav84 said:

all reports say that this has already happened though. his agent is playing hard ball though and demanding more.

So we need to give him more. The longer we leave it the more expensive it will be. 
even holding our nose and paying his agent an extra 2m is nothing in the grand scheme of things of retaining him and the possibility of him becoming a 50/75 or 100m footballer in the years to come. 

Reality is we are holding zero cards here and our previous negotiation strategy has failed. im not blaming anyone but that’s where we are.

Realistically we now need to make a first team level offer and guarantee him minutes or sell him for peanuts (which we will undoubtedly regret). 

Just give him and his agent a big signing on fee and a contract that is good but tapers up automatically very quickly should he meet x number of performances, goals and assists.

As cover for Coutinho and Buendia he is likely to start at least 10 games (across all comps) and then come on as a sub in at least another 20. That should get him to 1200 min easily which is easily far more than any other player of his age in the league will get.