Who's next?

[NurembergVillan]

With stories that Villa are about to go mad in the transfer market after tying up Reo-Coker, Poise wondering who's going to be next.

Optimism is back at Villa Park. In some cases it disappeared for a short while after a slow start to the transfer window, however with Randy Lerner flying ton England this week and all the players and coaching staff's holidays ending, we can safely say that the coming weeks leading up to the start of the season are going to be very interesting for Villa fans.

There are several obvious targets I am about to run through. Some of whom would be great signings, others I'm not too sure about . . .

Jermain Defoe : Without a doubt, I would love to see this lad in a Villa top. He has all the qualities that I think would form a great partnership with Mr Carew up front. However, he has came out and said he is happy to fight for his place at Tottenham. Bad news for us. Maybe by January he will be sick of sitting on the bench.

Verdict - Can't see him being our next signing, maybe a January signing.

Craig Bellamy : Craig ' The Nutter with the Putter' Bellamy would be a reasonable signing. Not consistently as good as Defoe I don't think but when on form can be one of the most feared strikers in the country. Quite injury prone too, if we signed him I think we would need to sign another striker too just to be on the safe side.

Verdict - Good chance of him being our next signing, so long as West Ham don't sell Tevez and use the cash to bring him in before we do.

Jason Koumas : I'm not sure that this lad has what it takes to be a consistent Premiership player. Has had a good few chances in the Premiership and has always failed to show what he is capable of. Always plays well in the Championship which tells me he is a Championship player. His best bet would be to fight for promotion with Albion if you ask me. Would be a good squad player but the £6m asking price is a bit hefty for a squad player.

Verdict - Wouldn't mind him being our next signing, but I think there are bigger fish to be caught at the moment.

Curtis Davies : I think there comes a time in football where u have to take a risk. Signing Davies would be a big risk as he has next to none experience in the Premiership. However, every player has to start somewhere, and he showed great form for Albion last year at such a young age, there is a great chance he could be a star in the premiership, and maybe even a future England star.

Verdict - I would definately give this lad a chance and think O'Neill will make it one of his top goals to sign him up before anybody else does.

Shaun Wright Phillips : At the moment, (realistically) there is no one I would rather see sign for Villa than this man. I think he would be an incredible signing. Chelsea wouldn't sell him to a fellow top 4 club and if he wanted to play in europe he would have to go to Spurs, Everton or Bolton. Spurs don't need him because of Arron Lennon and Everton and Bolton aren't exactly appealing offers I don't think. This leaves teams like ourselves, Newcaslte and Man City. I personally think what with Man City getting Sven as manager and getting a bit of money to spend that he will end up back at City, but still honoured to be linked with him.

Verdict - I think it will be between ourselves and Man City if he does decide to move on from Chelsea but I think the lure from his old club, team mates and the chance to work with Sven again may be too much.

Alan Smith : Good player, but not the sort of player we are after. We need someone who is fast and can get us 15+ goals a season. Someone to play off Carew. I don't think Smith is this special someone.

Verdict - I hope not and I don't think he will be.

Luke Young : There aren't many good English right backs around these days, but this man is one of few who can do a job. He's very steady and is good at getting forward. We need a right back after losing Hughes and Bardsley and I think Young could be the man to fill their boots.

Verdict - Definate possibility but I still think O'Neill is going to chase bigger targets first, then aim for players like Young shortly after.

Harry Kewell : I don't see where Harry would fit in for us. We have Gareth Barry who plays on the left side, and there's no way hes getting dropped. Ashley Young plays out on the left wing so I think Kewell would be a pointless signing. He is also very injury prone.

Verdict - I don't think O'Neill is stupid enough to sign someone who has barely played for the last 4 years.

That was just a small list, there are a few more out there that I'm sure O'Neill has his eye on that we don't know about yet. I'm optimistic that there will be more signings sooner rather than later.

Our starting eleven next year could possible look something like this :

Sorenson

Mellberg Laursen C Davies

Wright-Phillips Petrov Reo-Coker Barry

Bellamy Young

Carew

With Agbonlahor, Bouma, L.Young, Koumas, Moore, Taylor, Gardner, Cahill, Ridgewell, Osbourne to choose from subs.

[kkr]

I personally think what with Man City getting Sven as manager and getting a bit of money to spend that he will end up back at City, but still honoured to be linked with him.

Verdict - I think it will be between ourselves and Man City if he does decide to move on from Chelsea but I think the lure from his old club, team mates and the chance to work with Sven again may be too much.

Not in a million years will Man City stand a chance of signing SWP again, but more importantly there is even less chance of him wanting to go there.

Why would he want to go and play for a manager who neglected him on the international scene? The same manager who his Dad despises and has written enough articles about explaining why he hates the man!

When they appointed Sven as manager Man City lost any chance of SWP returning. For what its worth id say that it is between us and west ham, with perhaps spurs to pick up their interest also, but unlikely because of the money they have spent and the fact that they have Aaron Lennon.

If it is us and west ham in for him im confident he would sign for us, definitely if he bases his decision on his dads opinion. The only bit of doubt that there is in my mind however is that he is supposed to be really happy with life in London now so that could be a decisive factor.

[sheriffvilla]

A few things:

1) A Bellamy on proper form is better than Defoe, IMO. Whether he can come to us, be consistenly somewhere near his best and not cause any disruptions though, is a compeletely different issue. If not him or Defoe though... Hmmm. Dunno. Yakubu, maybe? Geezer is perceived as lazy, but knows where the goal is and is versatile enough to lead the line or play off someone like Carew. It's a tricky one, but we deffo need someone

2) Not that I am overly bothered about Koumas, but it is pretty unfair to say he has had lots of cracks at the Premiership. One season, to the best of my knowledge?

3) Davies is probably a decent shout, especially if Ridge goes.

4) SWP - I have to agree with kkr, I will be very surprised if he goes back there, especially with Sven in charge.

5) Generally agree on the last three. Smith at best would be back-up for Carew, Young would be a solid enough signing & I don't really see the need for the injury-prone Harry Kewell.

6) Finally, that formation you have has 3 at the back - I have just posted something about this on another thread, and I will be hugely disappointed if this is the route we take.

[Poise]

you're both right about swp actually. i didnt think about his dad hating sven lol. however he has also been quoted once saying that villa had the worst fans and he didnt like our fans . . . so if swp is going to let his dad make his decisions for him then i dont think us, west ham, tottenham or man city would have a chance lol. newcastle maybe??? i pray its us though. Having him would also allow us to make Agbonlahor the person who plays off Carew.

[TRO]

A few things:

1) A Bellamy on proper form is better than Defoe, IMO. Whether he can come to us, be consistenly somewhere near his best and not cause any disruptions though, is a compeletely different issue. If not him or Defoe though... Hmmm. Dunno. Yakubu, maybe? Geezer is perceived as lazy, but knows where the goal is and is versatile enough to lead the line or play off someone like Carew. It's a tricky one, but we deffo need someone

2) Not that I am overly bothered about Koumas, but it is pretty unfair to say he has had lots of cracks at the Premiership. One season, to the best of my knowledge?

3) Davies is probably a decent shout, especially if Ridge goes.

4) SWP - I have to agree with kkr, I will be very surprised if he goes back there, especially with Sven in charge.

5) Generally agree on the last three. Smith at best would be back-up for Carew, Young would be a solid enough signing & I don't really see the need for the injury-prone Harry Kewell.

6) Finally, that formation you have has 3 at the back - I have just posted something about this on another thread, and I will be hugely disappointed if this is the route we take.

.....What about Huntelaar at Ajax..... very impressive goal scoring record.

[sheriffvilla]

.....What about Huntelaar at Ajax..... very impressive goal scoring record.

Yeah, to be fair I was ony thinking about the Premiership when I was writing, but it may be we need to look elsewhere. Huntelaar seems as good an option as any, in all honesty.

[villa-alex]

I would have liked bellamy, shame he's gone to West Ham tho. If you just imagine bellamy when he was playing for Blackburn two seasons ago, you would think of him as a much better player. We need a right-back for definate! maybe somone like Baines will do the job.

[villa-alex]

A few things:

1) A Bellamy on proper form is better than Defoe, IMO. Whether he can come to us, be consistenly somewhere near his best and not cause any disruptions though, is a compeletely different issue. If not him or Defoe though... Hmmm. Dunno. Yakubu, maybe? Geezer is perceived as lazy, but knows where the goal is and is versatile enough to lead the line or play off someone like Carew. It's a tricky one, but we deffo need someone

2) Not that I am overly bothered about Koumas, but it is pretty unfair to say he has had lots of cracks at the Premiership. One season, to the best of my knowledge?

3) Davies is probably a decent shout, especially if Ridge goes.

4) SWP - I have to agree with kkr, I will be very surprised if he goes back there, especially with Sven in charge.

5) Generally agree on the last three. Smith at best would be back-up for Carew, Young would be a solid enough signing & I don't really see the need for the injury-prone Harry Kewell.

6) Finally, that formation you have has 3 at the back - I have just posted something about this on another thread, and I will be hugely disappointed if this is the route we take.

.....What about Huntelaar at Ajax..... very impressive goal scoring record.

.....And Babel and Shnieder at Ajax for a bit of cash