david-avfc

I think people need to understand that Archer is a totally different type of forward to Watkins, he's not an all-action striker, he's a fox in the box type who thrives off players around him feeding opportunities in good areas, to which he's proven he can convert at an excellent rate. He's not the sort of player who's going to be heavily involved in the build up so yeah there's going to be times when he's quiet - it doesn't mean he's a bad player or not good enough for villa. There will be times when he plays the same as he did tonight but gets a goal or two and everyone thinks he's brilliant. He has good movement already and a great eye for positioning himself to get those chances but we've seen Emery elevate Watkins to a completely different level and if he gets Archer on the same trajectory then he has a really high ceiling.

Shame he hasn't really grabbed his chance in the same way Philogene has, but also should remember Archer isn't the type of player who's going to be involved all over the pitch, he's not an all action forward like Watkins, he's a fox in the box type and that means he's going to go through spells of not contributing before he pops up with or goal or an assist from inside the penalty area

I think Aaron Ramsey is still a season away from really being considered ready for the first team. He had a really useful spell in the championship last season but it was very disrupted with injury and switching clubs. 21 starts across the 2 loans is certainly valuable experience but really he needs a full season of being a mainstay in a side to really prove himself. If he repeated his Boro form across a whole season I think it forces people sit up and take note, when it’s just a handful of games in a side already flying high it’s not quite the same. I hope we don’t sell him as he has real promise and it’s a great story with him being a local lad. Other clubs are sniffing around for a reason, because they see he’s a talent. But it could be hard to turn down the cash for a player not in our immediate plans and for the player it could be a good move

Neither are good enough but anyone saying Olsen is worse has a short memory, Nyland was an atrocious footballer whereas Olsen is just poor. Olsen’s problem is that he’s not good in any area, coupled with being rusty because he so rarely plays, whereas Nyland despite occasionally being ok in some areas was so god damn awful in others it was a surprise he even made it as professional, there’s a reason he’s been released on a free 5 times in the last 3 years - we paid to cancel his contract because he was so bad and no other club has wanted to keep him for even 1 full season since

We must just want this Pubill lad so he can link back up with Wesley again, he is the key to unlocking the full potential of our Brazilian goal machine

He played wing back regularly for Cardiff so not sure that criticism holds in general, although I didn’t watch the game last night so can’t comment about his performance albeit most reports seem to be mostly positive about him

Completely agree on a back up keeper, not convinced by Olsen at all. Someone like Navas would make sense on a year long deal. Whoever it is needs to be competent on the ball as much as anything else. Don’t think Moreno was a properly serious one, a few months out which has mostly been absorbed by the close season anyway, probably back some point in August

Marschall does count but technically qualifies as an U21 player, which for all intents and purposes has the same outcome but offers a bit more flexibility. I think Philogene and Aaron Ramsey are probably the closest to stepping up to the squad properly. Philogene has started both friendlies so far and McGinn made some positive comments about him so maybe he could be a surprise inclusion in the squad this year. Ramsey has a good chance too considering he could cover his brother whilst he’s injured. But I’m not sure if Emery will want to keep players just for the numbers or if he will send them out on loan for game time, they might be better suited to another loan spell. As you say we have a load of youngsters behind the scenes who could step up to the bench if really needed, Kadan Young for example seems like has caught Emery’s eye and with his pace he could surely be thrown on for 10-15 minutes in Europe to rest someone else’s legs. The benefit of U21 players is they don’t actually need to be registered in the 25 man squad, so all those players you mentioned + Marschall and A Ramsey would all be eligible without taking up a squad place if desired, apart from Kellyman who only recently signed (need to be at the club for 2 years to qualify as an eligible U21 player for Europe)

If you look at our squad we’re actually pretty tight on the squad limits already. As plenty of people have already discussed the club-homegrown rules for Europe are an extra restriction to contend with. Really the only position missing is a right back to challenge Cash, otherwise it’s a case of one in, one out (plus the likes of Hause, Traore, Sanson who are clearly not going to be here next season).

Looks a decent player but was hyped up after relativity little for Leeds I guess with the links to Johnson, Doku and Gnonto maybe there is something in these links, unless they were all just nothing more than plan Bs if we failed with Diaby

£2m for Nakamba is probably a couple of mil cheap but realistically he isn’t part of our plans and if any other PL clubs bar Luton thought he was worth having they’d have jumped all over it. Rather than worrying about what amounts to a few quid in the world of PL clubs it’s best to shake hands and part ways

Yep and Nico Schira and Ekrem Konur and all his other pathetic alter egos

Shows the state of knowledge of the "average football fan" regarding opposition players if they'd be "very happy" with Wesley, considering the way his career has unfortunately gone in the last 3 and a half years. You'd think they would be mortified at the idea of signing a striker who's scored only 3 goals in the second tier of Spain and has had failed loan spells in Brazil and Belgium since only playing 16 minutes for Villa since January 1st 2020. No offence to any Watford fans who might come across this, fans of all clubs talk equal amounts of crap.

I just can’t see us signing two pacey wide forwards unless Bailey leaves. Unai rarely plays with two out and out wingers on each side, so having 3 expensive players with similar characteristics to cover 1 place in the team, I just can’t see it

No because we signed him aged 18 and then loaned him for a year so can’t make the 3 years trained at the club to be club-home-grown. He doesn’t qualifies as an u21 / underage player either, even though he is the correct age there’s a restriction that u21 players need to be at the club for a period of 2 years (or 3 years if loaned out once) in order to be eligible as an additional u21 squad player

Without trying to be a buzzkill, the reality is we will only know if it’s a good transfer window when we see the players on the pitch and see how they get on over the full season

Is it just me or is it weird as hell to post a photo of a strangers baby on social media (the twitter account, not you)

Keinan Davis available this summer. In other news, water is wet! In all seriousness I think Davis could have a decent championship career if he stays fit, he’s never going to be a 20 goal a season striker, more like 10 goals + helps the team in lots of other ways. Would be a useful pick up for someone. As for Hause I find it baffling that we renewed his contract when he was clearly surplus to requirements. Just a waste of time for all involved.

Easy to say that from our perspective but we’re not the ones who have to choose between potentially forgoing tens of millions of pounds / euros to sign one way or the other I hope he does choose us, better league, better international chances and at his age he’d still have the option of signing a mega contract in a Micky mouse league later on in his career if it still exists and he stays fit, but it would be more difficult to guarantee he could return to a top tier league later if he wastes 4 or 5 years in Saudi first - I hope that’s what his advisers are telling him anyway

Only concern is if we gave him a buyout clause in his contract when he renewed, after all he held all the cards as he could have left this summer and it was pretty bleak under Gerrard at the time Otherwise there’d be no way we’d sell him, he’s a class player and fits Emery’s system perfectly. He seems happy here too so doubt he’d force a move.

Haven’t we loaned Sinisalo out? If so I think Marschall will be kept as 3rd choice keeper due to the European squad requirements as we are too light on club home-grown players and it doesn’t make much sense to waste a non-home grown slot on a new 3rd keeper

If we move a few players on then there’s no reason we couldn’t sign both. Diaby as a pacey winger / forward and Torres as a “second striker” type. Would probably need to see Coutinho moved on first though

It was true except it wasn’t because Luiz is still a villa player All these fake ITK journalists do is jump on other rumours, then make BS and/or vague statements which make it seem like they have some inside knowledge on the proposed deal - which of course they don’t - and then hope the transfer goes through which makes them appear credible and knew what was going on the whole time, and then quietly ignore or come up with some excuse for the ones they get wrong

Was going to put more but then cut it - yeah €50m is a big risk but show me a player who doesn’t have some risks, whether it’s a big fee, lack of experience, poor form, injuries, whatever it is all transfers are a risk. This lad has played a lot of games at a high level (not PL level but no league is IMO) with well over 100 starts in the last 3 seasons in all comps so in that regard he is tried and tested, certainly his current team trusts him. €50m is a big fee but the transfer market is so obscene nowadays so it’s not mega-money in the grand scheme of things, it’s only £5m more than Buendia (inc add ons) for example.

I get the point about the iffy record of Bundesliga players but ultimately villa need a wide forward and for the quality required there just aren’t that many options available in world football, and there all going to have risks of some description. Maybe Diaby is genuinely the best option identified with the lowest risk