Redditch_Villa

No working streams so far?

:shock:

More or less, yeah

This, wages likely to be an issue though.

As much as id love him at Villa, very little chance of it happening.

A significant portion!? Pay up!

Don't see why not on a loan deal? Id say Torres, Mata, Hazard and possibly Marin are all ahead of him and Chelsea haven't stopped spending with the possibility of Hulk joining. Id believe he would give it a good think if we came in for him. Mata, Hazard and Marin are all midfielders. And who is to say Marin is any good? Nothing to say he is better than Sturridge, and the latter is established in the league as well as being English. Torres is up and down at the moment, and they cannot rely entirely on him at all. Hulk? Not signed yet and that deal is going to hurt as hell for every party involved. I would say a loan deal is one year away, if all your premonitions are correct. Mata, Hazard and Marin will play as wingers in Chelsea's 4-3-3 which is where Sturridge can play and has played.

Don't see why not on a loan deal? Id say Torres, Mata, Hazard and possibly Marin are all ahead of him and Chelsea haven't stopped spending with the possibility of Hulk joining. Id believe he would give it a good think if we came in for him.

Id take Sturridge on loan over Lukaku, had a brilliant loan spell at Bolton.

Hasn't managed a goal in English football I believe, I know he's young and rarely played but rather someone proven in the prem.

Hardly a rumour

You forgot KEA. while we are at it, u forgot Guzan Doesn't count, was already part of last years squad.

You forgot KEA.

Agree, he's still only 23, would have something to prove where as Owen & Berbatov have already proved themselves in past years.

Didn't El Ahmadi wear the number 8 for the Burton friendly? Pre season numbers mean nothing. He is number 8 on offical website. Link Wouldn't go by them until official release, would expect Lowton or Lichjah or a new RB to pick the number 2 off Hutton, Delfouneso and Holman have also been assigned the same number according to that..

Didn't El Ahmadi wear the number 8 for the Burton friendly? Pre season numbers mean nothing.

Extra competition for positions are more than welcomed.

Big boast my friend. I think our academy is up there with the best in the UK and, on the basis of last year's Next Gen series, the best in Europe. "far, far, far" may be stretching it! That doesn't really mean a lot. UK youth academies are generally very poor and the Next Gen series are an invitational tournament. Feyenoord rejected participation so that our youngsters wouldn't be in the picture as much of UK teams. We have lost so many players because they cannot sign a contract until they are 16, it's quite ridiculous. In the last 2/3 years we've lost Bruma and Ake to Chelsea, Rekik to Man City, Ebecilio to Arsenal and Van la Parra to Caen. English academies pinch these youngsters so that they are counted as home grown because they cannot teach young kids how to play. They give their parents a cleaning job for 60k a year, pay the kid a few 100.000 a year and only have to compensate us 50/100k. But still we have 16 of our 27 first team squad from the academy. That is not really boasting...but facts (Rafa Benitez style) And I wansn't even mentioning recent departures like Castaignos (Inter Milan), Wijnaldum (PSV) and Fer (FC Twente) who left the club a year ago after coming through the ranks. It's quite the contrast if you come up with Albrighton, Clark and Agbonlahor. Well put.

Is there a picture of the official team photo? Was Vlaar not included?

Was funny while it lasted

It's a fake. You can tell by looking at the badge and the fact it's Dinamo Zagreb's kit (hence the 'd') Good find, was really hoping it was real!

LOL?

Id also be interested in that!

Dave Whelan in Mallorca for face to face talks with Ramis