The Rosk

THIS IS THE GREATEST DAY EVER.

Grealish signing a new contract is the best signing we could make. I am overjoyed. Go on Jack.

Lyon are a much bigger club than us at this point. The level of the player is higher than what we are used to, based off previous seasons (not just the last one, like James). It's exactly the same type of scenario. We scraped staying up by the skin of our teeth last year and were 7pts adrift at one point. Lyon are CL regulars and got to the semi last year. A dose of reality is needed here.

So now you are discrediting another team's fans' opinion when it suits your argument?

How so? A club's fans weren't happy with him and were delighted to go. He moves abroad to a "lesser club" with more than a few fans concerned at why he's taking the step down, if he's lost it etc, and now he's looking to be an incredibly shrewd signing who took a top team apart on his debut.

Real Madrid fans were delighted to get rid of James Rodriguez and he just played Spurs off the park on Sunday.

We aren't getting rid of him.

Why? There's no cast iron guarantee he'd be better in a higher division. And if he doesn't want to come and would prefer to stay in London, then there's no point in even considering him. In his entire career (which has always been at the top level in Holland, England or France), Traore has a goal or assist every 166 minutes. We don't have anybody in our front line who can say that. He's 25. I'm conscious this may be a trolljob but either way - it's odd.

I'd rather have that than see Trez miscontrol half the balls he gets, and watch El Ghazi miss more chances from 4 yards out. He's an upgrade. Upgrades are what we want.

Who would you sign instead, villalad?

I actually would like a selfish forward to come in. There was zero self-belief in the front line last year. Jack had to practically smack them in off the forwards' ar5es last year to get goals.

There's no way we will get him lads. No chance. He's too bloody good.

Why not? Can it not be seen that we're now clearly investing in talent and building for the future no matter what cost?

A loan. Jesus. The SPL isn't the National League. Edouard also has 12 in 30 in European competition for Celtic, all by the age of 22. I would urge people to stop thinking about Samaras/Stokes/Griffiths levels, and start thinking about Dembele/Larsson - he is seriously on that level. He is the complete forward. I believe the only thing stopping us buying him is any push back from the player. Without any connection to Villa, I personally wouldn't prefer to come to us when I know there will be better-placed suitors out there.

I know. Your point?

I'd eat a pile of my own faeces if Edouard signed for us. But I have learned from decades of supporting Villa that we have to be realistic. This honestly would be the most instantly impressive signing we would have made in my time supporting the club.

Well said. It shows we mean business and this sort of thing is surely going to be good for Jack/McGinn/Luiz to see too

Point is the same. As an aside, Bent was four years older, so there's a lot more potential resale value for Watkins down the line Fans will find a way to moan about anything. If Spurs bought him for £25m then we'd have been accused of not being able to compete with the big boys/not showing transfer clout. We have made Watkins a No.1 target for a reason. We now look like we are going to get him, and people are moaning. I don't think Villa want to pay more than they would like for him, but they're going to have to. This is not our money. It's the owners'. So let's give them a nod for getting their man no matter what (if it actually is confirmed of course).

And rightly so. We would for Jack or McGinn. We pay what they feel is due to them. This isn't our money. This is a very small, anomalous transfer window which essentially will put us on a path to either PL security, and oodles of potential transfers down the line - or a path that will put us into severe trouble and potential relegation problems once more. More money at this stage for players we want does not matter.

It's not my money. I'd be delighted if we get the lad in. Forget the amount, if he wants to come, he will do the business - and we need a player like him. I remember people turning their nose up at the money we ended up paying for Bent (with add-ons) - and he kept us up. We have to accept we aren't an attractive proposition at the moment given we finished 17th by the skin of our teeth, and so we will likely have to pay a little more at this stage than others may expect. Come on Ollie, sign up lad!

When you get the option to buy a talent, no matter what - you should be in there. Guilbert has shown glimpses of form but Elmo is getting on and otherwise we're having to play players out of position. Cash also has a few years of playing on the wing too - so versatility is very useful here.

King would be a very good signing. Would fit in nicely to how we play too. Adds a hell of a lot outside of goals. Trouble last year was we couldn't make it stick at all up front, and get our quality midfield comfortably up the field. He'd be the best we have instantly.

I think we should give up on even talking about Edouard. There's no chance he would come to us, and there's no chance we would offer £40m, which is frankly a snip for a lad of his potential (and current) talent. He's scored 14 in 9 for France U21s. He's been the best striker in Scotland for a few years. The lad is absolutely dynamite and so it's better off us accepting we will not get him rather than getting our hopes up. Mark my words - he would be even better than Benteke was for us.

Watkins can be sitting there thinking "why aren't they paying what Brentford are asking for me", sure. But ultimately, at £28m or whatever, that would be the highest price EVER PAID for a Championship player from a non-relegated club. I like Watkins a lot, but in the history of the Championship - is that really a record worth bestowing on him at this stage? I don't think anybody knows if we're willing to pay £22m, £24m... I understand the frustration from fellow Villa fans, but I'm trying to remain confident in the flow of all this because ultimately as with any negotiation, both sides have to move at some point when the commodity needs to move. A couple of forward players is really all we need and I'm sure we will buckle at some point - this extended window is doing us no favours here and putting the ball more in Brentford's court.

OLDVILLAIN, if we sign him, then in a year's time I will come back to quote this post, and immediately see you grovelling for more top-level insight into other players, whilst French Eddy has rocketed us to the top half, all the while becoming the best striker at VP since Dwight Yorke. Mark my words. However, I can't see him coming to us. We aren't good enough at the moment for his talent.