Greenfly

It's a crude way of saying only teams that have no realistic chance of reaching consistent high level football rely so much on one single player. There's really only Messi at Barca in the last couple of years that has been the exception imo. That is a small list of truly elite players though, which have proven to be the exception to the rule. Even then, in most cases they were hardly talismanic; for the most part, they had other high level, exceptional talents around them at one point or another. For me the problem isn't an emotional one - losing Jack hit different for sure, but what I was getting at was that if we really want to break into the top six consistently we cannot be relying so heavily on a single player. Our gameplan revolved entirely around him and it was clear. I'm all for heroes and that, but I hope that situation never arises again. Maybe I said it crudely, but that's the point I was trying to make.

I'm seeing lots of people on social media saying they hope he (or Barry) becomes our next hero. I hope he comes good and does well for us, but I don't want him to become our next talisman or anything. No club competing at the very top of football has a talisman (with the exception of Barca until now, but Messi is a whole different level of player so it's bound to happen). Talismans are for wannabes.

Didn't he? There's pictures of him there though?

His own dad pronounced it "Lee-on". I've not heard him say his own name yet though, so we'll see.

And also Buendia. Ings has a touch of WTF about him too. We're going to rip some teams apart with this lot.

I look for it every time I come on. It's always good for comedic value.

He turned out to be a Leeds fans taking the piss.

Let's all glare at Manchester City!

Few people do. We've always known, though. Nobody will ever appreciate him like we did.

I'm choosing to believe this.

A fitting welcome to the bonkers world of Villa and the Premier League.

Don't break my heart. It's fragile enough already.

I work with a nose. I thought he'd be all over this Jack leaving thing, but I think he realises the silver lining is actually pretty thick. It's literally four times better than the deal they got for their best ever player. They really don't have any argument at all.

It depends on what he says after signing for them, how he acts, etc. He gave us such great times, I don't want to hate him.

Best set piece delivery in the league. Austin McPhee would be jizzing in his pants, I'm sure.

The argument is based around the fact that City have reached a point where it's more amazing when they lose than it is when they win. Joining them changes nothing - Jack being there arguably won't improve our weaken them in any way. They're already too strong. There's every chance he'll win the league with them and hardly contribute anything. It seems like the easy route, not the ambitious one.

It's a tough pill to swallow for sure, but I'm getting used to the idea of losing him. For I've thing, we've been overly reliant on him for far too long - we as a club need to step out of his shadow and price we can kick on and thrive without him. I think we're making all the right moves to do that. I'm looking forward to not having a complete meltdown when one single player in our squad suffers an injury and derails our whole season. I've forgotten what that feels like.

I'm chuffed about this. I've wanted Ings for ages, and for a reported £25m, I'd say it's fair for a striker of his quality and consistency. If it does rise to £30m, then that would be worth it too - that's the beauty of add-ons. Villa are putting in the work too soften the blow of losing Grealish, and it's nice to see. We're going to be fine; I dare say we might even thrive.

Technically he can...

No no, you misunderstand. He's leaving Villa.

It's ok. It was a silly post anyway, I don't understand finances.

I have nothing but respect for Brentford and the way they're run. If Midtjylland is anything at all like it, this guy will be a revelation for us.

Fair point, but this isn't where I've been getting my updates on the situation. Since I last read the topic a bid has been officially made, no response has been given as of yet, Jack has landed back in the UK and Wes has arrived from the US for crunch talks with him. The consensus is that we have a week to convince him to stay, or he leaves on a "good faith" clause, whatever that means. My view is the same as it was with the Man U interest last year - he is torn, he has a million reasons to want to go to city, but he's desperately looking for just one reason to stay. Only time will tell.

I last looked at this thread Friday morning. There's been nearly 200 players since then, and skimming through them almost none of them say anything new. I'm at the point where whatever will be, will be. If he stays, great. If he goes, we'll be fine. Do yourselves a favour and just wait it out, let it just play out and see what happens. There'll be much less headaches that way.

Something to add is that a large amount of his passes are risky forward passes in the final third and cut-backs in the penalty area. One thing you don't get from stats is how much better it is to have players who try that sort of thing, and how much more likely that are to be defended.