GrumpyFox

Very true…. You can’t afford to carry players though in the premier league, Emre is a quality manager and should be able to get the best out of Youri, but his issues have always been self inflicted. He just isn’t an athlete at all, that’s all well and good if you’ve got the ability to make up for those shortcomings. Youri has shown signs of being a playmaker, and an organiser, but I would say he was at his best when N’didi was at his best…. It’s a shame to see him struggling because he was mostly good for us, but it was the right team in the right moment for him, and I think he took that for granted sometimes, he often looked disinterested last season for us too.

I must admit, I’m really not surprised he has been poor. Youri needs a run of games to even get going, granted I don’t watch you week in week out, but I thought he was going into a tough team to break into…. I wouldn’t say he is better than any of your midfielders prior to his arrival. A squad player at most, but unfortunately he can’t perform that role due to needing constant game time. I think when we were good, he was benefiting from the players around him lifting his game, and making up for his inadequacies…. He will probably go out on loan in January….. just be thankful that you didn’t have to pay a transfer fee for him…. He probably should have stayed with us………

I don’t think so no. We just need to have the books in order when it comes down to it I think. I think our plan is to spend the money, and then the sales we make should prevent us from making a loss…. But we probably still will anyway. Historically we’re annoying negotiators. The one thing Susan Whealan can do is drive a hard bargain home, she’s seen us rob clubs blind recently…. Maguire for £80m being the most ridiculous business ever. It depends if we want a quick sale to get the money….

I don’t know why our fans would be annoyed….. I mean, we allowed ourselves to go down so what can we say? We offered him a massive contract that he just ran down, and we got no offers for him whilst he still had time on his contract. On a free he’s a good signing for you, but he might not even get into your team regularly. Knowing how he plays, and from an outsider your midfield seems fairly strong already… so it will be interesting to see how he fairs. Meanwhile we can start getting excited about Tom Cairney……………

Heats obviously got to him….. Hope he works out for you. Like I said originally he adds some strength in depth. It’s just a shitter that we’ve allowed him to walk away on a free…… I’m sure he will give you something a bit different, but like I said, he can be equally as infuriating as he can brilliant, especially if he isn’t getting regular games! Genuinely wish you well though! As long as you serve Forest up twice next season, I’ll be slightly less angry than I am now…..

In short defensive effort would equal to, he is on the pitch….. he will try, but he has largely been lucky because he’s had the likes of Fuchs, Justin, Chilwell or Thomas (who is shit but somehow has a good relationship with Barnes) playing behind him. Also, when N’didi remembered what a football was, he would usually cover that side of the field so it lifted the pressure off Barnes to have to defend. Having read a few comments on here, it’s 50/50 as to whether Barnes would work. I do think he is awesome, but that’s being a Leicester fan. It’s a case of striking the right balance with him, or could he actually add a different dimension to your game? You have Bailey, but I do think Barnes is still different though the pair have a similar player profile. For the money we will want, my gut feeling is you would probably find a cheaper alternative overseas with a more all round game. £40+m is a lot of money to spend on a player that might not actually improve you?

Hello all, me again (I’ll try not to commit a major social faux pas this time). So, Harvey Barnes….. firstly I’ll mention that I am a huge fan of his. Depending on which Leicester fans you speak to about Barnes you’ll get a couple of different takes on him, but you’ve got to consider his player profile before debating…. His key attributes are; Pace, power, strong running, direct running and an eye for goal. Barnes is your prime example of an inverted winger, his only position really is on the left, but he could play through the middle if needed I feel. Barnes in my opinion has been our best player this season, and that’s in a dreadful team. He is incredible at receiving the ball in stride and not having to alter his sprint speed, which makes him an absolute nightmare to defend against. He would often take the ball whilst running at full speed, knock it beyond the full back and get into a dangerous area, and because he runs at such pace you can’t touch him otherwise he hits the deck. He can go either on the outside or come inside, and he is a goal threat, as he has a great ability to open his body up (Henry like) and pass it into the back of the net. On his day, he can be unplayable. In terms of weaknesses don’t expect much in the air from him, and despite all of his attributes he needs a team that play with pace and momentum to consistently bring the best out of him. Due to Rodgers ball we saw it sporadically, and Barnes was reliant on his own explosive pace to get him up the pitch and into goal scoring areas because we were just far too slow and ponderous in possession, and this did unfortunately diminish his performances with us. Defensively he will come back, however he usually hangs on the shoulder is the deepest player so if you win the ball back he can get going and drive you up the pitch. My only criticism of Barnes, is that occasionally he will drift inside and leave no option for the full back to pass into, despite there being a massive hole for him to exploit, but I think this is more down to the teams build up play being too slow, than it is Barnes not knowing what he is doing. So in short if you play with a high press, quick passing phases and like to utilise the counter, he will flourish. The only sticking point will be the price. It appears our club is run by idiots, so they’re likely to pretend we’re not in the championship and try and drive a hard bargain and not budge from £40m and try to push for more. It’s worth noting that Barnes has just found out he is a father so the chances are he will want to stay local, so if you are interested and move fairly quickly I can see a deal being struck, as we need to get business done quickly. He would be a real gem for you, he is still a bit unpolished but under a top class manager he will lift your team to another level. I generally hate my club at the moment apart from Vardy, Barnes and Albrighton….

How embarrassing, I do apologise sincerely!!

Hello Villains! A slightly embarrassed and still fuming Leicester fan coming in peace. Most of my family follow the Villa and have been asking about both Youri and Barnes a fair bit so I thought it come along and give you a point of view on the pair. Youri, he’s had a bizarre career following his professional debut, and I guess the first thing to consider is that he seems to have the same ending to most of his contracts… he somewhat fades out and then disappears. He came to us after being dropped by Monaco, and in all honesty he was a revelation initially. The good things about Youri’s game are, he is a thinkers footballer, Rodgers often stated he was like having a coach on the pitch, which was clear to see at times. Youri is very good at organisation, and he has the ability to read the game fairly well and does have a very good range of passing, both short and long. His best traits are probably an ability to pull off the risky passes, he can play those passes through the centre of the pitch, and is pretty good at picking out quick wide players and attackers early. He also has a screamer in him too and he is pretty robust, he rarely gets injured and he starts to flourish when he is played consistently, which is also a pain as it will take him about ten games to get going. However, he does have a few flaws…. One being he isn’t an athlete at all, he is unfortunate very slow, and this gets him caught out a lot, particularly when he looks for those risky passes, one of our biggest downfalls last season was conceding possession needlessly in the transition of play, and it often began with Youri playing a risky pass that doesn’t come off and then he doesn’t have the athleticism to get back and defend. It is vital that you have players around him that can make up for this. But, having said that on a free would he be a pretty good signing for you? I’d argue potentially. He has bags and bags of European experience, and he has been an international since 17 I believe, so again, he is vastly experienced for a young-ish player. It is possibly one of those situations where he gets overlooked by some clubs due to our situation, but under a coach like Emery he could flourish and it’s if anything a bit more strength in depth. I hope it gives you a bit of an insight to him, I wouldn’t read too much into last seasons stats, as we were largely diabolical in all areas for the whole season, so I’d consider that when looking at him. I’ll pop over the the Barnes thread at some stage and give an overview of him, but I will say I’ve been extremely impressed with how you guys have gone about your business since returning to the premier league, Emery has you going along at a good pace, so I hope next season is fruitful for you with more progression!

Hello, a friendly Leicester City fan (however embarrassed), would like to offer a friendly opinion on two potential Villa targets in Barnes and Tielemans. Plus I have lots of family connections with Villa as most of my family are Villa fans! Thank you