VillaFaninLondon

I do find it funny how people dismiss clubs as football very much goes in cycles. I mean, I'm sure when Robinho went to City Real fans were saying why the f*** would he go there. Yes City had money but they had no right to attract someone of Robinho's reputation. The same when Neves went to Wolves or Boro signed Juninho. It's the ambition and goals of the football club that's important, not their current status in the game imo. That's why I find it hard to accept when we only sign our second or third choices, because something is going wrong in convincing the player of the nature of our goals.And actually we're a bigger club than all those three football clubs let's be honest (though City have probably overtaken us now). Werder Bremen like us have regressed in the last decade, but they've managed to avoid relegation and have kept themselves midtable for most seasons. And they've won a top flight title more recently than us and have been blessed with watching the likes of Diego, Mezut Ozil and Kevin de Bruyne relatively recently. So aren't really a small club. I don't accept we're a small club anyway, we've won enough trophies to prove otherwise, but for a club our size we do seem to have a small club mentality. I really do hope that changes because it's been a long time since we've competed for the top players.

You're not wrong I think it's possible we could get them, but will have to be a really good window as you say. Would get the fans excited for the new season that's for sure.

He's a talent that's for sure. Quite versatile as he can play CB and LB and obviously very young. Available on a free too. We should be all over him.

Thauvin flopped at the barcodes but seems to have turned into quite the player. 55 goals in 120 apps for Marseille in France, pretty much 1 in 2 and he's a winger. He'd be the best signing of the lot but sadly I think he's out of our reach at this moment.

Of the players we've been linked with, If we start the season with a 6 like this I'll be happy: ........................Luiz........................ ...........SJM.........McKennie.......... Rashica................................Jack ....................Edouard..................... Signing Rashica: £22mil; McKennie: £20mil; Edouard: £30-35mil. That leaves around £25-30mil to improve the defence imo. I think that gives a much more solid base to the midfield, with more pace and threat out wide and imo Edouard has the potential to be a top level striker even if he does play in a pretty mediocre league. The rest of the money I'd look at signing another CB to compete with Mings and Konsa (Lyuindama, Ajer, Malang Sarr ), a full back (Aarons, Clyne) and a GK especially if Heaton's injury has impacted his level of performance (Cillensen would be brilliant).

This is it. The same people saying we should get them will be the first to say it's ok we're fighting relegation again because we bought from the Championship. We don't want that, we want to be stable next season. The fees are just over-inflated in the Champ and there's such a big risk in buying players who might not make the step up. Watkins and Benrahma are not exactly young either, they're playing at close to their prime. Of the two I think Benrahma is more likely to make the step up but the level is much higher in the PL, we saw McGinn and Mings struggling at times and the only player who really showed consistency last season was Jack and even he struggled because he was carrying the team. We don't want that again. We've been told Rashica is available for £8mil less than Benrahma. I'd imagine there is some good value to be found at Valencia who are having financial problems - why not put in an ambitious offer for Guedes who is potentially a fantastic winger. I hope the links to McKennie, Thauvin and Cillesen are right too, they'd really improve us. In fact, I've seen McKennie would be open to a move to Villa. These are the signings we should be going all out for, unless we want another season of struggle and people getting frustrated why we're in the position we're in.

Some very favourable home fixtures early on. Apart from Liverpool, we should definitely be looking to win all the others. We clearly need to improve our away form though, just 2 wins away all last season.

Definitely. Got to be looking to win our first two games for sure.

Once again more depressing news, if true. One of the few really good players we have and he will improve more next season, we already need to strengthen other areas of the team massively and are doing a poor job of getting that done, it will suck even more if we lose Luiz. Why do we have to constantly mess up and put these clauses into contracts, if it's possible can't we just pay the oil barons for the clause to be scrapped and be done with it. We need Luiz next season. City don’t really need him and he’ll sit on their bench most weeks, which makes me even more angry if this goes through.

Rashica, absolutely. The best player we've been linked to this summer by far and I really, really hope we get him. Watkins I'm not sure, he looks like flavour of the month signing to me, but we would obviously be signing a player on the up. I'd be more convinced by Watkins if he was 20 or 21, but he's 25 this year and had one prolific season in half a dozen, in the lower leagues of English football. I think I'd be more comfortable with Benrahma from Brentford, he has genuinely looked a class apart in that league, but again like Watkins he's not exactly young (he's 25) and still playing in the Championship. The striker position is one we absolutely must get right, for me there's too much risk in signing Watkins, as there is with signing Origi and Iheanacho. I actually think King or Wilson would be more sensible but I haven't seen us linked at all. We'd all love Tammy back I think but doesn't seem like that's achievable. Then you've got players like Edouard and Morelos, who I think could be good moves, but again not too many links. There are plenty of strikers overseas with good records in the top divisions, but very few links. I really don't know why we don't gamble on someone like Boadu, already capped for the Netherlands, young and already one of the top scorers in the Eredivisie. I've also seen loads of names on here of players from Germany, Spain, Italy - but our scouting network appears to just be ignoring these leagues in the main. Who knows who we're going to sign, but there needs to be a couple of big signings to take us on to that next level of being comfortable and finishing 5 or 6 positions higher than 17th. Rashica would be one of those signings, then we need a big signing up top and arguably in midfield. If we do that I think we'll be fine next season; if not, it will be yet another long and draining season.

12th for me should be a realistic point to aim for and a solid season I would be happy with. I think we can get at least 10 more points than last season if we recruit well and if we make better tactical decisions. So to get to a safe and stable position just below midtable, a lot will rest on who we buy (needs to be a big improvement on who we have currently in certain positions) and how the manager does in his second season. If he approaches games sensibly and not with the gung ho attitude that caused us to drop so many points last season, a season of stability should be within our reach.

For someone who was so anti-Smith last season (much like me) I find it strange that you have come to this conclusion. I don’t agree with you at all, if we’re struggling again after another summer of heavy investment I’ll be so angry. I don’t expect us to suddenly jump into the top half but we absolutely cannot be in another battle for survival next season. If we are struggling again and Smith gets £100mil+ to spend on players of his choice this summer, I don’t see how the manager can survive. There’s no Suso to blame this time around.

Not at all. 38-42 points means we'll be struggling again and won't be a good season at all.

He's got too much influence at Barca and knows he can do what he wants because of how good he is. He basically runs that club I think and it's all very political, probably one of the reasons Barca aren't what they were. I reckon the best thing for Barca is to sell Messi and try and start again. They may get worse before they get better but that's what they have to do. A lot of their stars are past their best and need replacing, and they have never been the same since Xavi went who for me was a great, great player for them.

Messi's attitude stank last night to me. He's never exactly tracked back but when his side were getting humiliated he loses the ball to Lewandowski and doesn't even bother trying to get it back. He also left Semedo constantly exposed by just walking around the pitch when Barca weren't in possession. Bayern were brilliant though and you can see why they're favourites to win the CL. I've always liked them, they play great attacking football but also play with passion and they don't tend to spend stupid amounts of money on players. They're also very good at nurturing young talent. Will be a very intriguing match against City that's for sure.

Seeing as Valencia have put their whole squad up for sale I wouldn’t say no to Kondogbia and Maxi Gomez. Another player is Nzonzi who is exactly the sort of midfielder we need and is probably available at a reasonable price. Getting on a bit but linked before to us and would add loads of experience playing at the highest level.

Him and Bailey would be 2 incredible signings. Think Bailey might be Everton bound though.

He has flourished for a poor team in the Bundesliga, which is in the top four leagues in Europe. It would be an upgrade on last summer's signings for sure. It's more a surprise so many Villa fans saying "Announce Watkins" on Twitter and getting excited by that link, when Watkins has only had one decent season in the second tier. I do agree we need more proven options on top of Rashica though.

I'd love it if we signed this guy, real statement of intent which I wanted to see from the club following our massive struggles last season. He's the sort of signing that would provide a huge boost to Jack and the whole team and would make the leap to the Prem quite quickly I think. Very quick and skilful and scores goals. I think he has a £33m buyout clause which is worth it, but may be available for less given he's not been with the squad.

Making it sound like he’s on Messi’s level. I love Tammy and it would be ambitious to get him back here, but if we can’t bring in players at his level we ain’t going anywhere quickly.

Well as someone said, we ain't bringing Kane or Rashford to VP. So a moot argument. I agree Chelsea are attacking, but 15 goals in 34 appearances is decent especially when quite a few of those appearances were off the bench. Giroud got 8 in 18 but most of his games were starts I believe. There's also the age factor, Tammy will definitely improve further in the next 3-4 years, if it was with us I believe he would turn into a 15-20 goals a season man for us. If we signed him for next season I'm pretty sure he'd hit double figures minimum, which makes £40mil (if that's what he'd go for) a very good investment. It's very likely Chelsea would want more for him though, but if it was £40mil plus add ons I'd go for it. Of all the strikers we've been linked with, I think Tammy and Eduoard would be most likely to shine for us and are both at a good age to improve quite dramatically.

Strange view. He was top scorer for Chelsea last season despite injures and not starting games after the restart. He's 22 and already firmly in the England squad.He knows our set up and club so wouldn't need to really adapt. If they wanted £40mil I'd snap their hands off for him.

I definitely see a lack of ambition too, I suspect that a lot of it is to do with Smith, which is why I was wary of keeping him on despite him kind of pulling off a miracle in the final weeks keeping us up. He did seem to have learned in the last few weeks from his mistakes, but we can't say for sure how much that was down to the teams we played having nothing to play for and not putting the effort in. I like Dean but I see him like so many of our managers down the years as very meh and I really want us to push the boat out for a big management appointment who can bring in the talent we need. Our last big name appointment was 10 years ago when we appointed Houllier, and even then we appointed him 5-10 years too late. I hope the fears are dissipated over the coming weeks when we bring in big name signings and hit the ground running when the season starts - we can live in hope.

I'm being optimistic somewhat and voted 12-13. I do think we'll spend a fair bit again as the owners have said (think it may even be more than £100mil) but I'm unsure how good the quality of player will be. I think Konsa, Mings, Luiz, Jack and McGinn are five very good players for this league and if we can add some goals to the team and an extra bit of quality in certain areas we should be comfortable. But I say this with still a few doubts about the manager, but he did impress me in the final few games and I hope he carries that on into next season. I don't think any of the promoted sides (maybe Leeds as an exception) will do too well, Sheffield United I think will struggle next season, and the likes of Palace, Burnley, Newcastle, Brighton and Southampton are all teams we should be aiming to finish above. So the aim should certainly be to finish in the upper reaches of bottom half, I'll be very disappointed if we really struggle again.

The question is, are we going to do anything more than struggle again next season if we're buying players from the Championship? I can see the same arguments between fellow Villans if we do struggle next season, those defending Smith saying what do you expect when he's buying from the Championship, and those arguing Smith isn't a big enough manager to attract big names in European football. Another question is why bring in a new Sporting Director who is supposed to help us identify potential top talent, and then just go and spend our money on Brentford players who Smith already knows? Example - Rashica has a buy out clause of £33mil. He's proven in a top league (Germany). He would almost certainly improve our first eleven by a significant amount. He's wanted by other clubs who are no doubt in a better position than us currently in the football pyramid, but ultimately we won't get anywhere until we can bring players of this calibre in. That's the way I see it.