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Transfer Speculation Summer 2017


Villan4Life

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12 minutes ago, Hoof hearted said:

If we (I mean Tony Xia) are going to become "The biggest club in Europe" then we have to spend 100s of millions on players, our entire budgets over the last 10 seasons or so are being on spent on 1 player by the tier 1 teams, it's a sad fact that our 2 seasons (or maybe more) away from the top table might just bite us on the arse, on and off the pitch.

I think his initial comments when he took the club about challenging Europe was a bit of youthful exuberance...... a well meant intention IMO

I am all for spending big.....but right now, I think its the wrong strategy.....We need " men for all seasons" good rounded industrious winners.....not show ponies with hit and miss performances.

Nothing but positive consistency  will get us out of this division.

We need a team with a strong presence and combative spine that can score goals too......I look at Stoke since they came up and the way they have morphed from a basic hard working combative side to add the flair players, to give that more rounded appeal.

You can spend fortunes on players, who have all the technical abilities in the world , but as soon as the going gets tough, they become very expensive passengers and the opposition smell this like sharks smell blood.

Firstly, you have to be hard to beat in this league and then work on your ability to open teams up.....not the other way around like RDM tried to do.

I think SB tried to do it last season ,but we had to deploy too many players to get it right and left the nice bit short of staff.

I think we need to become more pugnacious and that is not meant to be at the expense of attacking......because despite my comments, I still believe attack is the best form of defence.....but when that statement is made the attackers have to deliver....no half measures.

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6 minutes ago, Villa Stu said:

Very true mate. Hopefully we can find a couple of bargain gems along the way to offset the ludicrous amounts that would need to be spent to even compete with the top 6-8 teams in the PL. It would be good to find the next lukaku before they cost extortionate amounts of money, which would then allow us to be in the driving seat over transfer fees, in the future, instead of us having deadwood that we can't give away. 

It would be nice to think we have found a few gems so far already, in Kodjia he could easily perform at Premiership level. At the end of last season we were talking about a 25 million fee for him.

If Hogan fires this season as he did for Brentford he could well be Premiership quality, West Ham were looking at him for 15 million at one point.

If Grealish & Green step up this season they should be working towards being Premiership quality.

No doubt about it though, huge investment will be required. But I am sure Tony already knows this.

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4 minutes ago, wilko154 said:

It would be nice to think we have found a few gems so far already, in Kodjia he could easily perform at Premiership level. At the end of last season we were talking about a 25 million fee for him.

If Hogan fires this season as he did for Brentford he could well be Premiership quality, West Ham were looking at him for 15 million at one point.

If Grealish & Green step up this season they should be working towards being Premiership quality.

No doubt about it though, huge investment will be required. But I am sure Tony already knows this.

On what I seen last season thats an almighty if. He could barley keep upright or onside in the games I seen. Can really see no reason why couple of months off should transform into some super goal getter. Looks like our worst signing for some years.

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10 minutes ago, TRO said:

I think his initial comments when he took the club about challenging Europe was a bit of youthful exuberance...... a well meant intention IMO

I am all for spending big.....but right now, I think its the wrong strategy.....We need " men for all seasons" good rounded industrious winners.....not show ponies with hit and miss performances.

Nothing but positive consistency  will get us out of this division.

We need a team with a strong presence and combative spine that can score goals too......I look at Stoke since they came up and the way they have morphed from a basic hard working combative side to add the flair players, to give that more rounded appeal.

You can spend fortunes on players, who have all the technical abilities in the world , but as soon as the going gets tough, they become very expensive passengers and the opposition smell this like sharks smell blood.

Firstly, you have to be hard to beat in this league and then work on your ability to open teams up.....not the other way around like RDM tried to do.

I think SB tried to do it last season ,but we had to deploy too many players to get it right and left the nice bit short of staff.

I think we need to become more pugnacious and that is not meant to be at the expense of attacking......because despite my comments, I still believe attack is the best form of defence.....but when that statement is made the attackers have to deliver....no half measures.

Agreed with regards to getting out of this division, but hand on heart how many of our current squad would survive in the top tier? We may have the strongest squad in this division but come next August we'll have maybe the 17th or 18th strongest in the Premiere league, this is my main concern going forward, as I think we'll breeze it this season. 

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4 minutes ago, hippo said:

On what I seen last season thats an almighty if. He could barley keep upright or onside in the games I seen. Can really see no reason why couple of months off should transform into some super goal getter. Looks like our worst signing for some years.

You do realise he scored 14 for Brentford by the end of December.  He was already a goal-getter in this league.  The fact you or I aren't well up on Brentford's games doesn't change that fact.

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Just now, BOF said:

You do realise he scored 14 for Brentford by the end of December.  He was already a goal-getter in this league.  The fact you or I aren't well up on Brentford's games doesn't change that fact.

Yes I do. But as I said 'based on what i seen' - be a major surprise if he comes good IMO. Think theres more chance of RM finding his shooting boots than turkey Hogan

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16 minutes ago, Hoof hearted said:

Agreed with regards to getting out of this division, but hand on heart how many of our current squad would survive in the top tier? We may have the strongest squad in this division but come next August we'll have maybe the 17th or 18th strongest in the Premiere league, this is my main concern going forward, as I think we'll breeze it this season. 

Off the top of my head, more than adequate for mid-table in the top tier:

Terry, Chester, De Laet, Taylor, Jedinak, Lansbury, Hourihane, Grealish, Veretout, Kodjia.

That is a goalkeeper off a full team. I would add that in the right condition and with the right coaching we could also potentially count: 

Johnson, Amavi, Bree, Baker, Lyden, Green, RHM as easily good enough.

Finally, We have the likes of McCormack and Bjarneson who we surely havent seen enough of to make a judgement on.. The others, the likes of Agbonlahor, Richards, Bacuna, Gardner, Hutton, Elphick have all had golden patches in their careers at one time or another. With a good preseason and the right condition, I wouldnt be surprised to see a renaisance from a couple of them. I dont think its as big a rebuild job as you think

Edited by mattjpa
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I will worry about the players that we need for next season when we are promoted at the moment my concern is the players we need to sign to give us that headache. I guess we could loan a few PL players from other teams which seems to happen a lot in the top flight of late when we are actually up there. 

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34 minutes ago, hippo said:

On what I seen last season thats an almighty if. He could barley keep upright or onside in the games I seen. Can really see no reason why couple of months off should transform into some super goal getter. Looks like our worst signing for some years.

But the reason he could barely keep onside is because the midfield were slower than he was... he was making runs expecting the balls to be played but it was coming far too late. The same thing happend to Juan Pablo Angel in his first season for us.

If we play to his strengths in a more attacking way he will score goals for certain. I think we will begin to see that at the start of the season when he plays with RMC.

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I just seen an article that shows that the season we got relegated we had the highest wages to revenue ratio in the league! Even after all that cost cutting that's shocking!  We really were being literally run in to the ground by previous board. 

Really hope lessons have been learnt. 

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6 minutes ago, bobzy said:

I think that massively overstates the ability of our players currently, let alone hypothetically playing in the Premier League next season.

A lot of the players mentioned have looked mostly average in the championship.

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2 hours ago, Hoof hearted said:

Agreed with regards to getting out of this division, but hand on heart how many of our current squad would survive in the top tier? We may have the strongest squad in this division but come next August we'll have maybe the 17th or 18th strongest in the Premiere league, this is my main concern going forward, as I think we'll breeze it this season. 

funnily enough( and I expect very few on this board to agree with me, by the way) If we can get the ball winners winning the ball and dominating play and feeding the attackers like seals are fed fish....

.....I think we have the potential to turn it in to a breeze.

I think our forwards was too preoccupied on what was going on behind them last season( defensive work) lack of quality ball being fed to them and subsequently lost focus of their own job.

We have the potential up front in personnel to cause damage in this division.....we just need to give them the platform to thrive.

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Bjarnason, De Laet and Hogan could potentially all be like new signings this year. If we can get a proper chemistry in midfield between Lansbury and Hourihane they will easily be the best central duo in the league. We don't need to throw a whole bunch of cash at the chase, we need consistency in the squad. Our squad is more than good enough to go up if they are just left to train and learn the formation without an influx of players every window that are very similar in skill to what we already have.

Save the cash for when we go up or spend it on kids like Dimitri Sea which could be good players in a year or two when we're in the prem.

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I think that's it isn't it - players need to perform or be taught a system in which they perform. 

A common theme seems to prevail at the mighty Villa we love.

Sanchez: 'good but not for us'. Gil: 'a spark but not when deployed in our system'. Veretout: 'decent; but struggled'.

I think there is a problem at our club - and it's not unique to us - that we don't buy players, put an arm around their shoulder and fit them into a system that plays to their and our strengths.

Of course, you could counter and suggest that they should play in 'our' system when signed. But then what's the point of signing them? 

I think we currently have the players that are more than good enough, it's just about a system - and a good one.

It's easy to forget the intangibles in a game of football, but get a bunch of lads that are half decent, playing together, with a good atmosphere, and you will do wonders.

...he says... *tin hat on*

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42 minutes ago, magnkarl said:

Bjarnason, De Laet and Hogan could potentially all be like new signings this year. If we can get a proper chemistry in midfield between Lansbury and Hourihane they will easily be the best central duo in the league. We don't need to throw a whole bunch of cash at the chase, we need consistency in the squad. Our squad is more than good enough to go up if they are just left to train and learn the formation without an influx of players every window that are very similar in skill to what we already have.

Save the cash for when we go up or spend it on kids like Dimitri Sea which could be good players in a year or two when we're in the prem.

I had a little moment the other night when I thought that Lansbury and Hourihane could be our version of Gerrard and Lampard.  I may call it a waking dream, some may call it a vision of the future, others may claim that my youthful excesses are really catching up on me as an adult and that I should probably seek help.  None the less I worry that we may never see a Villa team play well with both of them in and I foresee endless arguments about which one should start and which one should come off the bench.  I recently started drinking coffee again and sleep has become an infrequent companion.  I should get some rest.

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51 minutes ago, Straggler said:

I had a little moment the other night when I thought that Lansbury and Hourihane could be our version of Gerrard and Lampard.  I may call it a waking dream, some may call it a vision of the future, others may claim that my youthful excesses are really catching up on me as an adult and that I should probably seek help.  None the less I worry that we may never see a Villa team play well with both of them in and I foresee endless arguments about which one should start and which one should come off the bench.  I recently started drinking coffee again and sleep has become an infrequent companion.  I should get some rest.

I know what you mean.

I am very unsure about them playing in the same midfield unless there is a change in their approach.....I like both players and was pleased when we signed both, its the blend that concerns me......its true they did play well for their previous clubs ,but that was with different players.

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1 hour ago, VERB27 said:

I think that's it isn't it - players need to perform or be taught a system in which they perform. 

A common theme seems to prevail at the mighty Villa we love.

Sanchez: 'good but not for us'. Gil: 'a spark but not when deployed in our system'. Veretout: 'decent; but struggled'.

I think there is a problem at our club - and it's not unique to us - that we don't buy players, put an arm around their shoulder and fit them into a system that plays to their and our strengths.

Of course, you could counter and suggest that they should play in 'our' system when signed. But then what's the point of signing them? 

I think we currently have the players that are more than good enough, it's just about a system - and a good one.

It's easy to forget the intangibles in a game of football, but get a bunch of lads that are half decent, playing together, with a good atmosphere, and you will do wonders.

...he says... *tin hat on*

Its interesting this system thing and I am not saying you don't need one, but

does it stop a player from :

  • trapping the ball
  • Getting a tackle in
  • closing down
  • getting close to an opponent
  • passing the ball
  • consistently getting beat in one on ones
  • letting an opponent go by you
  • not reading the game

I understand that any team has to have organisation and method and it does have a knock on effect to the player......but I have seen players with some of the above and do have to wonder how much the system plays a part.

I remember Bill Shankly being asked " Bill,what do you look for in a player".....he relied " Ah Laddie if he cannot pass the ball he is no good to me"

bit simplistic yes.....but the guys do have to be able to cope with the basics......and sometimes last season i was struggling to see it......maybe more time together will help?

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Carles Gil has returned to Deportivo La Coruna on a season-long loan.

Attacking midfielder Gil will rejoin Pepe Mel’s squad after spending the 2015/16 campaign with the La Liga side.

Gil joined Villa in January 2015 from Valencia and has made 34 appearances and scored three goals in claret and blue.

 

https://www.avfc.co.uk/News/2017/07/12/gil-rejoins-deportivo?view=amp

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5 hours ago, TRO said:

Its interesting this system thing and I am not saying you don't need one, but

does it stop a player from :

  • trapping the ball
  • Getting a tackle in
  • closing down
  • getting close to an opponent
  • passing the ball
  • consistently getting beat in one on ones
  • letting an opponent go by you
  • not reading the game

I understand that any team has to have organisation and method and it does have a knock on effect to the player......but I have seen players with some of the above and do have to wonder how much the system plays a part.

I remember Bill Shankly being asked " Bill,what do you look for in a player".....he relied " Ah Laddie if he cannot pass the ball he is no good to me"

bit simplistic yes.....but the guys do have to be able to cope with the basics......and sometimes last season i was struggling to see it......maybe more time together will help?

To some extent yes, it can however be very hard to play in a system where you are screamed and shouted at from all angles if you try to express yourself in your style. In other sports like for example ice hockey you buy players that fit a certain coaching style. High tempo, puck moving, stand off, pressure, forecheck etc etc. We seem to have bought a whole mix of players for all sorts of situations since Xia took over. There's no red line running through our squad, he's just bought the best individual players from several of our competitors for a bunch of cash. We need to give them time to gel and to perform as a unit, it's far too easy to be angry at someone who's come in 3 months ago and keeps getting pushed around because Bruce is barking at him from the side to play in a formation and style he's probably never played before.

This pre-season will do them a world of good. Use it, gel and let the leaders like Terry and Chester worry about performing. Let our newbies express themselves.

There are very few players that play like Benteke did in his first season, and there's a reason why players aren't good after being bought during the Christmas window.

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