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The Aston Villa Transfer Horror Show


bannedfromHandV

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Replied to someone in another thread stating that I felt as though Benteke had been the only player we'd signed in the past 5 years who has gone on to be a success here. I felt compelled to substantiate that a bit further.

Here's a list (there may be some missing as I've pulled it from soccerbase.com so feel free to suggest additions, you may also disagree with some of my assessments but I've tried to keep them fairly simple in terms of hit, average or flop but it's subjective of course.

2016/2017:

Jonathan Kodija – early signs are promising

Pierluigi Gollini  - early signs are promising

Aaron Tshibola  - early signs are promising but lots of work to be done too

Ross McCormack – can see he’s a good player but lacking fitness and confidence at the moment

James Chester – average to date

Mile Jedinak - poor

Ritchie de Laet – not able to judge          

Albert Adomah - average

Tommy Elphick – average

 

2015/2016:

Mark Bunn – average/flop

Idrissa Gueye - average

Jordan Amavi - average

Jordan Ayew - average  

Jose Angel Crespo - flop

Rudy Gestede - flop       

Jordan Veretout - flop   

Adama Traore - flop       

Matija Sarkic - who         

Joleon Lescott – flop

 

2014/2015:

Joe Cole - flop   

Philippe Senderos - flop

Tom Leggett - who         

Isaac Nehemie - who     

Kieran Richardson - flop

Aly Cissokho – average/flop       

Carlos Sanchez - flop      

Carles Gil - flop 

Scott Sinclair - flop          

Micah Richards – flop

 

2013/2014:

Leandro Bacuna - average

Jores Okore - flop            

Nicklas Helenius - flop   

Antonio Luna - flop         

Jed Steer - flop 

Libor Kozak – flop

 

2012/2013:

Karim El Ahmadi - flop   

Brett Holman - flop        

Matthew Lowton - flop                 

Ron Vlaar - average                        

Joe Bennett - flop                            

Christian Benteke - success         

Jordan Bowery - flop                      

Ashley R Westwood - average   

Yacouba Sylla - flop        

Aleksandar Tonev - flop

 

 

I think if ever there was something to highlight why we are where we are it's the above, I'm now fully confident in stating that over the past 5 years of transfers we've only managed to recruit one single player who would be considered a success here.

 

I genuinely believe that any of us could have done a better job in heading up the scouting/recruitment during this time, whoever has been in charge should be shot.

 

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I'd say a lot of those 'flops' are harsh as they were never really given a fair crack of the whip so to speak.

Lowton and Veretout particularly.

 

Steer is a young GK who was brought in to learn and hopefully take the reigns. I still think he's a good GK.

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Although having fallen short on other aspects of the game, RDM managed to surpass his predecessor in the transfer market it seems. Then again, he had it far easier than those working under Lerner's tenure. 

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1 hour ago, Richard said:

when you shop in second hand stores,  you have to look really hard for bargains

Thing is though, we actually have spent a fair amount of money each time, it's just not been used effectively and we've convinced ourselves that we had to, for example, spend small amounts on lots of players as the squad needed bulking up whereas actually, we'd have probably been better served going down the Southampton route of spending big on 2-3 players who can/will make a genuine difference..........hindsight is a wonderful thing I accept.

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Maybe you need an extra category - "flop/average for us - good at their new club". By all accounts Gueye would fall into this one.

The thing that amazed me most about the OP was the news that we bought two players called Tom Leggett and Isaac Nehemie in 2014/5. I genuinely have no recollection of these two. Did they ever play?

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1 minute ago, briny_ear said:

Maybe you need an extra category - "flop/average for us - good at their new club". By all accounts Gueye would fall into this one.

The thing that amazed me most about the OP was the news that we bought two players called Tom Leggett and Isaac Nehemie in 2014/5. I genuinely have no recollection of these two. Did they ever play?

I'd say the majority of players we signed were good before they joined us and many have gone on to be good elsewhere after leaving.......the only bit's that relevant though is inbetween and whilst they're with us.......from recollection, we signed Leggett and Nehemie from Southampton as youth prospects.....

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10 hours ago, Richard said:

when you shop in second hand stores,  you have to look really hard for bargains

Thing is though we have bought A LOT of cheap players and not managed to uncover a single gem.  Other teams seem to regularly buy players you have never heard of before for very little money and they turn out good. It's been totally beyond us. 

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7 hours ago, bannedfromHandV said:

I'd say the majority of players we signed were good before they joined us and many have gone on to be good elsewhere after leaving.......the only bit's that relevant though is inbetween and whilst they're with us.......from recollection, we signed Leggett and Nehemie from Southampton as youth prospects.....

Probably as as soon as they get here they see Gabbys whisky and shisha players club and dial the effort back.

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the list seems decent, only one that i would disagree with the most is KEA. If we had him right now, we would be several positions higher in the table IMO. IIRC he was the one who chased almost every ball and had bundles of energy. 

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18 hours ago, bannedfromHandV said:

I'd say the majority of players we signed were good before they joined us and many have gone on to be good elsewhere after leaving.......the only bit's that relevant though is inbetween and whilst they're with us.......from recollection, we signed Leggett and Nehemie from Southampton as youth prospects.....

It's very relevant as it points to the fact it's not the transfers which are the problem but player management.

Edited by Michael118
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8 hours ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

Ayew... Average... :D

 

I'm judging it in terms of their contribution not their potential, Ayew, whilst one of our higher contributors still hasn't justified the price tag as far as I'm concerned and given that he was expected to be the standout or one of the standout players in the Championship I feel justified in saying he's been 'average' (where the scale is hit, average or flop).

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12 hours ago, Zatman said:

Cissokho not a flop :huh: one of worst players to play for club in last few years. nothing wrong with his attitude he just talentless

It was a close call but I went with average merely as he's at least contributed in terms of performance and isn't as bad as some of the other names on that list, again, when you're working with a scale containing only 3 options (hit, average, flop) there are going to be some grey areas.

 

As per the OP, it's subjective.

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