Transfer Speculation Summer 2016

[Guest av1]

9 hours ago, Michael118 said:

Time will tell I suppose.

It did so with Davis, Cahill, Albrighton and countless others.

I never really get this, neither of those players were good enough to get into our side at the time. The fact we have since turned to sh#t and they have improved is irrelevant.

Its like slagging Fergie for not starting Pogba, Mourinho for not starting Matic the first time, it why Barca insist on buy back clauses. Times change, but Cahill aside, who was adamant he wanted to leave, was anyone too bothered when Davis and Albrighton left?

[Ginko]

I'm not sure why Okore seems to be getting a pass on this one. I think he has potential and we've never seen the best of him, but after refusing to play last season (assuming it's true, though I think Black confirmed it was?) he totally lost me and I don't want him at our club.

If what Tony and RDM have been saying about only wanting players who are mentally tough and who give their all for the team, then surely they won't want him either. He showed his true colours by not willing to accept responsibility for his part in last season's shit-show and lost all respect I once had for him.

I hope we get rid of:

Okore -- For the reasons above.

Guzan --  I just think he needs a fresh start, he has zero confidence playing for us so we should go our separate ways.

Bacuna -- Short of a couple of cracking free kicks I just don't think he's very good or offers much to the team. Get an actual RB in and cut him loose. His attitude stinks as well and I believe he's one of the troublemakers in the dressing room, bad for the team spirit.

Richards -- He's been shit, he's on too much money and his attitude stinks, another bad apple and a terrible captain.

Lescott -- Shit, too much money, clearly a moron if the interviews and tweets are anything to go by.

Sinclair -- Flashes of quality but is far too anonymous for 90% of games. I was tempted to keep him as I think Championship is his level and he played well when I watched him at Forest in preseason last year but I just don't think he'll ever be consistently good for us let alone excellent.

Gabby -- I've never been a fan. Far too inconsistent and he's never been anything other than a decent striker at his best. Bad attitude, bad for the dressing room and a terrible role model and representative of the club. If he is Mr Aston Villa then he physically represents everything wrong with our club for the last few years. On far too much money and he's abused his local lad status to the detriment of the club which is unforgivable. Someone said before that when we needed him he wasn't there, mentally or physically which is inexcusable in my eyes. I thought he was crap even when fit but now he's just completely lost it. I want him gone, no more chances at redemption, get him out.

Kozak -- Don't understand why he didn't play more as when he did he at least showed passion and scored some goals but he's probably not good enough. Think he needs to leave for his career too.

Gestede -- Probably won't happen but if we're not going to have wingers as an option then there's no point to him. He's not very good if he's not banging them in from crosses. I think he'll stay but if he does we need to sign some players who can supply him. I'd prefer him as a Plan B option only though.

The rest can stay with my blessing.

Edited June 18, 2016 by Ginko

[AntrimBlack]

1 minute ago, Ginko said:

I'm not sure why Okore seems to be getting a pass on this one. I think he has potential and we've never seen the best of him, but after refusing to play last season (assuming it's true, though I think Black confirmed it was?) he totally lost me and I don't want him at our club.

If what Tony and RDM have been saying about only wanting players who are mentally tough and who give their all for the team, then surely they won't want him either. He showed his true colours by not willing to accept responsibility for his part in last season's shit-show and lost all respect I once had for him.

I hope we get rid of:

Okore -- For the reasons above

Guzan --  I just think he needs a fresh start, he has zero confidence playing for us so we should go our separate ways

Bacuna -- Short of a couple of cracking free kicks I just don't think he's very good or offers much to the team. Get an actual RB in and cut him loose. His attitude stinks as well and I believe he's one of the troublemakers in the dressing room, bad for the team spirit

Richards -- He's been shit, he's on too much money and his attitude stinks, another bad apple and a terrible captain

Lescott -- Shit, too much money, clearly a moron if the interviews and tweets are anything to go by

Sinclair -- Flashes of quality but is far too anonymous for 90% of games. I was tempted to keep him as I think Championship is his level and he played well when I watched him at Forest in preseason last year but I just don't think he'll ever be consistently good for us let alone excellent

Gabby -- I've never been a fan. Far too inconsistent and he's never been anything other than a decent striker at his best. Bad attitude, bad for the dressing room and a terrible role model and representative of the club. If he is Mr Aston Villa then he physically represents everything wrong with our club for the last few years. On far too much money and he's abused his local lad status to the detriment of the club which is unforgivable. Someone said before that when we needed him he wasn't there, mentally or physically which is inexcusable in my eyes. I thought he was crap even when fit but now he's just completely lost it. I want him gone, no more chances at redemption, get him out.

Kozak -- Don't understand why he didn't play more as when he did he at least showed passion and scored some goals but he's probably not good enough. Think he needs to leave for his career too.

Gestede -- Probably won't happen but if we're not going to have wingers as an option then there's no point to him. He's not very good if he's not banging them in from crosses. I think he'll stay but if he does we need to sign some players who can supply him. I'd prefer him as a Plan B option only though.

The rest can stay with my blessing.

I completely forgot about him.

[Ginko]

39 minutes ago, av1 said:

Times change, but Cahill aside, who was adamant he wanted to leave, was anyone too bothered when Davis and Albrighton left?

I agree with your sentiment on the whole and I wasn't fussed when Davis left (though I'd be ecstatic if we got him now) but I was bothered when we released Albrighton. Not only was he a local lad and a diehard Villa fan but I thought he was brilliant at what he did, if a little one-dimensional, and he offered a different option to the team that no one else did. Imagine how many Gestede would have scored with Albrighton whipping them in.

Edited June 18, 2016 by Ginko

[Guest av1]

9 minutes ago, Ginko said:

I agree with your sentiment on the whole and I wasn't fussed when Davis left (though I'd be ecstatic if we got him now) but I was bothered when we sold Albrighton. Not only was he a local lad and a diehard Villa fan but I thought he was brilliant at what he did, if a little one-dimensional, and he offered a different option to the team that no one else did. Imagine how many Gestede would have scored with Albrighton whipping them in.

Fair point Ginko. I just think that football changes so quickly that its difficult to point to decisions make some time ago and use hindsight to rubbish them. Stephen Davis is another who would walk into our team now that wasn't really good enough for us at the time. We were so bloody bad last season that the likes of James Collins and Emile Heskey could have got a bit of game time.

[Butterfingers]

18 minutes ago, Ginko said:

I agree with your sentiment on the whole and I wasn't fussed when Davis left (though I'd be ecstatic if we got him now) but I was bothered when we sold Albrighton. Not only was he a local lad and a diehard Villa fan but I thought he was brilliant at what he did, if a little one-dimensional, and he offered a different option to the team that no one else did. Imagine how many Gestede would have scored with Albrighton whipping them in.

We didn't sell Albrighton.

He went on a free because Leicester offered him more than we did.

[Ginko]

No, you're right in what you say; you never know who will come good and sometimes it's just a bad fit and a player will flourish elsewhere.

That being said I hope we don't give Bacuna, Richards, Lescott and Gabby another chance. There's no redemption for them in my opinion.

[Ginko]

5 minutes ago, Butterfingers said:

We didn't sell Albrighton.

He went on a free because Leicester offered him more than we did.

Yes, you're correct, we didn't sell him, though do we know we definitely offered him a contract? The point still stands as I think he'd have stayed had we given him a reasonable offer.

Edited June 18, 2016 by Ginko

[Butterfingers]

Just now, Ginko said:

Yes, you're correct, though the point still stands as I think he'd have stayed had we offered him a reasonable contract.

And therein lies an indication as to where we are today, compared to Leicester.

[Ginko]

Yup, yet another poor management decision. Let's hope those are a thing of the past under Tony's stewardship.

[jon_c]

5 minutes ago, Ginko said:

Yes, you're correct, we didn't sell him, though do we know we definitely offered him a contract? The point still stands as I think he'd have stayed had we given him a reasonable offer.

I always liked Albrighton as a player, but considering our cost cutting, we would have been crazy to match Leicester's wage offer at the time. And unfortunately there was no point retaining him if you're manager wasn't going to play with wingers. He'd have just sat on the bench staying here, and wouldn't have improved to the level he is now.

[Zatman]

1 hour ago, av1 said:

I never really get this, neither of those players were good enough to get into our side at the time. The fact we have since turned to sh#t and they have improved is irrelevant.

Its like slagging Fergie for not starting Pogba, Mourinho for not starting Matic the first time, it why Barca insist on buy back clauses. Times change, but Cahill aside, who was adamant he wanted to leave, was anyone too bothered when Davis and Albrighton left?

mm at the time I said Davis better than Reo-Coker, Cahill better than Knight and Davies and Albrighton better than **** Tonev, Sinclair, Nzogbia or whatever crap winger Lambert played

[useless]

Albrighton had been pretty poor for us, for a while, when we let him go.

[John]

No new links to any players coming in then?

[Dr_Pangloss]

24 minutes ago, jon_c said:

I always liked Albrighton as a player, but considering our cost cutting, we would have been crazy to match Leicester's wage offer at the time. And unfortunately there was no point retaining him if you're manager wasn't going to play with wingers. He'd have just sat on the bench staying here, and wouldn't have improved to the level he is now.

Nothing stopped us from offering him a contract well in advance of Leicester's approach, our lethargy regarding his contract suggests to me that the powers that be did not really care. 

[useless]

The Spanish striker (Naranjo) we were linked with the other day, has gone to Celta Vigo.

Edited June 18, 2016 by useless

[Rob182]

43 minutes ago, Ginko said:

Yup, yet another poor management decision. Let's hope those are a thing of the past under Tony's stewardship.

This example of Albrighton going to Leicester, and the different feeling across the support at the time, is something we need to remember in the next few months. 

 

At the time, a number of us thought we should have held onto him. Others were citing our poor performances and relegation battle as a reason to let him go. (Obviously there were other circumstances around it, largely that he wanted money that we weren't willing to offer him).

 

The point is that, even though Albrighton didn't disgrace himself personally, he was still a big part of our team that was in a relegation battle.

 

There are some players in this team that, whilst they haven't been anywhere near a 'standout performer' at Villa, could easily do a job in the championship, if RDM and Clarke think they've seen enough to warrant keeping them.

 

For example: If Amavi stays, Bennett could be kept as an able backup, after having a good season in the Championship.

 

Baker always looked like a passionate player who gave his all, and in Lambert's last season, there was a spell of 1-2 months when he was part of our best centreback pairing. He's had a decent enough season in the Championship for us to consider keeping him as backup.

 

Clark, whilst always having a clanger in him, is still someone who could be kept as backup to Elphick & another CB, if nothing else.

 

Hutton is someone I've always been a fan of, mainly because he's one of the few players we have who always gives his all. Yes he sometimes falls out of position, or sometimes runs into dead ends when attacking, but if his wages aren't too high, he's another I would be happy to keep. As backup or as first choice. With a better, more rounded team around him (not relying on him to be one of the sole attacking outlets), he could be a solid member of a Championship back four.

 

That's just the defence ^^

 

There is a case that can be put forward for a lot of players, as could have been done for Albrighton when we let him go to Leicester. I'm willing to keep an open mind and trust RDM and Clarke's judgement.

 

* (disclaimer: players that HAVE actually disgraced themselves, such as Richards, Gabby & Bacuna... I'd like to see gone, and will be sceptical about RDM giving them another chance :D)

[VillanousOne]

I thought Bennett only played about 3 games last season due to injury?

[sne]

Wonder if we'll be back in for Lovre Kalinic, and if he's still willing to come here?

Maybe we can do like Milan and Inter in the 80's and get a trio of compatriots.

Get Kalinic, Rog and Pjaka from Croatia, all young and talented. Bit ambitious maybe and our track record from the Balkan is not great but hey ho.

[Rob182]

14 minutes ago, VillanousOne said:

I thought Bennett only played about 3 games last season due to injury?

I thought he played more, looks like it was 5 appearances last season including a Villa cup game. Maybe not!

 

I don't know if Dr Xia's quotes about the 'bad players' has been mentioned on here. He's said that the players that are bad for Villa must go. I'm really liking what I'm hearing from him lately!