Enda

Where did I say I hoped it would happen? I hope Anna Kendrick will ask me out for drinks some evening, but there’s a big difference between what somebody hopes will happen and what will actually happen. These boys thinking we’ll get £80m for Jack are probably also expecting Anna will give them a ring any day now!

1. I put less stock in Jack using capital letters in a tweet than other people. He was in a celebratory mood and probably already half cut. 2. He has, repeatedly, refused to commit to Villa. His head is turned. 3. When asked, our manager said he’d have to talk to the owners. 4. People saying we don’t need the money have a different view of our owners/CEO than me. If there was this pot of money available to spend, in January we’d have dug a bit deeper than Baston, Drinkwater, and Samatta. I think we’re a lot more cheap than other posters do and, after a bit of haggling, that our Board would accept a bid in the £60m range. If Jack quietly places a transfer request, I see that number dropping. I’d be delighted if we got £100m for him, but I do not see that happening. We are not Mam City and we are not run by Daniel Levy. think a lot of people here are naive. And I’m willing to put my money where my mouth is.

Will anyone take on a bet? North of £65m, I pay a tenner to VT. South of £65m, they pay. Fee, not including add-ons or ifs/butts/maybes, and obviously no transfer means nobody pays. Deadline of this transfer window, so October 1st or whenever it ends.

Our club wouldn’t stump up £25m for Benrahma and now you think we’d turn down £90m for Grealish? Delusional, IMHO. I will be amazed if we get north of £70m for him. Ten pound to VT if we do. Can see us accepting considerably less than that.

Nah can’t be true, the detectives on VillaTalk say he’s slow.

I think that’s exactly what will happen, or at least there’s a good chance of it. This talk of £80m, £100m... I don’t see it happening. Jack showed his colours when he disavowed allegiance to a country he had U-21 caps for and declared for a bigger team. He’ll be off, I think, and I can see our CEO accepting £45m.

I think a lot of you are in for a shock.

Nah he's too old for that.

I agree with you both @Stevo985 and @NurembergVillan that Trez has the appearance of a really, really crap footballer. He gets out-muscled and his first touch looks literally worse than mine. But taking a step back, we've got a chap with no pre-season who has scored (apparently) one PL goal every 325 minutes. That's better than one in four games. Not bad for a punt. Not bad at all.

I think he's probably our top scorer per minute played. 7 goals from the wing. How many players outside the Top 7 can claim that? Serious question.

Leap year!

Chins up, far-away VillaTalk pals. Been a long year, and it comes down to 90 minutes in an empty stadium. This is it. Keep the faith. Our club is well-run, other future looks bright, and the sun rises in spite of everything. I think we’ll be fine tomorrow but, even if we go down, there are worse things in the world right now.

Green is set to be released next week.

I know they’re not new signings but Kalinic, Hogan and Bree are still on the books too. Quite a few I’d be happy to see leave.

Depending on your assumptions, we could get away with three signings or need twice that. I think it depends on three factors: If Jack goes. I'll be shocked if he stays but, if he does, he doesn't need replacing. Tom Heaton. If he'll be back after four matches, that's alright. I'm not comfortable with relying on Nyland or Steer for the whole season though. Would Reina come for another year? Can we buy a quality centre-forward (e.g. Tammy) for less than 40 million. If we can, that's a priority IMHO. If it's crazy money, we might have to spend it on the other positions like central mid. So definite positions (IMHO): centre-back, central midfield, winger. Starting line up of e.g. Heaton, Targett, Ake, Mings, Guilbert, Grealish, Luiz, McGinn, Ndombele, Benrahma, Wesley. (Just picking Ake, Ndombele and Benrahma as examples. Pick your own if you like.) If Jack leaves: those three, plus a replacement (4). Say Buendia or whoever. If a Tammy Abraham is available: those four, plus the new forward (5) If a goalkeeper is needed: those five, plus Reina (6). Starting line up of e.g. Reina, Targett, Ake, Mings, Guilbert, Buendia, Luiz, McGinn, Ndombele, Benrahma, Tammy. There's a big difference between three and six signatures, and that's before we talk about adding depth in left-back etc.

“We didn’t need a rebuild.” ”Four in, four out. That’s all we needed.” ”I don’t count Mings as a new signing.” What’s next? Look if your argument is £23m would have been better spent on Benrahma than Wesley I don’t think you’ll get much disagreement from people here. Benefit of hindsight and all that, but it’s a fair argument. It’s the additional nonsense you tack on that has people not respecting your opinions.

Seven of your starting eleven were not Aston Villa players at the end of last season.

Amazing how certain posters will shift their argument from “4 in and 4 out, that’s all we needed” (which is dumb) to “Benrahma would have been good” (which is true) and hope no-one notices

Good shouts, but Tom Heaton would like a word. Eze, Billing, and Buendia are three who will be looking for a Premier League club. At least one of Mitrovic or Benrahma the same. I think there’s consensus that these sorts of players in the £25m range are who we should be looking at. (Apart from the FM nutters. They’re a whole other story.)

Mings, Hause, and Engels are all howler-prone and Konsa is hardly the finished article. We have the second worst defensive record in the league. Reina is not our player. We all agree we need wingers but let’s not pretend the spine of the team couldn’t do with some surgery.

I mostly agree with you, but think we need a bit more than 4-5. Definitely two wingers, definitely a CB, probably a proven goal scorer and you’re already at four. That’s before central midfield, and I wouldn’t be against more competition for our full-backs either.

It matches what Rigo heard is all I’m saying. British tabloids print whatever they want.

Widely reported in the media: https://metro.co.uk/2020/06/28/jack-grealish-house-manchester-united-transfer-12913061/

Reports United, Everton, and Arsenal are interested.

Nah. Wigan have 12 points deducted.