jonjon

13 minutes ago, tomav84 said:

i'm not one of these "why the **** haven't we signed anyone yet" characters, but i'm with you on this. surely this has to be one of the easiest deals for the reasons you mentioned. i'd be interested to know what the hold ups are. wanting to stay in London i'd wager would be the reason it falls through if it does

Ignoring all the totally inaccurate press related prices supposedly wanted by us, No deal is easy, there is a lot to be worked on by both parties, I know its only press talk but it takes time to talk to each supposed interested club, length of contract, wages, location etc, etc, The last item you mention is location, to uproot your way of life, family, housing, is a lot to take in for a young lad, I think the only reason you might not get him is the attraction to the London area, but I might be wrong.

4 hours ago, joshharris12 said:

Obv applies pressure on Brentford to come to a better price 

Why, we've just got our replacement this morning, so why would we have to lower our price for him (Unknown) as according to the press there are plenty of other clubs looking at him, (take that with a pinch of salt) it might have been a different matter if we hadn't got his replacement in already.

Just now, Delphinho123 said:

Interesting (and great if we sign him), as I always thought Maupay was a terrific little player. 

I really like Watkins attitude though. His work rate seems fantastic and I think he has a lot of attributes to make it in the Prem - strong, quick, good in the air and works hard. 

You are not wrong in your judgement, he is all you say, you won't get a fitter player on the pitch, he played a full game for every match this season, except for 6 minutes when he was replaced, he has only missed a hand full of games in 175 matches, He is a super fit athlete who looks after himself,  you won't hear a bad word about him either, even when he moves on, we shall all miss him, but we are used to this scenario each year, hope out of all the teams supposedly in for him he chooses Villa, it will suit your type of play, he will be coming as the main man not prepared to play 2nd fiddle and he will do very well indeed.

6 hours ago, Delphinho123 said:

Interesting question, but if you could pick one to have up top out of Maupay and Watkins, who would it be? 

Same question for @jonjon

Watkins by a country mile.

2 minutes ago, rayk said:

I think the whole point of this thread is transfer speculation though lol. We’d be on 5-10 pages.....not 700...if we waited for official announcements.

Anyway, are you happy with Toney (for Watkins) and do you think of Robin Hack (for Benrahma).

Never seen either of them live, so I am in no position to judge, and it's pointless looking at YouTube clips because they only show the good side of players, I only ever like to give a view on players if I have seen them live a few times, I trust our recruitment method and team, and I am always happy with who they bring in, it's a tried and trusted method that seems to work, judging by the amount of profit we make on players each window. 

7 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

Do you think Rico Henry will leave this window? Do you think he’d make the step up to the Premier League? 

He can make the step up without a problem, I know we will be losing players, but out of all our players he's the one I want to leave least, to me he was our best player last season, so  I just hope he doesn't leave.

12 minutes ago, M_Afro said:

Do you think he will be successful at Villa and if so why? I saw quite a bit of Maupay before he moved and he looked good enough to me. He was technically good, strong and very clever. I don’t have the same feeling with Watkins. He is obviously better than Hogan but is he really that much better?

I've watched both Maupay and Watkins many many times, they are both players each with a different set of skills, out of the two Watkins is the better all round player and will score you goals, something you have been lacking in, but please don't even mention him alongside Hogan, it's like chalk and Cheese.

4 hours ago, nnock1984 said:

Not sure if it’s Been mentioned, but John Swift played for Dean Smith on loan at Brentford for a very successful season. 

True, He wasn't a bad player for us, but didn't pull up any trees, from what I have seen of him playing for Reading he has improved a bit, would struggle to get in our team now, but as Brentfordnylons has said, not PL standard.

17 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

Benrahama is quarantining isnt he?

Could be but not sure, no date was given when he arrived back in the UK, but I think it's safe to say him & Watkins have played their last game for us.

Looks ominous, Benrahma, Watkins, Raya  missing from today's line up at West Ham (Now live on YouTube) WH 1-0 up so far.

3 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

Out of interest, have you actually sold anyone of these players so far? 

Not yet, but it will come, just like you haven't brought anyone yet, you will

13 hours ago, Awol said:

Best player on the pitch in the play-off final, imo. 

Watkins and Henry our two best players by a mile, he's now injury free and played in all games, and a quality player, another one of ours that won't come cheap.

1 hour ago, SeanVilla said:

Not sure it's that simple. Didn't they say they were relaxing FFP this year due to Covid? So it's anyone's guess!

I think I read somewhere that they relaxing the rules and were lumping 2 seasons worth of FFP together due to Covid,  That's a sensible move under this present climate, but it would mean if clubs spent a majority of it this season it would leave them thin on the ground next season, hopefully someone can correct me if I've got hold of the wrong end of the stick.

1 hour ago, sir_gary_cahill said:

Yes, it might make them a pretty penny and be successful in the short term but I’m not sure it’s a good business model in the long term. Players will see them as a stepping stone to move to a so called ‘bigger club’

It's a business model we have had to use out of necessity to increase our overall revenue, and It should have been the end of selling our best players this season, but we messed it up by not being promoted, we have been getting there gradually each year, hopefully by selling and buying again we will soon reach our ultimate goal, fingers crossed!!!

13 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

If they want 25 and we want to pay 18 I reckon we’ll settle at 21+ a shit loads of addons.

That to me seems a very fair price, gives you a good deal and a good player, and us a very handsome profit on our meager outlay., then we can all move on and start playing football 

More Sky sports news just out

15:41

2 minutes ago, rayk said:

That’s what I’m saying.....how long since the playoff final now when clear that Watkins and Benrahma (even Henry would be off).

Norwich haven’t had any problems finding players....don’t understand the hold up.

They are welcome to who they are signed, not very inspirational is it, and not my cup of tea, But what's the hurry, I think we like to go for the more unusual and unknown players, and keep everything under wraps, we are not in a desperate rush like some clubs just for the sake of getting bodies in, we have enough players to select from to keep us going to start with, As a Bee's supporter you learn to be patient and not panic, but leave the job to our specialists who seem to manage very well each year as proven with their excellent track record. 

3 minutes ago, rayk said:

All very fair but you must have been lining up replacements for the last 12 months or so......what’s happening?

Of course we have, but it all takes time, we don't make many mistakes with last minute buying like some clubs who panic buy, we have a tried and tested method, most of our new players are tracked and analysed for at least 12 months before we plunge in, and it works just fine.  

1 hour ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

@jonjon whats the news on Watkins and Said being out of the squad from your side?

Usual thing, protection from injury, we can't afford to put in danger our two most valuable assets, it happens at most clubs it's nothing new or untoward, and it's believed they have both played their last game for us, I do have a club contact this end with someone slightly ITK, and the word is that they have received bids for them both but have not reached what we have asked for (unknown of course) and Fulham are in the mix alongside yourselves as serious contenders, but we MUST get in replacements first, that's our priority.

5 hours ago, danceoftheshamen said:

Not overly fussed either way on Watkins. I thought we were after Proven Premier League quality this window and he clearly doesn't fit that criteria. He'd be an interesting purchase who may do well but i'd prefer Tammy if it were doable. Both would be good mind.

That's fine, so is everyone else, but will cost an awful amount of money, (£40-60 Million) will Villa be prepared to pay that?

37 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

If the rumours about Fulham giving Antonee Robinson 50k a week are true, Lord only knows what they’d give someone like Watkins. 80, 100k a week?

I’d really like Watkins, think he’s a good all round player, but it would be difficult (and extremely stupid) to compete with Fulham if they’re throwing around money like that. 

Could all be b****** of course.

Of course it is, inaccurate and lazy journalism as usual, like 99% of "A source says"  

1 hour ago, nick76 said:

What happens if you sign a replacement in 10 days for example and the teams that were interested have moved on to other targets and there is no other interest?  Not being funny, just a genuine question.  I assume you don’t have financial worries but can you afford to spend 10m if you can’t recoup money for sales?

It won't come to that situation, we have never failed to sell players in the window, even a few years ago on the last day we sold 3 players to Birmingham, Jota was one of them, and after  September 6th there will still be a month left before it closes, plenty of time for business to be done by all clubs,  I hardly think there will be no interest in him, and he will be sold by the end of the window, I have have no doubt about that. 

6 minutes ago, romavillan said:

Or we've not met Brentford's price, will wait to see what Fulham are offering and add a curly wurly and a snap and crackle on top and bob's your mom's new live in lover...

I don't think he's going anywhere until they have signed his replacement, we have just 12 days left before our season starts on 6th Sept (live on Sky), so not long to wait.