LockStockVilla

Extremely pleased with this signing. I think he will be a key player to really boost results for us when playing lower half teams (unlike Fulham) who park the bus a bit more and are difficult for us to break down. His passing and long range shooting will make an excellent addition to the midfield.

Just scored a peach of a goal.

Any word on Josh King signing? Think you had that as confirmed quite a few weeks back.

Given the whole #8 talk originated from Gregg Evans, I'd save yourself any further hassle of searching.

Brewster.

I think Traore primarily plays on the right and is left footed. Sarr primarily plays on the right but is right footed. You could conceivably put Sarr on the left, so that both players could cut inside on their favored foot. That's certainly how Traore tends to play. Smith seems to like his FBs to be the ones putting in crosses (Cash and Targett), so that could lend itself to both players being played on the wing opposite to their favored foot to allow more cutting in. 40m+ would be a lot though when i still feel we need another ST as backup, LW, CM, and backup CB.

I'd find the Sarr story interesting if we hadn't already signed Traore. A left sided attacker has to be the priority right now, though, unless we truly have silly money to spend this window.

While he was a bit in/out of the game (largely due to the way Sheffield set up after the sending off), I think he definitely showed flashes of the skill and potential he has. Lest we forget it was his very first match at this level. I'm excited to see how he progresses over the first 5-10 matches...I think he'll score quite a few. Also, how refreshing is it to see a striker that can actually hold onto the ball, dribble, and pass? Good riddance Samatta.

Around the 2:15 mark, Jack mentions Johan and Purslow working more to bring in more players to help the team (confirming what most of us had hoped and echoing what DS said in his pre match presser). You'd imagine there were assurances made before he signed the new deal. Hopefully an exciting week ahead.

Way too much pant wetting going on in here over his potential signing. Has a decent scoring record, brings two things we lack in forward positions in pace/trickery, and at just 25 years old there is still room to improve. At the reported fee, I’ll take it.

I've made the mistake of making negative comments on any occasion Samatta content is posted by the club. The last time I said he was garbage, I was inundated with screenshots showing he had scored the same number of Champions League goals as Messi last season. Christ on a bike, they are mental...and apparently very loyal to their man .

I think some joked about it before, but I think we should really try to send Samatta up the road to Celtic as part of the deal. Two birds, one stone. He might be decent at that level, as his goal scoring record in Belgium was not horrific.

King’s agent is the brother of Ståle Solbakken, who Lange has worked very closely with over the years, so this could be a possibility. From a few clips here and there, it seems King is desperate to go back to ManUre, but not sure that is likely at this point. If we do get in two strikers, King would be an excellent option.

Imagine paying 38m for Drinkwater. Yikes!

It's certainly debatable, because last summer if reports are true, we wouldn't shell out for Benrahma and they just held onto him. As long as they are not too cash strapped, if Watkins stays and bangs in 20+ again, his value only rises and they could be looking at having him valued even higher, while also putting themselves in a better position to gain promotion, which would be an even larger financial windfall. All that said, I think Watkins on keen on a move to a PL club, so that forces their hand a bit. The difference with us this summer compared to last IMO is that last summer we had our lists of targets for each position and if we couldn't get our top choice at the price we wanted, we walked away and took option b,c,d etc. I genuinely believe the reason most of our incomings are taking so long is that we are actively trying for those top targets and going through a full negotiation process, as opposed to making one take it or leave it offer. I feel that is what's happening atm with Watkins and we will get the deal over the line soon, hopefully followed by a few others.

£5m in adds-ons is a rather strange way of spelling Scott Hogan.

Well he did once play for Genk, if only Suso was still around

I don’t know. He’s hardly played for Arsenal in what, 10 years? Leno will be their starter this season, so IMO 10m seems fairly reasonable for both parties. If he hadn’t played a huge part in that FA Cup run, the price would have likely been even lower.

This US based guy has been tweeting a bit about McKennie and also seems to believe Juventus is a done deal. https://twitter.com/RGonzalezCBS/status/1298601179757371396?s=20 edit: I'm a n00b and can't get the link working

I think that Mike McGrath talks utter nonsense...he linked us to Trippier, which is never happening. Hearts had a bid accepted from both Bayern and Bologna for Hickey (he also visited both clubs), and Celtic have yet to even make a bid. If they do, every chance it will be a derisory bid and they will lose him to another team just like they did with McGinn. That said, i still think hickey would be a worthy investment for Villa at only 2m.

SkySperts, eh?

The main ones are McKennie, Pulisic, Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig), and Reyna (Dortmund). A couple other prospects out there like Josh Sargent at Bremen, but these ones seem the most suited to take a big step up.

I certainly think Weston McKennie could be a great addition to our midfield, my only real concern would be his injury history. This past season wasn't quite as bad (looks like only 5 games missed), but in the prior two seasons he missed closer to 10 games each. That's obviously no reason not to sign him if he has the talent, but could be a worry because we have seen the impact of losing key players for extensive periods (ie McGinn this past season) and getting acclimated to a league could be tough if battling injuries. If we were to sign him, i'd just hope for at least one other decent option to be signed in cm for further competition and then sell off/loan some of those who won't get regular games such as Lansbury.

Schick would be excellent, IMO. From the bits I’ve seen, he seems quite technically gifted which is what we are really lacking in the ST department. I’d be quite pleased and we got him and Watkins.

I’d be more than happy with Watkins at 18m. Would still want a higher level signing at the striker position, but he would provide an excellent option up top or in wide areas. Hopefully this would mean the end for Samatta as well