wilko154

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Do it, you know it's the right thing to do.

Butland would be a fantastic signing in my opinion. If we can get him for somewhere between £15-20m, and then offload Kalinic for £5-7m (apparently unsettled and wants to leave). This would then be a £10-15m outlay on a 26 year old, English goalkeeper with potential to be the country's number one. It would sort us out in the goalkeeper department for years to come. If he does fulfill his full potential we could possibly sell him for double the value in the next few years. Is it harsh on Jed Steer? Yes absolutely, he was brilliant in the second half of the season. Do we have to be brutal with our recruitment now in order to stay in the PL and give it a good go? Yes 100%

It does seem very strange that the season tickets haven't gone back on sale yet. You would have thought they would have been ready after the Playoff Final to get a big increase in sales with the momentum. I'm more interested in next season, after a year of tougher games with not as many wins, how many ST's will we then sell? Will the current good feeling from the Championship seasons carry on?

I know what you mean, I want last season's black hooded training top but I've never seen it in stock at all.

Liverpool, City, Chelsea, Arsenal or Spurs away for me. The big teams usually start off a bit slow which gives us a chance to take some points and get the games out of the way. Wouldn't mind doing Spurs' new stadium early next season tbh.

Could say the same about Grealish prior to the 10 game winning run. The stat's don't show exactly what he does on the pitch which is create chances whilst taking players out of the game. However I know very little about Fornals to say if he is a player in a similar mould.

Man City and Liverpool no doubt...

https://www.avfc.co.uk/News/2019/06/10/aston-villa-sign-anwar-el-ghazi

Going to put my two pence in after bringing the Rondon debate in yesterday. There needs to be a bit of realism here, it happens a lot with Villa fans where we get carried away with how big we think we are. Yes we are back in the PL, yes we need a striker but there is no way we are going to go and splash out £40-50m on a striker like Maxi Lopez in our first season back from the Championship. Some of the players being brought up are farcical. Rondon - Firstly he's not free, WBA triggered a 12 month extension this season, he has a release clause of 16.5 million. I mentioned him yesterday as he would be a perfect striker to hold the ball up and bring players into the game as the main goal threats. You would then set the team up around him, Grealish, McGinn, Hourihane & El Ghazi would benefit from this. However he is 29, he doesn't score that many goals himself and this style of play may not be what Smith want's to go for. Although I agree Davis is a similar player, he is no where near ready or proven enough to be leading the line next season in the PL. Kodjia - Showed glimpses of being a PL player in his first season, missed the second season mostly and last season didn't look back to his best until late on. He could possibly do a job for us but there are better strikers out there as Abraham proved last season. Would I keep him as an option next season? Almost certainly. But it will depend if he is happy to stick around and be 2nd/3rd choice. It would then give us the chance to let Davis get a season of Championship football under his belt. Maupay - Seems to have it all, has played under Smith before and would fit into our team. On the minus side he will cost in excess of £20m and is completely unproven in the PL. I would imagine he would be worth a gamble, but as has been mentioned before are we going to continue buying players that other teams have found or are we going to go out and find our own gems? Recently the Villa way has been let teams uncover players then spend silly money buying them off them, at some point this must change especially on players who are unproven at this level. From the ex-Villa players mentioned: Milner - No, he's not what we need anymore. We have McGinn who does a similar job in the midfield, he's younger and the future of the club. Milner wouldn't come anyway, Liverpool will extend his contract if they haven't already. Benteke - No, he's not what we need and right now isn't the time to become a hospice for players who have lost their way. Delph - No. He's exactly what we need, he would play the holding role very well and compliment Grealish and McGinn. However I and 90% of this fanbase wouldn't have him back due to the way he left us. I'm quite enjoying him get zero game time after his big move. Albrighton - No, there are better wingers out there and at 29 he's not getting any younger. Amavi - Yes. In my opinion he would fit in very well to the current team. He's good going forward, despite being suspect defensively. It would be upto Smith to establish if he's as good as the hype around him. It would also all be down to cost, for sub £10m I think he would be a very good option at left back, a player that Smith and the team could improve massively and a player that is already well liked at the club. Settling in would be easy and that will be a big plus next season.

Rondon would do a job for us as one of two strikers to bring in.

Goodbye Sweet Prince

Think he's probably injured

Don't care they are a betting company, Don't care that Wolves had them last season Don't care how it looks on the shirt. It's a record breaking deal for the club, it's bringing money into the club a year after we couldn't even afford to pay our tax bills. The club is being run properly again by people who know how to run businesses right. Well done to everyone involved.

So currently, if the latest two get over the line, we look like this: GK: Steer, Kalinic, Nyland, Sarkic RB: Guilbert, Elmo, Bree LB: Taylor CB: Chester, Hause RM: Jota, O-Hare LM: El Ghazi, Green CM: Grealish, McGinn, Hourihane, Lansbury, Bjarnasson, Tshibola, Doyle-Hayes ST: Kodjia, Hogan, Davis, Hepburn-Murphy This leaves us with attempts for Tuanzebe, Abraham and Mings to finish off the loan signings. Personally only think we will get Mings. A lot of work to be done, especially in defence.

Did the loan deal include a payment? I'm sure I remember it being about £2m. So maybe it's that £2m plus another £6m to take the total to £8m

Don't get carried away yet, we've triggered out option to buy but personal terms aren't agreed with the player yet. Would like to think this will be a formality with Hause, but you never know in football. Would hope to see him signed up by the end of the week.

It's about time we stopped offering long contracts, two year deal for a player who isn't likely to be a first team player week in week out and hasn't pulled up any trees in the last season or two. If it works out we extend his contract. Sensible running of the club is finally returning.

He may be ex-Blues but he's bearded.

I would imagine Jota will be announced tomorrow, as soon as our Premier League status is restored. Hause, El Ghazi and Mings next week when they return from their holidays.

Normally he does but lately he's been masterminding a famous win at Wembley against Frank Lampards Derby County.

Taylor will be our backup left back, we have enough to do in the transfer market this Summer without having to go out and find two left backs. Lansbury can go for all I care, couldn't get himself fit last season. I'd rather give Tshibola a chance as a backup centre midfielder, at least he would be available when required even if he isn't any good.