est1874

In the Shirt, on the Pitch!

Twitter ITKs have to be the lowest order of ITK. I'd sooner listen to the planespotters

Well, John McGinn for one. How much did we buy him for? Conor Hourihane is another worth twice what we paid for him. From last season, Konsa is absolutely worth more than we paid and will play for England one day. Luiz is another. They obviously don't always come off, and part of that was to do with Suso being in charge of a acquisitions. I imagine the owners and Purslow realized after last season that they would need a smarter Sporting Director in order for the model to really work, which is why we got Lange. We desperately need signings, everyone can see that, and frustration is starting to creep in. However, writing off the players we're linked with before they even sign isn't really helpful either.

On the other hand, "on the verge of submitting a bid" is up there with "poised to test the resolve" in terms of utter speculative bollocks, so it could be totally baseless.

Not if they turn out to be fantastic for us and double or triple in value within a season or two. Remember this is our model. We might not make the sexy statement signings we all want, but might still do some tidy business all around.

No, I'm comfortable in my opinion of Southgate which has been formed over many many years (not just this past week), and nothing will change that. He is full of shit and always has been.

Sure, but those 10 goals effectively kept a team who scored even less than we did last season in the Premier League. Add in the 3 assists and he certainly was worth the money paid.

Being bullish on valuations with Brentford last season almost cost us our Premier League status. Last summer we refused to increase our bid of £14m for Benrahma, he's now priced at more than double that. We also refused to pay £20m for Maupay who went on to score 10 goals and get 3 assists for Brighton. I probably don't need to tell you that's more than all of our strikers combined. Are we really going to make the same mistake again for the sake of a few million? If we do, more fool us.

If you believe what's written in the press, we value Watkins around £18m. They're asking for £25m. Do you really think, given the state of the transfer market, that £7m is going to hold Lange/Smith/Purslow/Edens/Sawiris back from signing the other players we need? Genuine question.

More media nonsense, that report. The bit about reigning in expectations for recruits in other positions - what, because we only have 30-40m to spend? I'd say that's news to everyone, including Lange and Smith.

Lansbury!

Start of Every Single Transfer Window: Finally! It's all going to be so exciting! Midway Through Every Single Transfer Window: God, this is bloody tedious...

If we were cancelling negotiations with agents and players every time there was a leak, no club would ever want to do business with us again. Imagine being the selling club getting involved in the back and forth process of trying to agree terms with a club for sale of a player, a deal is finally agreed, agent is notified and travel arranged for the player and his agent to meet with Lange/Smith/Villa reps, and then the buying club pulls the plug because it got mentioned in the press that they might want the player. That would be an absolutely mental strategy and we'd possibly burn through our shortlist of primary and secondary targets before ever making a signing.

This!

He probably will since they just got £50M from Chelsea so they can afford to bid higher than us. We'd be lucky to get 50 quid for any of the players we're actually willing to sell, let alone 50 million.

It's all a matter of perspective isn't it? If we'd gone and blown a third of our budget on a full-back, other teams would say it's because we struggled defensively last season and we're scared of another relegation scrap. It's the Premier League, there's always a valid justification for spending a fortune. It's the quality of player they're bringing in - Werner, Havertz, Ziyech. Looks like they might get Thiago Silva and Sarr too. Colour me envious - unfortunately.

I think Nyland played in one of the games also.

Much as I dislike Chelsea, have to say fair play for the business they've done so far in this window. Quick, decisive, no quibbling, and they are looking a hell of a lot stronger for it.

Agree on the LB position, it's of far greater priority than RB. Inevitably the powers-that-be at Villa will disagree though, as that is our way

My bad- read the report wrong. We played two games of 60 mins each, bit strange, with a different side in each. Bristol won the first, 1-0. We won the second, 1-0.

https://www.avfc.co.uk/News/2020/08/26/villa-bristol-city-friendly-report Those I can make out from the pictures as follows: Steer Taylor Konsa Mings Guilbert Nakamba Angela McGinn Grealish El Ghazi Trezeguet Davis Samatta I think I caught a glimpse of young Philogene-Bidace in the background of one shot too, but can't be sure.

Southgate should be ashamed of himself, quite frankly. Imagine treating a player of Grealish's talent this way, particularly after the FA aggressively courted him and recruited him as a future England international from another country's U21 system. Regardless, we might have expected this from a waistcoat-wearing numpty who was so "desperate" to leave Villa to join the elite of English football that he went to the wilderness of Middlesbrough to win a League Cup. I have nightmare visions of Jack going to United or similar and being drafted into the England squad as quickly as possible afterwards. All the bullshit that will stream out of Southgate's mouth then about his undeniable quality.

Something tells me Shakey would still be faster than Wesley, Samatta or Davis

Would people rather Benrahma or Watkins? If it transpired that Brentford wouldn't sell both to the same club, for one reason or another. (Just curious to see who people would rather have)

Nerves kicking in. Have I made a terrible decision to watch it all unfold with my Arsenal-supporting friend? Most probably. I'm fearing a fraught 90 minutes of very cagey football with half an eye on other results. I guess it's a mercy that they're all on at the same time and we'll know our fate at full time, not several days later as with other recent rounds of fixtures UTV