Leeroy

I think they both start but maybe Luiz further back and Tielemans further forward. Anyway thanks man, good to know you think we need to strengthen in certain areas.

Not sure why people are getting all worked up about this. Ramsey is a good player and one I think should have been in the England senior squad rather than the under 21s given the likes of Gallagher and Henderson were called up but it's no secret we are looking for midfield reinforcements in the attacking areas and this news will only enhance the need to sign players here. At present, assuming Moreno and Ramsey are both injured and missing, we would be looking at a starting 11 like the below against Newcastle on the opening day which is still a good side: Martinez Cash Torres Mings Digne Kamara Tielemans McGinn Luiz Bailey Watkins There are three players I think might be on the bench from that team above if we sign the players that I personally think we need: Cash, Bailey and probably McGinn (who has been brilliant under Emery but doesn't score enough goals to be playing in the attacking midfield positions). So, against Newcastle we will hopefully see three additional signings to add to Tielemans and Torres: Martinez New Torres Mings Digne Kamara Tielemans New Luiz New Watkins

He'd automatically be one of our best players if he came here. Far more exciting than signing Johnson or Barnes. Nothing like the Coutinho signing as Torres has his best years in front of him.

I think defensively we look better than spurs and our central midfield beats theirs, but their attack definitely beats ours as proven by how many goals they scored last season compared to us and maddison will definitely score goals for them. I'd say if Kane stays there is at least 50 goals between him, Son and Maddison alone whereas we'll get not much more than half that from our four players and most of those will be Ramsey and Watkins. I'm sure we will sign a couple here but they need to be a clear step up from what we have which I'm not sure Johnson and Barnes are. If kane goes it's a different story but I imagine they'll just keep him for a season then let him leave on a free, although if a European team offers £100m+ you'd think even Levy would accept that for a 30 year old with one year left on his contract.

But he also dismissed the Torres link and it was clear Torres was a clear upgrade on what we have, certainly in terms of how we want to play. I sort of agreed that the idea of ousting Mings after he'd had a very good season last year seemed harsh, but that's how you improve and I also think they will play together initially. I also think he dismissed the Tielemans link at first too. I think some of the links that come out are untrue, but I actually think a lot of them aren't. It's well known we're keeping an eye on Johnson and Barnes (underwhelming for me, but I think we quite like them), I think the Tyler Adams links are accurate (again, I'm not particularly impressed but I think the links are valid), and I also think we're trying for Ferran Torres, possibly Lo Celso, Goncalves, Nico Williams, Chiesa and wanted Vlahovic. There was too much smoke coming out about several of those to there be nothing in it. I'm obviously a lot more excited about those players from Spain,Italy and Portugal than the domestic players we're targeting because of the calibre of those players and hope we end up with them rather than Barnes/Johnson/Adams. The lack of links to right backs worry me but I think we're prioritising attack first before signing one later on, or at least I hope because we need one. Personally I think we need two high calibre attacking players, especially with Ramsey's injury possibly meaning he misses start of season and Coutinho and Traore likely on their way out. Compare our attacking options to Tottenham, for example, and theirs looks much better: Kane, Son, Kulusevski Maddison, Richarlison vs Watkins, Ramsey (injured), Buendia, Bailey. If we get those two attacking players + a right back and Torres and Tielemans we've had a strong window.

The idea of playing Konsa at right back really isn't appealing. Also, even though I like Cash's workmate and tenacity, I don't think he's technically good enough to start for us. I agree that if Kiwi wants to just dismiss every rumour he shouldn't be on this thread. The whole point is to discuss players to improve us and/or positions we need to upgrade. If you think the players we have is enough to finish in the top 6 or top 4 (madness if you think that given our competition), fine, don't come on the thread. Or maybe you're happy just standing still or going backwards, again fine but don't come on this thread.

Just wish we'd get it done and confirmed, taking an absolute age. Seems other clubs announce a signing and they're in the kit doing interviews within 24 hours, we seem to take weeks before anything is official.

Missed that. Would be a good signing.

With Ramsey's injury potentially serious we need minimum of two attacking players now if we didn't already. One attacking midfielder/playmaker type and one winger. Also no idea why we aren't being linked with right backs given Cash is our only one and he isn't good enough on the ball to be a regular starter.

With a flat back four (I've bolded players who I think may be replaced in the lineup by new additional signings after Torres): Martinez Cash Mings Torres Moreno Tielemans Kamara McGinn Luiz Ramsey Watkins With three centre backs starting (3-4-2-1): Martinez Konsa/Carlos Torres Mings McGinn Tielemans Kamara Moreno Ramsey Luiz Watkins

Given the calibre of our first two signings, Barnes and Johnson while decent would be a bit underwhelming. Would probably add more goals to the team but I think we can do better. We now need two attacking players - SS/AM and a winger. Thinking big - Moussa Diaby or Federico Chiesa for winger, Pedro Goncalves or Joao Felix for second striker. If we got any two of those it would probably be Aston Villa's best transfer window ever. We also need a right back and a backup goalkeeper - Geertruida at Feyenoord and Trafford at Man City would be my choices.

€80m is £69m according to today's rates. Shame the pound is so weak these days. It is expensive but Leicester were saying they were looking for at least £60m for Maddison and Tottenham have ended up paying around £40m by all accounts. So if our negotiating is as good as Spurs we should be able to get Goncalves for around £45m. Leicester's position is weakened by relegation but Sporting finished 4th and missed out on CL so their position is also not strong. It is easy to say let's spend £25-30m on Barnes as it's cheaper but he doesn't improve us very much whereas Goncalves definitely will once he settles into the league. Depends on us as a club. If we're not prepared to spend relatively big sums on certain players like Newcastle and Tottenham are then our ceiling will only be 8th place and Tottenham will overtake us again. This is the sort of player who improves us considerably going forward so is worth getting done. Let's wait and see if Emery is backed like he should be.

Good to know not everyone on here is in denial.

Bizarre comment. Creatively and technically he's a level above any attacking midfielder we have. He's basically Leicester's version of Grealish. If you honestly think he wouldn't start over Buendia then I can't help you. Not that arsed anyway as if he's a Coventry boy then it was probably a no go. Hopefully we get Goncalves who I think is better albeit unproven in this league. Although I suspect we'll end up with Barnes who although not a bad player isn't as good as Maddison.

Absolute nonsense.

Wrong thread fella.

Stop what. I'm giving my God damn opinion. Buendia might work harder but his productivity is far worse than Maddison. Either way we need an improvement on him. With Maddison going to Spurs hopefully we get Goncalves from Sporting.

Really disappointed we didn't try to get him.

Very disappointing that we never were in the race to sign Maddison who appears to be ending up at 8th placed Tottenham, surely if we'd gone for him we'd have had a good chance there. Maybe he was too expensive for us but he'd have been a massive upgrade on Buendia.

It happens, I'm pretty confident he'll get back in. Mings was dropped for over a year from England yet you'd still say he's a very good defender. Kamara can't get a game for France yet he's a brilliant player, Luiz hasn't been called up to Brazil for 2 years but was our best player last season. International callups are quite often, excuse my French, a load of b*llocks. Torres would be our best ball playing centre by far and perfect for the way Emery wants to play. But like you I'd prefer him to play alongside Mings rather than in place of him.

He's worth twice that, it's a fantastic deal. Only reason he's potentially so cheap is because he has one year left on his contract.

Reckon this gets confirmed this week. Be a great signing for us.

He's a decent player for the squad, I don't think he'd start much in the Prem but probably would in Europe and the cups. However, we don't seem to be linked with many players in the positions of greater need. CM/DM is probably our strongest area of the squad, unless Donk is on his way out I don't see the need for Adams. We clearly need a right back, second striker and no 10/playmaker more than another central midfielder, and I'd argue we need a centre back more too particularly one who is comfortable on the ball. So not sure why we're trying to accumulate so many players in centre mid position, it baffles me.

Between us and West Ham would be close probably, but surely he'd choose Villa. Better manager, bigger club, brighter future I'd say, finished 7 places and over 20 points higher last season despite having Slippy for a third of the season. West Ham are also losing their captain and best player which will be a massive loss and they won't be buying anyone as good to replace him. In Torres' case in particular he'd be working with a manager he's worked with before too and he's probably not aware of who Moyes even is, plus they're more of a physical counter attacking team which wouldn't work for Torres whose style suits a team that plays possession football. Having said that, West Ham did win the Conference league, are in London which players seem to favour these days although West ham/Stratford area is a shithole and probably worse than a lot of areas in Birmingham. They have a few very good players too and clearly have managed to attract star players in the past like Pacqueta. If Torres doesn't get a move to City or Bayern I think we'd be favourites to land him. He's really good so I hope we get him.

Spurs have got as much chance as us of getting top 4 and that's probably being generous.