Summer Transfer Window 2019 (closed)

[maqroll]

4 hours ago, jackbauer24 said:

When does your patience run thin? I don't think I'm quite there yet, but relaxation has turned in to nervous concern. I'm probably two or three weeks from out right panic.

There's so much work to do but then not much has happened anywhere yet. But then again, we have more to do than most other teams...

I was hoping we'd have signed a few more this week. We're approaching point where we're going to consistently need multiple signings a week just to fill the squad before the window closes....sorry, I mean SLAMS SHUT...!

Where are you on the Relaxed/Panic line?

Five more weeks. Plenty of time. MON would wait until the last two weeks and say he wouldn't be held over a barrel or some such shit. Once both cups are over things will really pick up. 

[Kiwivillan]

22 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I’m shitting if mate and fearing a season like the one we got relegated right now.  A run of defeats at Villa Park and we’ve all seen what happens to the atmosphere. 

I don’t want to panic but I can’t help it. I think the quality of the league is a lot of higher now than it was the year we went down. 

Our key players are much better. Our manager is phenomenally better.  Some of the bottom teams last season in PL were junk. Brighton awful. Southampton, Burnley, and Bournemouth no great shakes. Palace will struggle if Zaha leaves unless major replacements with AWB a big loss. Newcastle shortened massively in relegation odds with Benitez walking. 

With a few good signings assumed I'm more confident of top half finish than relegation fear

Edited July 5, 2019 by Kiwivillan

[Vive_La_Villa]

3 minutes ago, Kiwivillan said:

Our key players are much better. Our manager is phenomenally better.  Some of the bottom teams last season in PL were junk. Brighton awful. Southampton and Bournemouth no great shakes. Palace will struggle if Zaha leaves unless major replacements with AWB a big loss. 

With a few good signings assumed I'm more confident of top half finish than relegation fear

Hope you’re right mate. I really do.

[A'Villan]

1 hour ago, Kiwivillan said:

Our key players are much better. Our manager is phenomenally better.  Some of the bottom teams last season in PL were junk. Brighton awful. Southampton, Burnley, and Bournemouth no great shakes. Palace will struggle if Zaha leaves unless major replacements with AWB a big loss. Newcastle shortened massively in relegation odds with Benitez walking. 

With a few good signings assumed I'm more confident of top half finish than relegation fear

I would agree that Smith could have us anywhere up to a lower top half finish if things gel, considering the quality of opposition. Not that I'm qualified to have much of an idea.

However I would not put as much faith in the ability of our playing personnel as you have in that post. I think the big difference, between now and then, is chemistry.

Having McGinn and Grealish (having come of age) will be a big boost, as when a team wins the battle in midfield, control of the game and momentum usually favors them too.

Because we have a good balance between ability on the ball and the tenacity and vigor to win it from opposition players this time I think we'll be better in midfield.

That said, even though we severely lacked creativity and the ability to penetrate in our relegation season. We had a number of players who have remained top tier players.

Holding midfielders in Gueye, Sanchez and Westwood. Veretout, who has shown his promise in Serie A since. Adama and Gil showed glimpses, but never integrated.

Ayew is by no means a terrible player either. As for defense, well, I'd say if we signed Mings I'd be able to say that we are better now than then, but we haven't signed Mings yet.

I think it's a leap to say we are much better with key players now, I honestly think that it's the chemistry and approach that Smith has instilled that makes this outfit superior.

[ferguson1]

[DaveAV1]

1 hour ago, A'Villan said:

I would agree that Smith could have us anywhere up to a lower top half finish if things gel, considering the quality of opposition. Not that I'm qualified to have much of an idea.

However I would not put as much faith in the ability of our playing personnel as you have in that post. I think the big difference, between now and then, is chemistry.

Having McGinn and Grealish (having come of age) will be a big boost, as when a team wins the battle in midfield, control of the game and momentum usually favors them too.

Because we have a good balance between ability on the ball and the tenacity and vigor to win it from opposition players this time I think we'll be better in midfield.

That said, even though we severely lacked creativity and the ability to penetrate in our relegation season. We had a number of players who have remained top tier players.

Holding midfielders in Gueye, Sanchez and Westwood. Veretout, who has shown his promise in Serie A since. Adama and Gil showed glimpses, but never integrated.

Ayew is by no means a terrible player either. As for defense, well, I'd say if we signed Mings I'd be able to say that we are better now than then, but we haven't signed Mings yet.

I think it's a leap to say we are much better with key players now, I honestly think that it's the chemistry and approach that Smith has instilled that makes this outfit superior.

I agree the chemistry is a big thing, as is the general set up and running of the club. Players sense when a club is going places. The key is getting the right signings in, that will add the necessary quality and that also take on board the spirit of the squad that Smith and co have/are creating. 

[alreadyexists]

7 hours ago, LoughboroughLion said:

Happy to have got you so many likes, but this was the joke. I will think again before trying to faux-troll people. 

Ah, fair enough dude, sorry that the joke was lost on me! 

[Hobbit Feet]

1 in today I can feel it in my bones!

[wilko154]

Let's see how much nonsense Villa Report makes up today.

[jacketspuds]

43 minutes ago, Hobbit Feet said:

1 in today I can feel it in my bones!

If we signed someone every time I thought the same thing we'd have a squad of 38 players.

However, today is the day. Benrahma, Mings and Butland all confirmed, with Maupay off to Sheff Utd, forcing us to reluctantly move for Rafael Leao.

 

Edited July 5, 2019 by jacketspuds

[ferguson1]

11 minutes ago, jacketspuds said:

If we signed someone every time I thought the same thing we'd have a squad of 38 players.

However, today is the day. Benrahma, Mings and Butland all confirmed, with Maupay off to Sheff Utd, forcing us to reluctantly move for Rafael Leao.

 

I am by no means ITK, but you could be right here.     Fat bloke from my local has had to drop off 3 emergency chairs to Bodymoor this morning!  Make of that what you will. 

As you say, Benhrama, Mings and Butland?

Edited July 5, 2019 by ferguson1

[Rob182]

7 hours ago, KentVillan said:

We've signed 5 players already. The only Premier League team with more signings so far is Norwich (with 6).

Relax.

Most of the business happens towards the end of the window. We've shown plenty of activity already, so no doubt there are several negotiations ongoing for Mings, Butland or another GK, one more CB, one or two defensive midfielders, and possibly an attacking option. The only essentials out of that are a CB and a defensive midfielder, so would be nice to sort them ASAP. Besides that, I'm happy to wait until deadline day.

I have complete faith in Purslow.

We've signed 5 players, and yet I'd imagine we still have the smallest squad in the Premier League.

We can't join in with the MON-style approach of getting everyone signed in the last week. We're not a Premier League team that needs to add 1 or 2. We're a shell of a team that got promoted via the play-offs. We need players here to gel and actually be coached in the way Smith wants to play.

I'm not fussed that players aren't signed just yet. But let's not pretend that we only need 2 players prior to deadline day.

Our first team options right now are probably Targett, McGinn, Grealish, El Ghazi and Wesley. (I'm sure most would rather see Chester, Hause and Jota as back-up options, not first choice first teamers). So that's 6 first team players that we're waiting to sign and integrate into the squad, in an attempt to replicate the great team-spirit that was shown last year.

Ideally, we need a minimum of 3-4 of these players in before the US friendlies.

[Villarocker]

12 minutes ago, ferguson1 said:

I am by no means ITK, but you could be right here.     Fat bloke from my local has had to drop off 3 emergency chairs to Bodymoor this morning!  Make of that what you will. 

As you say, Benhrama, Mings and Butland?

How reliable is your snout? 

[MaVilla]

No rumours of an offers today so far.... really hope we sign someone today.

Honertly if we don't sign anyone today and we go in to next week still needing 5 + players before we go on the USA tour I will genuinely start to be a little concerned.

We desperately desperately need 2 x CB and 1 x DM to get even a basic core of a team.

Edited July 5, 2019 by MaVilla

[abdulaziz1]

4 hours ago, Kiwivillan said:

Our key players are much better. Our manager is phenomenally better.  Some of the bottom teams last season in PL were junk. Brighton awful. Southampton, Burnley, and Bournemouth no great shakes. Palace will struggle if Zaha leaves unless major replacements with AWB a big loss. Newcastle shortened massively in relegation odds with Benitez walking. 

With a few good signings assumed I'm more confident of top half finish than relegation fear

It’s more that most of us don’t really know what the PL looks like atm. I can’t remember watching a full PL game since we went down. I can’t actually remember watching game minutes more than Everton Vs Bournmouth at the beginning of last season, where Richarilson got sent off. I think it was at the same time as watching Villa on my laptop and someone was watching that game. I can’t remember many games which I had focused on.

To be honest, I don’t think I can name you 3 players out of the teams you’ve mentioned up there. All my indications about teams comes from there results and from what I generally read. 

Another thing is the change in the league for the last couple of years, many teams started getting players from abroad rather than getting PL rejects as what used to be done.

There is also one hard stat, which is apart from the 6 clubs who weren’t relegated at all from PL (plus Man City), the oldest teams apart from that are actually Wet Spam and Saints. I can still remember playing them when they came up in the first couple of games, getting beaten by Soton 4-1. It was 2012-2013. 

The clubs that look established atm are Everton, Leicester and Dingles. Two of them hadn’t play in the top flight for number of years. 

Going down for any club messing around is easier than it was before. The amount of investments to just keep you up is very huge.

Saying that, I’m really looking forward for next season. Bring on Spuds. Up The Villa!

[ramshackler]

I'm concerned that despite all the talk of mega spending spree, we are actually on a very tight budget.

 

Wesley aside (we all knew money needed spent on a striker) our other signings have all been bargain basement under £5 mill.

Despite all the links to Butland, Benrahma, maupay, Webster, Ming's, it doesn't look like any big bid has been tabled.

 

It's as if media have decided we are going to blow £150 mill + and everyone trying to fleece us.

Getting a bit worried.

 

Of course it could be we just need one deal agreed to align our budget target and the rest will follow but it's a risky game leaving it late and won't help with gelling a very new team

[Rob182]

6 minutes ago, villarocker said:

How reliable is your snout? 

Ooo, are we doing land-based-[no-fish-allowed]-animal puns again?

If so, I predict that O'Hare will get a loan to a Championship team this season. My hunch is Swansea.

[abdulaziz1]

3 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

No rumours of an offers today so far.... really hope we sign someone today.

Honertly if we don't sign anyone today and we go in to next week still needing 5 + players before we go on the USA tour I will genuinely start to be a little concerned.

We desperately desperately need 2 x CB and 1 x DM to get even a basic core of a team.

We used to sign 3-4 players on deadline days though, I remember Hutton, Jenas and whoever came with them. Benteke, Westwood, Bowery and not sure if Steer or whoever came with them.

I’m glad we have Spurs away as our first match, it will be an extra week of preseason, if we somehow got the points then that’s a huge boost going into the season.

[MaVilla]

7 minutes ago, ramshackler said:

I'm concerned that despite all the talk of mega spending spree, we are actually on a very tight budget.

 

Wesley aside (we all knew money needed spent on a striker) our other signings have all been bargain basement under £5 mill.

Despite all the links to Butland, Benrahma, maupay, Webster, Ming's, it doesn't look like any big bid has been tabled.

 

It's as if media have decided we are going to blow £150 mill + and everyone trying to fleece us.

Getting a bit worried.

 

Of course it could be we just need one deal agreed to align our budget target and the rest will follow but it's a risky game leaving it late and won't help with gelling a very new team

We aren't on a tight budget, I just think we need so many players they are trying to be prudent with signings.

I have absolutely No doubt we will have spent 100m by the end of the transfer window.

My only real concern is getting them signed in a timely manor so the team can gel and get some friendly games together.

Edited July 5, 2019 by MaVilla

[MaVilla]

4 minutes ago, abdulaziz1 said:

We used to sign 3-4 players on deadline days though, I remember Hutton, Jenas and whoever came with them. Benteke, Westwood, Bowery and not sure if Steer or whoever came with them.

I’m glad we have Spurs away as our first match, it will be an extra week of preseason, if we somehow got the points then that’s a huge boost going into the season.

Yeah but that is bad practice, especially in our situation.

If we only needed a couple of players but had the core of the team in place that's probably ok, but we still don't even have between 50% and 75% of the first team signed...

Edited July 5, 2019 by MaVilla