MadridVilla

If you add up all of Romero's transfer fees in his whole career, across nearly 15 years and 5 clubs, the total is £3.2m. There is absolutely no way is this true, it's not even slightly believable. Cash + player deals will never be accepted because if we get a good player we won't be able to afford their wages, simple as.

BBC does have advertising online outside of the UK, so maybe they're doing clickbait for an international audience.

Bit late to the Athletic pile-on, but anyway... So Stuart James claimed Grealish was "devastated" at not joining Spurs, and carried that devastation with him for a month. Except in the Telegraph article from 2 years ago his second-hand journalism is taken from, Grealish admits that "it's not like I was devastated it didn't happen". He actually said "obviously there's going to be disappointment there" and that had he joined Spurs he would have been in the England squad that season, but that he "realises how lucky I am to be playing for my boyhood club". I've only just subscribed to the Athletic and, while for the most part their general football journalism and coverage of American sports is first-rate, as many people have already said the Villa coverage is lagging behind. Why am I expected to pay for journalism that deliberately misquotes an article from 2 years ago, when they could easily have said truthfully that Jack was disappointed but happy to stay nonetheless.

I'd imagine a lot of that sort of stuff goes on in football. It says to Brentford we're not desperate for Watkins and Benrahma, which would perhaps make them think they should drop their prices if they want to sell. Except there are several other clubs interested in Watkins and Benrahma, so I can't see it forcing Brentford's hand at all. More likely Villa have been put off (for now) by a high price and are exploring other leads to see if they can find better value for money. Rashica is one of those options, but he would prefer to play in the CL and stay in Germany if Leipzig make a suitable offer. The transfer will move slowly as Rashica or Werder are waiting for an offer from Leipzig who won't be making any moves until the end of their season. Villa will be second choice for Rashica, and Watkins will be Villa's second choice because of his high price for a championship player. That being said, if there's bids placed for Watkins I can see us matching them if we're not making progress on other players. I don't think Rashica is a complete decoy, but more of an ambitious punt they will try and pull off. But I think we will have to wait for Leipzig to make their first move, as Rashica won't want to join Villa unless he knows Leipzig aren't interested or won't make a bid. Until that's known I don't think we will be seeing any movement for Rashica or Watkins.

Absolutely gutted for Atleti, I've probably seen more of them than Villa over the last 12 months having lived in Madrid and sadly they have performed like that on numerous occasions this season. Too many things went wrong tonight, they clearly missed Thomas in the midfield, Correa would've been a good option off the bench had he been available, Saul was poor and both goals were pretty unfortunate to concede arguably. After beating Liverpool over 2 legs, losing to Leipzig is a disappointing way to be eliminated but credit where it is due Leipzig played really well tonight. It's already well publicised but Upamecano was unplayable, he had Costa in his back pocket and only Joao Felix caused him occasional trouble. He and Leipzig are in for a challenge against Neymar and Mbappe next week but that could be a seriously exciting match-up. For Atleti I can see Oblak moving on, at 27 he still has a long time left in his career to win a lot of trophies and there's no doubt to me he's the best keeper in the world right now. Maybe Thomas to Arsenal as has been rumoured, but really he could do much better than a Europa League club. That would be a big blow to Simeone's team and I think after an underwhelming season by his high standards the transition period that started this year might go on another season yet.

The simple fact is that Jack is realistically irreplaceable for Villa, because even if we have the money to spend on a top player we don't have the stature, European football or the wage budget to attract a replacement of the same quality. So if Villa are going to sell him it'll have to be at such a huge price they'd be willing to risk sacrificing our Premier League status which is worth £100m+ a season in TV rights. Realistically his true market value is probably £50m, but his importance to Villa really pushes his asking price way up to £80m+. So if United want to buy him they have to acknowledge the damage they would do to our club, and they'll have to pay for that damage. Compared to Dortmund who have the pull of challenging for trophies and Champions League football, they would be more able to replace Sancho with a top quality player if he were to go, and so the damage to the club isn't as deep as it would be to Villa. I think the board are absolutely right to hold firm on an astronomical price because the damage to the squad would be astronomical as well.

Just curious to know, Villa weren't the only club that had complained about Mendes if my memory serves me correctly, so why do Wolves fans focus on Villa so much? I personally think the whole Mendes thing was a storm in a teacup and it seems a bit of a small thing to develop a hatred for one club. I've got a lot of respect for Wolves, particularly on the field, but some of their fans really are puzzling.

I can see this being Wolves' equivalent of Villa's infamous night in Moscow - a poor performance that signals the beginning of the end of their renaissance. There are a few differences between the two situations - Villa played a weaker team to concentrate on the league, and Wolves are really still fairly new to European football having not played since the 70s. But for the most part, there are a lot of similarities between the two moments in time and whether Wolves will suffer the same fall from fleeting grace will be interesting. I think having been in such a good position in the league to qualify for Europe and faded away towards the end is reminiscent of Villa throwing away a top 4 finish at the end of the 08/09 season - the season after, Villa never made it past the qualifiers and lost Barry to City. Another similar season followed and before long O'Neill walks out and Milner, Young and Downing would all leave in the next 2 seasons. For Wolves it is perceptible to see a similar pattern. There is already big interest in a number of Wolves players who may not want 12 months outside of European competitions, or want to play in the Champions League; Nuno is a hot prospect in management and will surely be a marked man for some big jobs ahead. I guess what will matter the most is how much at least a season outside of Europe will disrupt their plans, and whether the players and Nuno will be patient enough to stick with Wolves or opt for a more certain route to European football. Big summer ahead for them imo.

I think it's quite clear from the moves they've made with the academy that the new strategy is to develop the best young talent they can, buying in youth prospects on the cheap and developing them from hot prospects to breaking into the first team, which I don't think anyone would disagree is a good idea. The interesting part is whether Villa will keep these players and try to build a squad of homegrown players who are on the level of Grealish and challenge in the top half, or whether they look to sell them on for a large profit to then reinvest on the next gamble. My concern is that given the stature of the club in football's pecking order we are always likely to end up becoming a selling club like we have been in the past. And just like Brentford now who have had some great players over the years, they will fail to meet their potential as every year their best players leave and they have to rebuild every summer. It has worked with some success for Ajax in the past, but selling top players for a profit has hurt Villa in the past, and it would likely hurt them again if that is their new strategy. I 100% agree there is something about Purslow that makes me feel a bit uneasy - to hear he's been bypassing the sporting director to work with Smith on transfers seems like he is a bit of a control freak who doesn't trust those around him to be as good as him. But of course that judgement is for the owners to make, and they will know Purslow much better than the snippets us fans get to see.

Well obviously not, I think you've got it a bit twisted there. My point is that you can't effectively run football operations if the CEO, sporting director and head coach aren't all in agreement on the overall strategy. There are bound to be disagreements on individual players, tactics etc., but the issues between Suso and the club seem to have run deeper than that. As it happens I think Purslow comes across as a bit arrogant and doesn't tolerate much disagreement - the last thing he needs is a yes man appointment. Nonetheless, he should still appoint someone who generally agrees on the fundementals of the strategy, otherwise we will be in the same scenario again with the CEO and sporting director working against each other rather than with one another.

Clarified the broken Spanish for you as best as I could but Jesus Christ what is Balague on about? Information being passed on that protects Purslow? I can only assume this is the media blaming the big summer spend failing on Suso rather than Purslow, or the media criticising Suso for signings that weren't his (i.e. Drinkwater as mentioned). I also don't quite understand why they were contacting coaches who were keen to join the club if he was asked for better quality on the pitch and the bench - I guess better quality on the bench could refer to coaches, but why would this make Purslow feel shunned? Perhaps Suso wanted to replace Terry with another coach but Purslow feels that Terry is his man, potentially in line for the manager role if DS is replaced. I'm just hypothesising, I don't have any knowledge just like everyone else. I think the only thing we can take from this is that there are some structural issues at the club still, I find it quite worrying that while our sporting director is trying to sign one player our CEO and manager are trying to sign another. Obviously the transition to a sporting director strategy is not yet complete and will take more time to adapt to and learn who plays what role in the running of the club's football operations. Whether Suso is to blame or is just the fall guy hopefully Purslow will now appoint someone who agrees with him and Smith on transfer policy.

Not having this debate on celebrating survival, absolute rubbish. Any team who survives or is promoted has as much right to celebrate as they like. These players have pulled off survival when at times within the last MONTH it looked like we were certainly down. They've also avoided a huge wage cut, a transfer they may have been forced into, or perhaps they're just happy they get to stay playing in the top flight. Not just that but the staff they deal with on a daily basis at BMH or the matchday staff at VP keep their jobs and I'm sure they will be celebrating for them as well.

https://twitter.com/TheOfficialHRH/status/1287434298262458368?s=20 Fair play to HRH for his £100 donation to Acorns

This is massive for the club, I really don't think that can be overstated

For that toepoke against Wolves alone, absolutely.

Just had a quick browse of his career stats. 44 games, 4 goals, 3 assists. Meanwhile Birkir Bjarnarson at Villa: 54 games, 6 goals, 3 assists. They really are the gift that keeps on giving.

Crucial, crucial win to *just* keep the season alive. Still a mountain to climb to survive, admittedly, but it will hopefully give the players and coaches a much-needed boost going to Goodison on Thursday. Palace were pretty hopeless and lacking in effort, probably reflective of their season going nowhere being safe from relegation and way off the top half. We can only hope Everton are the same but in reality they are a better side than Palace, we will have to work a lot harder for points there. I've just noticed that Watford still have to play City as well so hopefully some damage can be done to their goal difference which would help us out massively. Let's see what happens on Thursday before we start to get excited about staying up.

Yep, this is about as neat a summary of this season as possible. I see it as a collection of major issues which contributed to the almost-certain relegation this season: 1. The squad was at the end of its cycle and needed a large overhaul Whether we had been promoted or not I think the squad would have seen a pretty large change anyway - players like Whelan, Adomah, Abraham, Tuanzebe and so many others who were released or not loaned back would have needed to be replaced anyway. I think the squad management had been poor under Xia and Bruce which had left us in the position where we needed to replace much of the squad in one summer - it just happened that we needed even more to replace those only at a Championship level - we had to sign new players for virtually every position. Coming off a short offseason as well it left us with the most to do in the shortest time, which left us at a disadvantage. However, I don't think we can just accept it was the wrong time to come up. 2. The recruitment, board and management were at loggerheads due to FFP pressure It's fairly well publicised that Smith wanted players like Maupay, Phillips and Benrahma and I'm sure there were other players on the shortlist who weren't signed against the wishes of Smith. I think partly the number of signings needed meant that with FFP pressure we couldn't spend 20m on every single player under their strategy of getting numbers through the door. Perhaps in hindsight we could have signed less players but of better quality, but also some of the money we have spent has been a massive waste. 15m on Targett, 22m on Wesley and 9m on Trezeguet stand out as particularly wasteful spends, compared to more shrewd spends on players like Heaton and Guilbert who have represented good performances for their value. 3. The tactics were inconsistent and different to last season's success Does Smith actually know what his best XI is even now? I would argue he doesn't. The tactics have been different all through the season which has meant at times we're defensively solid and at others we're allowing 20 shots every game. Going forwards at times we always looked good value to score and at others we haven't even threatened in the slightest. Compared to last season where Smith's Villa side had a more clear identity, albeit not always consistent, Villa have probably become a worse side at a higher level. 4. Inability to manage games and grind out results The number of times we have been in games and dropped points is astonishing and (I think) the highest in the league. You just don't stay in the league if you throw away more points than anyone else, whether it is a fitness issue, a tactical issue or just a collection of mistakes it has been an Achilles heel for us all season, right from the first game against Spurs. 5. Suspension of season and resumption of behind closed doors football It's well known that Villa have been much better at home than away and the loss of the crowd and 'home advantage' probably played a small part in the poor performances since the return, though all other teams have suffered the same so this shouldn't be that important. As a side note I really don't think the Championship is a bad league at all, I enjoyed the last 2 seasons fighting in the playoffs probably more than any other seasons since the MON days challenging for the top 4. I'll be quite excited to be back come September/whenever it returns, as long as there are still 11 men in claret and blue playing football at Villa Park I'll be happy.

That's not the point - the point is that both Villa and Everton have had dealings with SportPesa to differing extents - Everton cancelled their contract, while Villa were seemingly in negotiations - then all of a sudden both clubs end up ditching SportPesa for Cazoo instead. It's a bit strange Everton cancelled their 5-year deal after 3 years with SportPesa because they wanted to "change their commercial strategy" - and they end up with Cazoo. Also the Racing Point F1 team were sponsored by SportPesa but this was also cancelled a year into a multi-year deal because of "home market difficulties". There's nothing rare about having the same sponsor but with Everton and Racing Point ditching SportPesa and Villa possibly doing the same, there's something shady about SportPesa imo.

At least we won't have boiler man as a mascot anyway, I'll wait for the inevitable second-hand car mascot instead

As Greg O'Keeffe pointed out on Twitter it's a bit shady that both Everton and Villa will be sponsored by Cazoo given that Everton cancelled their shirt sponsorship with SportPesa and Villa were strongly linked to them also, I believe there was a photo doing the rounds of a Villa shirt with SportPesa printed on the front welcoming them as a new sponsor for the coming season a few months ago. Makes you wonder whether Cazoo have swept in at the last minute to sponsor both clubs perhaps at a cheaper rate? I guess we will probably never find out but it's interesting to speculate. Villa made a big deal of the record value of the sponsorship last year, no mention this year so I would imagine the sponsorship won't be worth as much as W88. It's a welcome change to not have a gambling company plastered on the front of the shirt as well, and if it supports a new UK business then that's a bonus too. I don't think there's a lot to dislike about this deal.

Quote from the wolves forum which is absolutely priceless: "I don’t just want to win this, I want to destroy them. I want to make them question their existence as a football club. I want to see Grealish on the field sobbing at the end, announcing he’s retiring from the game. I want to see Mings packaging up his England caps and sending them back to the FA because he never really deserved them. I want to see the history books edited to remove them from any records. I want to listen to dead air on WM because Franksy and Rego are speechless and end the show after an hour without a single word. I want hoardings put up around Villa Park and the doors boarded up because it’s never going to be in use again. I want Jade’s boyfriend to only talk about golf because he was never really into football anyway. I want Birmingham to be a one team city and Blues local derby to be with Solihull Moors. I never want to have to play them again after this and hear from their fans again.2-1 Wolves."

They have been pressing so much higher up the field and actually attacking the game, unlike us. On another day they would've taken points from Spurs, though we can say the same from both games vs Spurs too.

That was infuriatingly pathetic, can't really fault individual performances today but the whole game plan was dreadful. We showed Chelsea far too much respect and in the end paid for it, we sat off too deep and the defence and midfield were too close together. Even so Chelsea were still the better team and able to find spaces to create chances so why Smith didn't change the tactics I have no idea. I expected to lose but the fact we seemed to offer no competition at all was the most worrying factor. Luiz was good once again, Hause and Mings did well for most of the game, Davis looked a handful but very little else to note from the squad. Grealish, McGinn, El Ghazi all pretty useless today. Chelsea were in a different league to us today, and next season they will literally be in a different league.

Honestly I can't see much between Nakamba and Luiz. I think Luiz is better at linking up with Grealish myself, they're different kinds of players, and with McGinn as a tenacious midfielder I think playing Nakamba and McGinn would be a little unbalanced perhaps. Though perhaps playing Nakamba would allow McGinn to push further up the pitch and link up with Grealish too, so I guess at least Smith has options to consider rather than injuries forcing his hand. To be honest I'm not the biggest fan of Trez but it's been so long that I can't think of any other wingers we have, maybe Jack will be pushed out wide again instead to make room for McGinn in the team too? Heaven forbid maybe even Drinkwater will get a game, if he's one of the 'training ground players'...