Rich192

Can’t see anything online to see that he’s tested positive. Maybe he got lucky? Presumably he’d have found out today if he was positive or not, like Salah?

1 hour ago, MaVilla said:

So ideally, we want two top 4 clubs to win the FA and Carabao Cup, which would add 2 europa spots to the league (so top 7 qualify for some form of European competition)

Then we need a lot of luck and finish 7th

Just a shame that the seventh spot (/League Cup winners) goes in to the new Europa Conference League rather than Europa League. Would still be great to be in Europe though, regardless. It’s a nice thing to worry about!

34 minutes ago, Villan4Life said:

Hi Rich, after many years pondering shall i get into scouting, i worked at Villa as a voluntary coach back in 1996  before match days i used to help coach kids down at Stumps next to Villa Park, i decided in early 2017 that i would try and pursue it as a secondary career and saved up to do the qualifiications with the P.F.S.A (Professional Football Scouting Assoication), normally i can't spot good player quickly one or two matches.

Before i was scout best i did  apart from post on here suggestion's was i worked out Paul Lambert's then Villa email address and emailed him a player suggestion but he never replied.

 

Awesome. Living the dream! I shall keep an eye out for Tranmere now to see how they’re getting on. 

2 minutes ago, Sam-AVFC said:

Argue it all you want, Ollie Watkins was officially the best player in the league last year. 

Sure, and I didn’t watch much of the league last season, so I’m not in a place to give out those awards, so it’s fair enough. 
 

For the record, I’m ecstatic we have Watkins, and he was a far more important signing for us than Benrahma would’ve been, but I still would’ve liked him. 

Think this is a great signing for West Ham. From what I’ve seen he’s been arguably the best player in the league for two seasons he’s been there.

I’m very happy with our business, but I’m not going to pretend that I didn’t want him just because he’s going elsewhere.

I had West Ham down to struggle, but they’ve got a very, very good midfield and attack now, after this and the Soucek signing.

Think this will be one we’ll regret.

And incredible work from Brentford to get £80m for their front three from 18/19 season, what an excellently well run club.

11 hours ago, Villan4Life said:

Thanks @Rich192 mate. UTV  

I’m a newbie to this forum, so I’m sure you’ve answered these kind of questions before, so apologies for that!

How did you get in to scouting? How many matches do you watch a week? How many times do you have to watch a player before you feel you’ve got a comprehensive understanding of them? Prior to working specifically for clubs, how would you go about selling a player to a club?

Sorry for bombarding you with them, but always found scouting fascinating, and wanted to know more about it, and if it wasn’t for Omar’s podcast, I wouldn’t have known we had a scout on the forum!

Gave it a listen, thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Yeah get him out there, have a great season, and then hopefully either cash in or he comes in as backup to Cash next season. 
 

I really like the guy, but Smith and the board have earned the right to get rid of who they want from the squad. 

They just spent £70m on a new stadium, although not sure if that was paid for by other means? 

Love it when fans suggest we offer players plus money for a target. Almost never happens!

Would be great to have him, I just don’t think it’s going to happen. 
 

Doesn’t look as though Vassilev quite has what it takes at the top level. Still early days, of course. 

Our record signing spent a season in the Conference South, which helped with his development. So I’d also disagree with that. 

Will our players who have gone on international duty be available do we know?

The FCK manager has said Lange would never come in for one of his players with a week left in the window. So I think we can assume that the Nelsson link was lazy journalism. 
 

Still think we’ll get Rashica and Barkley/RLC. Would be an incredible window if we get them both done, but I’d settle for just Rashica. Don’t think I’ve wanted a player this much since Juan Pablo. And no, I’d never heard of him before this year, and don’t think I’ve ever seen him play. 

Their announcement of him being back in training, and our ‘interest’ in Sarr is both clubs posturing. They’re saying they’ll start playing him again, we’re saying we’ll pull out of the deal. 
 

Still confident it’ll happen. And would actually prefer him to Sarr, who I think is a bit overrated. 

Engels came from the French league. 
 

Very odd what’s happening with him though, do we know if he played any pre-season? I liked him, but if Smith doesn’t then we need to replace him. 

22 minutes ago, Keener window-cleaner said:

Ah perhaps paying a bit over top for him is to get the work permit easier?

Aye we did this with Wesley last year. Wouldn’t have been approved if it was any lower. 

21 minutes ago, beachboys1 said:

cant translate looks like problem with traore permit

I don’t see how there could be. He got his first work permit after playing just 42 games for Vitesse. In the last four years he’s played 87 out of 148 possible league games, plus 22 European games. Not to mention how many more international games he’s played, too. Scandalous if Chelsea got his work permit, but we’ve got issues. 

I went and asked an Ajax forum about him:

Quote

He is a playful player. Technical, but not the most mature player in the tactical departement.
The AJAX-fans had a love-hate relation with Traore. Sometimes he was so not focused it seemed, but in other games he was a sensation. In short: a capricious player but the AJAX-fans has fond memories of him.  

https://www.ajaxtotaal.nl/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=3391&start=100
 

He sounds exciting, but potentially frustrating. If he’s not having a good game, we can bring on the likes of Trez to replace him. 
 

I, for one, am excited. 

Are him and Martinez homegrown? Just thinking for when we’re in Europe next season. 

Very happy with the signing. 
 

Knowing Smith’s preference for new players to know someone in the squad, and seeing how he spent time at Reading, is there a chance that the Swift rumours have legs?

CM and CB still needed in my opinion. CB is more important in my eyes. I rate Konsa highly, but I’d like to see him learn off a new and experienced CB, whilst being first reserve. 

Sounds an exciting signing, I don’t get all the hatred. Is it purely the Lyon fans? They’re a consistent Champions League club, and have far better players than us (Jack aside), so an average player for them could well be a star for us. 
 

Do we know the opinion of Ajax fans of him?

Villa fan, season ticket for 25 years. Based in East Anglia.