MadridVilla

If you look closely in the reflection in his glasses you can see the first tee at the Belfry.

That interview is pretty disappointing I must say. He's holding Jack to completely different standards to the rest of the squad. Firstly it was being a Championship player - yet he calls up and starts Phillips before ever playing a PL fixture. Bear in mind Grealish had already played PL football, admittedly hadn't done much but took Liverpool apart in the FA Cup semi final. Then when Villa were promoted he needed to improve his performances to get in the squad. So he did improve as the season went on, and still no call up came. Even when stats showed he was the most creative English player in the league, there was still no call up. Then it was that Grealish didn't fit Southgate's system, because they wanted to play him somewhere where he wasn't playing regularly, else he would be behind Sterling, Sancho etc. Yet for whatever reason Trippier plays left wing back, the right-footed Dier plays as a left sided centre back, and Mount plays on the wing where Southgate admits he's never played before in professional football. Then when Grealish is called up as a last resort, he doesn't even feature until 2 other wingers leave the squad. Even then, he still only gets 15 minutes where he can't really impact the game. And when journalists ask him what he thought of his debut, he deflects the attention - twice - to focus on other players, before saying Jack was 'fine' and that it's "shown him the intensity". Honestly the only nice thing he said about Jack was that he's smiley. So it's one rule for Jack and one rule for the rest of the squad. The guy is entitled to his footballing opinion but he's so hypocritical it makes him look like a complete idiot - maybe he is.

£28m + add ons is an outrageous price at this current moment. He may double his value in 2 years, he may prove to be worth just what we paid for him, or we may never see that money again. As with any transfer it is a gamble but the fee makes this a huge gamble. I've no doubt Watkins is good enough for this level from what I've seen, but will we get any kind of value for money from this deal? I think it is a good show of intent that the money is there to spend to strengthen the squad, and I think with a new GK and probably a winger as well we are in a stronger position than last season. Very pleased to get this deal into the final stages and I'm just glad it's not my money they're spending.

Fear not VT, my sources at Kitbag are telling me we're about to make a triple swoop for Ronaldo, Messi and Neymar. Announcement must be imminent?

28m for a striker who's never played in the top division is too much. If we walk away now, one of two things could happen: 1. Brentford recognise their price is too high, and decide to lower their price closer to the end of the window when it's clear nobody wants to pay that much, Villa get a better price 2. Brentford keep their valuation and Villa decide to sign someone with better value for money Sure, Callum Wilson is older and has suffered injuries, but he's not damaged goods imo. He has PL experience and was good enough for the England squad not long ago. If we could get him for around 20m, perhaps made up with add-ons for appearances and goals, I think it's a viable alternative in the short term. I would still prefer Watkins of the two but the price is a big obstacle to that.

Seems to be especially important to NSWE, Purslow and Lange to stop leaks as well.

Have to say it does seem like the reporting is varied to say the least. No guarantees that the reporting is accurate at all, except the persuasiveness of their writing and their journalistic integrity (whatever that counts for these days)

Fee not agreed but personal terms agreed already, this has already been reported. By no means does this mean the deal isn't happening and it may still be close.

It may be that spending £12m on Cash instead of £20m on Aarons means we can afford to sign Edouard instead of Watkins, for example. We could spend £100m on 3/4 players very differently, they don’t all have to be £20m+.

They’re already pretty stacked on the wings, unless they’re looking to move players on. But they’re all still young and talented so I don’t see a) wolves being more desperate to sign a winger than Villa, and b) Rashica choosing to fight for a rotational position rather than a starting position at Villa. Either way he may still prefer to play for a club that hasn’t been battling for relegation even if they don’t have European football.

I think Jota had a disappointing second season - not bad, but nowhere near as good as his first season in the prem. Aside from that they have Traore and Podence, who’s only been there 6 months and has looked quite promising. Presumably Rashica would be a squad player and play in rotation or be used as an impact sub, whereas at Villa he would probably start most games.

Signing Cash and Watkins will improve the team and hopefully push us a bit further away from relegation - perhaps once we've established ourselves again we can get the more ambitious signings across the line. The owners' 3-stage plan was always promotion, consolidation and then pushing for Europe. We're still in stage 2 and are still building a squad to consolidate the position in the league. Patience! Of course better players would improve those chances but I just don't think the club's current stature can attract them, it's not just Smith. Not to deny a manager's influence of course - Bielsa seems to be a big draw for players to Leeds, and similarly Nuno over the last few years at Wolves.

"I know Villa like to play him at CB, but that's not where we see him in the way we play"

Gareth Southgate moans about speculative threads clogging up VT and only posts "lock this thread"

Grealish leading the title charge on the Southgate Revenge Tour 20/21

I've heard that Southgate hasn't called up Grealish because his calves won't fit through the doors at St George's Park. Shame really, he doesn't get a call up because of an architectural oversight.

Kalvin Phillips gets a call up to the England squad. Top player and worth a go in the squad, won't be long before the top clubs start to take notice. Makes that £30m price tag quoted last summer seem a lot more realistic

Absolutely criminal, Southgate is a **** square

Lovely pint of Chong to wash it down, followed by a raspberry Pavlenka for dessert

He is much more likely to be sold than Trippier I would imagine, but probably wouldn't end up at Villa. He was back-up to Juanfran, Arias joined when he went on loan, and now he's third choice behind Trippier and Arias. Honestly, I quite like Guilbert and I think we have more pressing squad issues to deal with than at right back.

Haha, yeah probably. Was a weird moment when Villa on Tour turned up at a Spain game I was at, two worlds collide. Never met another Villa fan when I was living there, but I left plenty of project B6 stickers dotted around the city to spread the good word

Trippier story is absolute BS. I say this as Atletico are my second team, and I saw more of them last year than I did Villa. He was perhaps a surprise package given that he had arrived without much of a fanfare, and it was impressive how quickly he adapted into Simeone's system. Perhaps I'm biased as an Englishman but he was one of my favourite players last year for Atleti. Trippier is liked a lot by Simeone and he has pretty much nailed the starting right back spot ahead of Arias and Vrsaljko. Funnily enough I ended up on a flight with him from Madrid to wonderful Birmingham a few months back, he was off to St George's Park for some treatment to an injury he had and I asked him about interest from Villa a few years back before he joined Spurs. Let's just say it's fair to say he saw Villa as below his level before he joined Spurs (rightly so), and I don't think that's changed having moved to a top European club. He'd said he'd quite happily retire out in Spain - and I'm sure he's said on record somewhere else he would only consider playing for Burnley in the future. Edit: https://www.burnleyexpress.net/sport/football/international-football/kieran-trippier-exclusive-burnley-only-club-id-come-back-england-2459964

Can someone please remake that grim reaper meme going from door to door with all the players' threads that have been beaten?

The issue is United fans genuinely do believe they can get Grealish for £50m, just because they're United and they're used to getting their way. I'm glad that both Dortmund and Villa aren't taking any nonsense, I would love if we did the same as Dortmund and set a deadline for a deal to be done, otherwise the deal is off and we don't pick up the phone. If United want our captain, our best player, and the poster boy of a generation for this club, they should have to play by our rules.