Summer Transfer Window 2019 (closed)

[A'Villan]

3 hours ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

That's not me saying this, nor is it a personal jibe. I don't know the guy. I'm recanting a story, you can take it however you want. 

I'm not even saying there is anything wrong with how he approached the situation, it is OK to be 'mentally fragile' if that is your takeaway (I merely asked the question). I am saying though that it doesn't seem to fit with our strategy so far. 

Thanks for clarifying and my mistake. You quite clearly state that you were just relaying a story.

I interpreted the mentally fragile comment out of context given what you'd written, apologies and it was good of you to highlight that.

The angle that I am coming from is these stories don't help anyone if the purpose is to belittle the person on any level for not achieving as high as some expected.

I suppose I see Sturridge as I do many talented young people, they come along with exciting potential and promise, and won't always live up to their fullest potential.

Part of my sensitivity to the idea that he is mentally fragile is probably rooted in the sad fact that some of the brightest talents don't cope well with disappointment and failure.

Being sung the world's praises from an early age will at times lead such talents to beliefs that ability is only innate and not earned through experience, persistence and effort.

They then believe that when disappointments and failures occur it is only natural to assume it's because they are inherently not good enough. This is where guidance could help..

Often we heap more adulation and praise on these talents than we do guidance about dealing with pitfalls and obstacles that life will throw our way. We assume they will be fine.

Abilities of all sorts are proven to be malleable and we can always improve with hard work and dedication. No need to lose confidence and give up because it didn't work out that time.

Sturridge is a player I could see flourish under Smith, if Smith believed in him from a tactical perspective (because the technical ability is there) and could trust him. Who knows.

Obviously Sturridge wanting 60,000pw isn't ideal and that's probably why we look elsewhere. Maybe he has come to identify with traits that are toxic for the ethos of a team too.

But I'd back Smith, Terry, Grealish, and even Edens, to be some of the better players to coach any self entitlement and vanity out of Sturridge and let him get back to his craft.

 

 

[El Zen]

I can’t believe this made it to 1000 pages. 

If I were a mod I’d definitely close it at 999. 

[sne]

Just now, Michelsen said:

I can’t believe this made it to 1000 pages. 

If I were a mod I’d definitely close it at 999. 

Still outgoings possible thou.

Bit pointless to open a new thread for those.

[El Zen]

Just now, sne said:

Still outgoings possible thou.

Bit pointless to open a new thread for those.

Yeah, but I’d have closed it for the lols. 

[VILLAMARV]

[hippo]

Early days but the recruitment in this window looks a bit ropey. Trez and Wez look short of ability at this level. Guilbert seems to panic and id easily muscled of the ball.  Only really Engels and Heaton have settled so far.

[ferguson1]

43 minutes ago, hippo said:

Early days but the recruitment in this window looks a bit ropey. Trez and Wez look short of ability at this level. Guilbert seems to panic and id easily muscled of the ball.  Only really Engels and Heaton have settled so far.

None of the eleven/twelve released at the end of last season would have contributed anything.  The work that we did had to be done.   I’m in no doubt that some of the players signed were not our first choices - Heaton, Wesley, Trez, Nakamba and even Engels.  We obviously identified 3/4 players for each position. 

Butland, Tammy, Benrahma, Phillips and Webster were probably our first choice picks, but either their respective clubs said no, or the prices quoted were outrageous.  

For what it’s worth, I think our close season business was excellent.  Approx £125m spent on twelve players, was really good work.  Certainly not ropey.  The squad needs time to settle and only after 15 games or so can we really make a judgement on who’s doing it for us and who’s not.   

If we’d got thumped in our opening four games then i’d be worried, however i’ve seen enough already (especially against Everton, who hadn’t even conceded a goal until they played us) to see that were going to be a competitive side.   

I still believe that there are 3/4 sides worse than us in this league.  

[hippo]

4 minutes ago, ferguson1 said:

None of the eleven/twelve released at the end of last season would have contributed anything.  The work that we did had to be done.   I’m in no doubt that some of the players signed were not our first choices - Heaton, Wesley, Trez, Nakamba and even Engels.  We obviously identified 3/4 players for each position. 

Butland, Tammy, Benrahma, Phillips and Webster were probably our first choice picks, but either their respective clubs said no, or the prices quoted were outrageous.  

For what it’s worth, I think our close season business was excellent.  Approx £125m spent on twelve players, was really good work.  Certainly not ropey.  The squad needs time to settle and only after 15 games or so can we really make a judgement on who’s doing it for us and who’s not.   

If we’d got thumped in our opening four games then i’d be worried, however i’ve seen enough already (especially against Everton, who hadn’t even conceded a goal until they played us) to see that were going to be a competitive side.   

I still believe that there are 3/4 sides worse than us in this league.  

Like I say it early days - it really doesn't matter who are first choices were - its that players we signed the count.  Who have we signed that makes you think our dealings were excellent ? - Aside of Engles and Heaton - the others look abit of there depth so far 

Trez will likley have to fight to get back into the first 11 , Jota and Wesley look to be hanging onto there starting places by there finger tips - the later will probably get more time due to the fee paid - but so far he doesn't look much better than Davis.

[ferguson1]

1 minute ago, hippo said:

Like I say it early days - it really doesn't matter who are first choices were - its that players we signed the count.  Who have we signed that makes you think our dealings were excellent ? - Aside of Engles and Heaton - the others look abit of there depth so far 

Trez will likley have to fight to get back into the first 11 , Jota and Wesley look to be hanging onto there starting places by there finger tips - the later will probably get more time due to the fee paid - but so far he doesn't look much better than Davis.

I am happy with nearly all our summer signings to be honest. Heaton and Engels aside, does Mings, Luiz, Nakamba not excite you?  

[hippo]

5 minutes ago, ferguson1 said:

I am happy with nearly all our summer signings to be honest. Heaton and Engels aside, does Mings, Luiz, Nakamba not excite you?  

Nearly all ?

Rightly or wrongly Im not including Mings as new 

Luiz - quite frankly he has looked way of the pace so far

Nakamba - Don't know much about him, (what have you seen that makes you excited ?)  My guess is he has a lot to learn - is he ready for the PL right now ? - well the villa coaching staff don't think so.

Edited September 1, 2019 by hippo

[ferguson1]

Yep, I stand by the comment that I am happy with nearly all our summersignings.   

Mings was a summer signing and is an excellent addition. 

Luiz, he’s the under 21 captain of Brazil and comes with a glowing endorsement from Pep.  So exciting, I’d say yes.

Nakamba, good performance mid week gives me hope that he’s what we need in midfield.  I honestly don’t think it’s a case of our staff doubting him, but more his fitness is not currently of the levels required to play 90 minutes. 

As I said previously, make a judgement on the squad after 15 plus games, not 5. 

[dudevillaisnice]

1 hour ago, hippo said:

Early days but the recruitment in this window looks a bit ropey. Trez and Wez look short of ability at this level. Guilbert seems to panic and id easily muscled of the ball.  Only really Engels and Heaton have settled so far.

The ability is there just consistency isn’t especially with Wes. We have to be patient whilst they find their feet in this league. 

[ferguson1]

1 minute ago, dudevillaisnice said:

The ability is there just consistency isn’t especially with Wes. We have to be patient whilst they find their feet in this league. 

Couldn’t agree more.  The squad need time. 

[hippo]

46 minutes ago, ferguson1 said:

Yep, I stand by the comment that I am happy with nearly all our summersignings.   

Mings was a summer signing and is an excellent addition. 

Luiz, he’s the under 21 captain of Brazil and comes with a glowing endorsement from Pep.  So exciting, I’d say yes.

Nakamba, good performance mid week gives me hope that he’s what we need in midfield.  I honestly don’t think it’s a case of our staff doubting him, but more his fitness is not currently of the levels required to play 90 minutes. 

As I said previously, make a judgement on the squad after 15 plus games, not 5. 

I agree - a judgement after 4 games doesn't hold a great deal of water - but thats the sample we have thus far. and thus far only Heaton and Engles look good enough.

Luiz - I am going on what I have seen - not his reputation - I reckon he might be dropped for the next match 

Why I highlighted "nearly all" - was that it implies there is at least 1 you are sure about or else it would be 'all'

I think you are factoring in what these players may do in the future - I am looking at what they have actually done so far - in albeit a very small sample size.

 

Edited September 1, 2019 by hippo

[thabucks]

So we won’t be signing jean-Kevin Augustin in January as he has just joined Monaco ... 

[Tomaszk]

The heavily linked and excellent Valentin Rongier off to Marseille for €15m.

[KentVillan]

On 01/09/2019 at 12:58, hippo said:

Early days but the recruitment in this window looks a bit ropey. Trez and Wez look short of ability at this level. Guilbert seems to panic and id easily muscled of the ball.  Only really Engels and Heaton have settled so far.

Replace with "early days but Dean Smith looks out of his depth at Villa" and this could be one of your posts from January.

The only signing that is starting to look like a potential dud to me is Matt Targett, as he seems to have persistent hamstring problems, and he has struggled to displace Taylor despite a full pre-season. I worry that he will have to play within himself to stay match fit. Something isn't right about that situation.

Besides that, though, all the other signings have done enough in spells to suggest they have something to offer, and as they're all young players (besides Heaton and Jota), should improve over the next 3-4 years and increase in value.

I agree that Engels and Heaton are the only players who have settled in and shown consistent quality immediately, but realistically we've already made back most of the money we spent by the increase in value of Mings (now worth around £40-50m I'd wager) and Engels (now probably worth around £25m, more if he gets the Belgium call-up).

A lot of the other signings don't speak great English, and as that improves, they'll develop a better understanding with teammates.

The mistake we possibly made was to reject the idea of signing an older outfield player. Moutinho at Wolves and Cambiasso at Leicester were two very successul signings for newly promoted clubs, and perhaps someone like that would have helped us stabilise more quickly.

Overall, though, no signs this was a bad window for us. We're just playing at a much higher level now, and we won't get 3 points from every match.

[Keyblade]

Need to go back in for Benrahma in January.

[Only2McInallys]

It really is too early to make definitive judgements on our summer signings.

7 of our players who started the game against Palace are new signings.That is unusual .

Most of the teams we are playing have mostly settled sides and this means we are going to have to be patient.The biggest problem at the moment is our away form ,we look a bit lightweight and maybe a different formation away from home with 2 holding midfielders maybe the answer.

[hippo]

2 hours ago, KentVillan said:

Replace with "early days but Dean Smith looks out of his depth at Villa" and this could be one of your posts from January.

The only signing that is starting to look like a potential dud to me is Matt Targett, as he seems to have persistent hamstring problems, and he has struggled to displace Taylor despite a full pre-season. I worry that he will have to play within himself to stay match fit. Something isn't right about that situation.

Besides that, though, all the other signings have done enough in spells to suggest they have something to offer, and as they're all young players (besides Heaton and Jota), should improve over the next 3-4 years and increase in value.

I agree that Engels and Heaton are the only players who have settled in and shown consistent quality immediately, but realistically we've already made back most of the money we spent by the increase in value of Mings (now worth around £40-50m I'd wager) and Engels (now probably worth around £25m, more if he gets the Belgium call-up).

A lot of the other signings don't speak great English, and as that improves, they'll develop a better understanding with teammates.

The mistake we possibly made was to reject the idea of signing an older outfield player. Moutinho at Wolves and Cambiasso at Leicester were two very successul signings for newly promoted clubs, and perhaps someone like that would have helped us stabilise more quickly.

Overall, though, no signs this was a bad window for us. We're just playing at a much higher level now, and we won't get 3 points from every match.

Can't agree there are no signs this was a bad windows. 

I would say there are signs - but hopefully these signs will go away as the players acclimatize.