VillaJay

The difficulty with Wes is that he hasn't really shown the raw qualities needed to be a successful PL striker. The layoff will have hurt his chances of success, but the guys obviously a grafter and has worked extremely hard to get where he is today, which counts for a lot. Doesn't look like a footballer to me, however he needs to be given a full season with the coaching team to prove himself and I wouldn't be shocked but pleasantly surprised if against the odds he proves people wrong again.

Brave on the ball, that alone will see him go far. Maybe a season too soon for him, but my instinct is he'll be the one to surprise us most with his impact.

We need to be moving our senior fringe players who are never going to impact the starting 11 on to get players like Carney, JPB and A/J Ramsay onto the bench this season and start making appearances regularly if they're showing their good enough in training. Conor and Guilbert would be the first 2 out for me.

Has a bit of the Kevin De Bruyne style about him, I rarely see us play through balls, we'll catch some high lines out this season. A top class AM/WF and some defensive cover from really pushing the top 6 next season.

A quick look on the city forum, says he's not reliable and only posts vague stuff that might/might not happen. I think, as it stands it's more likely Jack stays another season with or without a new contract.

Looking forward to seeing him back wearing our lion very soon... Collymore's been hinting Jack will stay a few times now.

Exactly that, and it also correlates to the most important bit too, on pitch performance. The team/players are playing well and improving all the time. A time will come when we'll sell a first teamer (Hopefully not Jack!) but it will be for a profit to be re-invested in the team.

What a nothing tweet, they're "growing in confidence" "details still to finalise" modern "journalism" 101 To be honest I think anything over 35m for a player with 20 please games is a risk, and I haven't seen enough from him to convince me that we couldn't find better for that money elsewhere in Europe.

A touch high for some I'd say, but really depends on the demand, Ben White is not worth 54m in my opinion but arsenal are willing to pay it. I really like Traore but can't see anyone paying 30m for him at this point in time, worth about the same right now. The key is selling players at the peak demand to get the best prices, but all moot at the minute as we're not looking to offload anyone right now. If someone offered 20m for El Ghazi right now though I'd sell, despite his great input last season. I'd then add another 15/20 on top and buy someone who can improve out first xi

Olise looks a talent, but at 18/19 he's unlikely to be a starter for us and would send the wrong message to our own academy players who are knocking on the door of the first team Ramsay/Chuk. I think we're looking to sign players who can instantly improve our first 11 and the young players will get minutes from the bench/cups or more if they can push on.

Romano is a fraud with a big Twitter following of deluded kids, he just regurgitates other links from around the web and tries to pass himself off as itk. How could he possibly have the inside track of nearly every top club in the big 3/4 leagues. The only difference with him and the other frauds is he doesn't go too big with his guesses and plays it safe.

Give him a contract worthy of one of the best players in the world. Will be out most important signing, forget ESR etc., No club will sign a player as good as Jack this summer, this should be our priority statement signing.

He's not as bad a player as some posters are making out, however he is the weak point in that Brighton team and an area they are actively trying to upgrade in and replace him. I think Ollie has enough of that nasty streak in him already and in an ideal world the next striker we sign should have the potential to replace Ollie if we're to try and break into the top 6.

This is exactly it, I believe the bids are genuine and ESR is interested, he's gone on loan to Germany and Huddersfield so I'd imagine he's not afraid to move out of London for a bigger opportunity and more money, despite being an arsenal fan. If arsenal can't guarantee him a starting place or the salary he wants, a move to an upwardly mobile Villa would be very attractive.

Fair enough, I trust our recruitment team to have a much better idea of his capabilities than I do, I've watched him, can't say I've watched his every game, but he looks tidy on the ball and looks like he models himself on Jack, but look very different players to me in terms of ability, even Jack at 18 had that same technical ability he shows now. I don't see that in ESR, but if the recruitment team believe he can improve us significantly at a club record transfer fee, I'd back them as they've shown they deserve that trust.

My main worry with him is that arsenal fans seem to rate this potential signing emotionally rather than objectively, they're more worried about the optics of losing a young player with potential and what that says about the boards ambition. When you read some views of their more rational fans, they've seen it all before with young players showing promise and would snap our hands off for 40m Some views from their forums: The irony of us turning down 30m for a non capped, couple of months of good form, 2 goals midfielder and saying with a straight face Maddison with goals, assists and caps is over priced at 70m "Esr has played just over 40 senior games, with nearly half of that at Huddersfield. There isn't exactly a track record there other than people hoping he will become something. Forgive me. I've seen this show before. Walcott, Ox, Wilshere, Gibbs, Bendtner all hyped up to be something and their careers amounted to nothing. 50m for a player with 6 months top level under their belt whilst being inconsistent is ridiculous money. Unfortunately emotion comes into it not rational logical thought.' "I remember ox and he was far more than exciting and after him I said never again with Arsenal youngster until they do it for two seasons. Remember when coquelin had that patch of great promise. Over the years we had far more exciting talents than esr and they all failed"

I agree, if we do buy him, and I hope we do as it would be a true statement of intent buying a top 6 player that they don't want to sell, I trust the recruitment team despite not being sure on the price. And if we do sell Jack I'd hope we go out and buy a further 2x 50m players on top of the current outlay like a Bissouma and Raphina type that is good enough to improve our starting xi.

but it would be our record ever transfer for a player who has played well for Arsenal, albeit inconsistently over 20 games or so last season. The money doesn't matter if he's an exceptional talent, I'm just not convinced he is and I'd guess neither are Arsenal if they're not offering him the contract he wants. Looks to have a lot of potential but I'd rather spend 50m on a more proven player with more than 20 games in the PL than 35m on potential.

I can't see us going past 35m for ESR he's had half a good season, Buendia is more proven and cost 35m. He looks to have great potential and I'd like him as part of our attacking options, but still a bit raw if he's part of the replacing Jack strategy. As long as Jack stays we'd have this as a 5 for the 3 places behind Ollie - Jack, Buendia, ESR, Traore, El Ghazi That's a serious team to push top 8 even if we don't sign anyone else. All rests on Jack staying though, which I think he will give us one more season at least.

Ollie's been better for us in the premier than Tammy was for us in the champ, I think we'll buy a more versatile and cheaper forward to compete with Ollie and Wes. It seems our priority positions are AM/WF and DMF, I'd guess another 50m on those 2 positions and a punt on young forward player similar to Alvarez We're still a season or 2 away from spending 40m on a second forward when we only play with one

Moyes quoted as saying they don't have the money to spend 40m on Tammy and most likely that could be their whole summer budget. I can only see us going for him if Jack goes

If city come in with a bid that is acceptable to Villa, he will of course go. I think there's a couple of hurdles before that though. 1. Villa offer him a bumper contract. 2. If he doesn't accept, we'll want 120m+ or no deal 3. City have to agree to pay it. If none of those happen I think Jack will stay and get his head down. Once in a generation player and the best player in the league for me, but if it does come to it and we begrudgingly accept a monster fee, I'm still confident of being a better team than next season either way.

That quote from Gabby seems a little out of context, It’s no surprise that clubs like City are after him but Agbonlahor believes Villa hold the aces in this situation and should not let him go cheaply. “I think he’s worth more. I’d say £120m,” Agbonlahor told The Sports Bar. Villa are a club on the up but losing Grealish would be a big step back, unless they invested very well afterwards “From a Villa point of view, he signed a five-year deal last summer. Villa’s owners don’t need the £100m – they’re loaded, they don’t need the money. “They want to improve the squad. What losing him would mean for Aston Villa, they would want to be compensated for at least £120m. “I’m looking at Harry Kane, he’s been at Spurs for so long. £120m is probably the right price for him as well. “How many chances did Jack Grealish create last season? He was up there with top three, top four assists and he missed half the season. City are also thought to be interested in signing Grealish’s England teammate Kane. “He’s 25, how much did Kai Havertz join Chelsea for? How much did Philippe Coutinho leave Liverpool for? “Man City have got the money, of course they have. Aston Villa will probably say ‘if you’re going to have him, it’s going to cost you, it’s going to cost you big time.’ “He deserves to play at that level but I’ve got my Villa head on and I don’t want him to go. You think Daniel Levy is going to make it easy for Harry Kane to leave? He’s going to want his full dough before he goes anywhere. “If the money’s right the deal will happen. I think Jack will want to go, he’ll want to play under Pep but the money’s got to be what Aston Villa want.” I think villa will hold firm, and Jack would be interested in going but won't force the issue.