Summer Transfers Window 2020

[sidcow]

Is Marc Albrighton getting much game time at Leicester? Ordinarily there would be no chance of getting a player like that but he loves The Villa.  Maybe we might just be able to tempt him? 

[sidcow]

On 15/07/2020 at 16:32, VillaCas said:

You seem very certain. Mings is the most likely but it wouldn’t surprise me if he stays. AEG and Trez will be up to us if we want to keep them. If Luis goes anywhere, which I doubt, I would bet money that it’s not back to City

Pep Guardiola has already stated he may bring him back. I wrote yesterday you can translate that as they never set up this glorified loan to see him develop in The Championship.  They will buy him back and then do another sale with option to buy to another PL team, Palace or someone like that. 

I just hope the buy back clause gives us a decent price to help our reinvestment elsewhere. 

Edited July 17, 2020 by sidcow

[VillaCas]

1 hour ago, TRO said:

No they are not.....we just don't buy it, as much as you and others do.

The players are worse now than when the season started.....how is that progress....sure we have stopped haemorraging goals in numbers......but we still fail to defend leads.

All our best players are worse, only Luiz has improved......our Stats are pants.

how you can't grasp that, I find Baffling.

ps we only scored last night due to 2 players who are not regulars.

As we've discussed many times TRO, it's all down to expectations - from MON onwards we have been in ten years of gradual decline; decline in ownership, decline in managers, decline in playing squad, decline in reputation and decline in league position. We've had a number of false dawns, but I hope that the arrivals of our latest owners we can turn the tide.

We've had roughly a season and a half of this reboot and I feel that as a club we are progressing. Is it steady, constant, relentless progress - absolutely not! but I never expected that. It's taken ten years of decline for us to end up where we did, I imagine that it will now take another few years to get us back to where we would like to be with plenty of hurdles and set backs along the way

The expectation, as much as I understand it when Smith took over a 14th place team, was that he would bed himself in during his first half season, strengthen in the summer and make a push for promotion this year. Due to a record-breaking winning run we won a surprise promotion. It was clear that the squad needed a massive overhaul, but FFP and/or a limit on the funds available did not permit the kind of experienced/PL ready players most would have wished for

Have mistakes been made - Yes, lots; The transfer policy is to buy players who will improve and have a good sell-on value, thats well and good but doesnt give you the immiedate tools that you need for a relegation battle; The 'ban' on loan players is a mistake in my eyes; Is the Dof F the right man for us? Some of his signings look suspect; Smith, in my opinion, was not pragmatic enough at the start of the season and then swapped to being too pragmatic. All of these issues wash into each other and we as outsiders can only take an uneducated guess how much is the strategy, how much the players, the DofF and the manager.

My opinion is that the club and Smith will have learnt enormously this year. I expect that the summer window will address the calls for a little more experience and strength in the squad. I would do what I believe the club will do and keep Smith - he will have learnt a lot this season about the job, the club and his squad. Only if a real top class manager was available would I consider changing

 

PS I don't think all our best players are getting worse - Heaton and McGinn have been injured, Mings, Hause, Hourihane, Nakamba all look about the same. Luis, Targett and Konsa look to be improving. Trez, AEG, Samatta and Davis were poor at the start of the season and are still poor now. Jack is the only player who looks worse than the first half of the season - personally I think he is trying to do too much himself

PPS - Your ps is grasping at straws! In the scheme of things I can't be bothered to argue whether 25 apperances each constitute 'regular'

 

[VillaChris]

On 16/07/2020 at 06:56, Laughable Chimp said:

1.83m or 6 foot. Decent height but isn't exactly a giant.

 

I do watch a bit of French league but can't say I've seen him, does he play like Veretout? You could see he was a decent technical player as he's shown in Serie A but was far too lightweight for prem in the games he did actually play.

Next midfielder we need to sign needs to be good at holding his position, winning headers and win his fair sure of 50/50s. Last time we went down we got in Jedinak and Whelan. Took a while for fans to warm to them but certainly in Whelan's case people started to understand his contribution to the team in the run in last season, shame they were just too old for premier league.

[Villan4Life]

16 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

I do watch a bit of French league but can't say I've seen him, does he play like Veretout? You could see he was a decent technical player as he's shown in Serie A but was far too lightweight for prem in the games he did actually play.

Next midfielder we need to sign needs to be good at holding his position, winning headers and win his fair sure of 50/50s. Last time we went down we got in Jedinak and Whelan. Took a while for fans to warm to them but certainly in Whelan's case people started to understand his contribution to the team in the run in last season, shame they were just too old for premier league.

Santamaria is a Defensive Central Midfielder

Veretout is Box to Box Midfield player

Can;t compare either as both play different style of midfield

Edited July 17, 2020 by Villan4Life

[VillaChris]

2 minutes ago, Villan4Life said:

Santamaria is a very good DCM

Veretout Box to Box. player

Can;t compare either

Just seen he's played with Cheikh N'Doye last few years...he's better than him right? Remember some people thought he was decent signing for SHA but he was useless for them, funny how Terry got him sent off at VP.

[Villan4Life]

Just now, VillaChris said:

Just seen he's played with Cheikh N'Doye last few years...he's better than him right? Remember some people thought he was decent signing for SHA but he was useless for them, funny how Terry got him sent off at VP.

He's better than Cheikh N'Doye.

Trust me.

[TRO]

2 hours ago, VillaCas said:

As we've discussed many times TRO, it's all down to expectations - from MON onwards we have been in ten years of gradual decline; decline in ownership, decline in managers, decline in playing squad, decline in reputation and decline in league position. We've had a number of false dawns, but I hope that the arrivals of our latest owners we can turn the tide.

We've had roughly a season and a half of this reboot and I feel that as a club we are progressing. Is it steady, constant, relentless progress - absolutely not! but I never expected that. It's taken ten years of decline for us to end up where we did, I imagine that it will now take another few years to get us back to where we would like to be with plenty of hurdles and set backs along the way

The expectation, as much as I understand it when Smith took over a 14th place team, was that he would bed himself in during his first half season, strengthen in the summer and make a push for promotion this year. Due to a record-breaking winning run we won a surprise promotion. It was clear that the squad needed a massive overhaul, but FFP and/or a limit on the funds available did not permit the kind of experienced/PL ready players most would have wished for

Have mistakes been made - Yes, lots; The transfer policy is to buy players who will improve and have a good sell-on value, thats well and good but doesnt give you the immiedate tools that you need for a relegation battle; The 'ban' on loan players is a mistake in my eyes; Is the Dof F the right man for us? Some of his signings look suspect; Smith, in my opinion, was not pragmatic enough at the start of the season and then swapped to being too pragmatic. All of these issues wash into each other and we as outsiders can only take an uneducated guess how much is the strategy, how much the players, the DofF and the manager.

My opinion is that the club and Smith will have learnt enormously this year. I expect that the summer window will address the calls for a little more experience and strength in the squad. I would do what I believe the club will do and keep Smith - he will have learnt a lot this season about the job, the club and his squad. Only if a real top class manager was available would I consider changing

 

PS I don't think all our best players are getting worse - Heaton and McGinn have been injured, Mings, Hause, Hourihane, Nakamba all look about the same. Luis, Targett and Konsa look to be improving. Trez, AEG, Samatta and Davis were poor at the start of the season and are still poor now. Jack is the only player who looks worse than the first half of the season - personally I think he is trying to do too much himself

PPS - Your ps is grasping at straws! In the scheme of things I can't be bothered to argue whether 25 apperances each constitute 'regular'

 

I admire your post, but disagree with it......nothing to do with expectation, in my view.

We have heard the jam tommorrow arguments before.......I heard it , before Ron Saunders took over, every manager before him, was going to be the one....Vic Crowe was Villa Trough and through too.

Sheff Utd fans have probably said the same before Wilder.

Its down to getting the right manager and giving him the authority to build it back......so younger fans think that is old fashioned, fine.....you make your bed and you lie on it.

I think Running with Dean is a risk, you don't.....we are not both wrong, but one of us is.

[villalad21]

Would anyone take Grabban, again?

He is a striker who will guarantee 15-20 goals.

[cb_82]

2 hours ago, sidcow said:

Pep Guardiola has already stated he may bring him back. I wrote yesterday you can translate that as they never set up this glorified loan to see him develop in The Championship.  They will buy him back and then do another sale with option to buy to another PL team, Palace or someone like that. 

I just hope the buy back clause gives us a decent price to help our reinvestment elsewhere. 

25 Million this summer rising to 30 m next summer

[villalad21]

I always looked at Luiz as a loan player because of that contract.

Never felt like our own player.

[sir_gary_cahill]

12 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

I always looked at Luiz as a loan player because of that contract.

Never felt like our own player.

He signed a permanent £15m contract with us, he’s our player, he’ll be first out of the door though, far too good for us 

[VillaCas]

29 minutes ago, TRO said:

I admire your post, but disagree with it......nothing to do with expectation, in my view.

We have heard the jam tommorrow arguments before.......I heard it , before Ron Saunders took over, every manager before him, was going to be the one....Vic Crowe was Villa Trough and through too.

Sheff Utd fans have probably said the same before Wilder.

Its down to getting the right manager and giving him the authority to build it back......so younger fans think that is old fashioned, fine.....you make your bed and you lie on it.

I think Running with Dean is a risk, you don't.....we are not both wrong, but one of us is.

I think running with Smith is very much a risk but it is a risk that I am willing to take for a while - if ten games into next season it’s not working that’s when I’d pull the trigger

I expected this season to be a struggle and it’s turned out almost exactly as frustrating as I imagined

Some think our squad is good enough to achieve mid-table, I don’t and as you know, I would have been very happy with 17th

There is constant debate about whose fault the poor squad is - there have been mistakes but I think it’s mainly that we couldnt do everything we wanted in the summer and effectively we’re mid-way through the rebuild

[Rob182]

5 hours ago, TRO said:

No they are not.....we just don't buy it, as much as you and others do.

The players are worse now than when the season started.....how is that progress....sure we have stopped haemorraging goals in numbers......but we still fail to defend leads.

All our best players are worse, only Luiz has improved......our Stats are pants.

how you can't grasp that, I find Baffling.

ps we only scored last night due to 2 players who are not regulars.

How are the players worse than when we started the season?

Are you saying that just because the team is playing worse as a whole? Even though it’s arguably just El Ghazi and Grealish that are playing worse. I’d add Samatta but he wasn’t here then.

Our defence is playing better as a whole, so naturally our defenders are now playing better. 

Mings - better. England squad.
Konsa - better.

Hause - better.

Targett - up and down all season, but no worse now.

Guilbert - see Targett.

Engels - good at the start, then made a few errors but is now injured. Unless you think he’s now a worse player just because of a few clangers in a newly promoted team?

Elmo - better

Taylor - arguably better

Luiz - better

McGinn - better. He’s gone from being on heh fringes of the Scotland team to being their best player. He’s been recovering from a bad injury so can’t really be judged on the restart games.

Trez - arguably better after restart.

[VillaChris]

1 hour ago, villalad21 said:

Would anyone take Grabban, again?

He is a striker who will guarantee 15-20 goals.

Nah, too old even for me and barely scored in the prem when he played there for Norwich so that would be a signing without any sort of long term outlook.

[Nabby]

12 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

Nah, too old even for me and barely scored in the prem when he played there for Norwich so that would be a signing without any sort of long term outlook.

Would be fairly cheap and would score goals to get us promoted , you supplement him with a younger long term striker.

[VillaChris]

3 minutes ago, Nabby said:

Would be fairly cheap and would score goals to get us promoted , you supplement him with a younger long term striker.

Would rather get Gayle in instead, younger and shown he can be o.k squad player at Newcastle in premier league.

[Nabby]

Just now, VillaChris said:

Would rather get Gayle in instead, younger and shown he can be o.k squad player at Newcastle in premier league.

Would agree on that , another who is solid at Championship level.

[Villa94]

1 hour ago, villalad21 said:

Would anyone take Grabban, again?

He is a striker who will guarantee 15-20 goals.

nah.......he scores goals........**** that

[TRO]

3 hours ago, VillaCas said:

I think running with Smith is very much a risk but it is a risk that I am willing to take for a while - if ten games into next season it’s not working that’s when I’d pull the trigger

I expected this season to be a struggle and it’s turned out almost exactly as frustrating as I imagined

Some think our squad is good enough to achieve mid-table, I don’t and as you know, I would have been very happy with 17th

There is constant debate about whose fault the poor squad is - there have been mistakes but I think it’s mainly that we couldnt do everything we wanted in the summer and effectively we’re mid-way through the rebuild

But we don't want to be signing managers after 10 games.....thats not preparation.

I don't understand, why we give him c 10 games before we pull the trigger......on the basis of giving him c 10 games, why not give him the whole season, why not just let him stay in the job, losing as mny games as he likes, it might turn eventually....this  argument is flawed.