Summer transfer window 2021

[Tayls]

50 minutes ago, WallisFrizz said:

Here is the quote from the Athletic article today:

Scratch Emiliano Buendia off the list, as he was signed initially from Norwich in June to play alongside Grealish, but throw both Leon Bailey and Danny Ings — who cost £55 million combined at the start of this month — into the mix as players signed on the back of the former captain’s record departure.

Would those latter two players be in claret and blue today if Grealish had decided to turn down the champions?

“Probably not,” admits Villa head coach Dean Smith. “We got early news that Jack might be going to Manchester City so we moved very quickly to make that loss less visible, if that’s at all possible.”

I wish all this talk would stop. Deane needs to stop referring to Jack as our best player as well. I’d start getting a tad annoyed if I was part of the team. It’s a collective. We as fans knew the impact that Jack had. 
Im sure Ings and Bailey don’t want to hear that they wouldn’t have been purchased if Jack was still with us. My guess is that is down to the finances involved, but still, could be taken the wrong way quite easily. 
 

Move on. We are a team. No best players talk!!!!!

Edited August 18, 2021 by Tayls

[TheMelvillan]

Based on what Christian Purslow said in his Jack leaving video I think there is much emphasis on blooding the younger players in this year. The club and manager love this youth squad and are investing agressively to support it by buying other quality 16-18 year olds.

In order for this to be sustainable I think they have to be seen to trust the youth players in the first team squad and matchday team and i think we will see a lot of it this year.

It may be that this is a strategic direction for the club to grow in this way rather than just buy ready made players for tens of millions of pounds.

 "Success in a process, not an event" - maybe Buendia gleaned this from the club itself who have a focus on sustainable, gradual growth, who knows. Not every club can, or maybe wants to achieve success using the man city, chelsea model, especially in this day and age or with the financial restrictions that are supposedly in place, and the utter unsurety of current and future income streams

[LondonLax]

24 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

So they signed Buendia to play with Jack and then replaced Jack with Ings and Bailey. That is my takeaway from the quote. 

If this is the case, were the club only looking to sign Buendia then this Summer if Jack stayed? Really? No chance. The club must have been looking at Buendia and at least one more - a better central midfielder. They have to have been. 
If the board genuinely want to improve on our position last season, then they must realise that we don't have enough to do that - or at best, we may finish 9th/10th. 

NSWE are the best thing to happen to this club in a long time and if they want to take a year to consolidate after the Grealish exit then that's fine by me. They owe us nothing and we shouldn't be entitled enough to demand European football so soon after almost being declared bankrupt! I just hope they know the risks of not pushing on and trying to qualify for Europe this season  - the bigger teams cherry pick our players again. Baileys dad was quite clear when he signed that he'll move on if the club doesn't match his ambition of playing in Europe very soon. This is just one example. 

I'm 100% of the mindset that if we don't sign at least one central midfielder, we'll be scrambling around in midtable again this season. Smith might also be a little concerned because if the expectation is to improve on last years 11th place finish, he might be out of a job before the season is over. 

Let's see what happens in the next 2 weeks. 

Sanson was supposed to be signed this window wasn’t he? The club said they saw an opportunity to do it six months early and took it. 

I wonder if Sanson had come in this window as a central midfield signing along with the forwards and CB signing people would be less stressed?

[villalad21]

If we sign no more players we'll finish bottom half. Fighting it out with the likes of Burnley and Brighton 

[tomav84]

1 minute ago, TheMelvillan said:

Based on what Christian Purslow said in his Jack leaving video I think there is much emphasis on blooding the younger players in this year. The club and manager love this youth squad and are investing agressively to support it by buying other quality 16-18 year olds.

In order for this to be sustainable I think they have to be seen to trust the youth players in the first team squad and matchday team and i think we will see a lot of it this year.

It may be that this is a strategic direction for the club to grow in this way rather than just buy ready made players for tens of millions of pounds.

 "Success in a process, not an event" - maybe Buendia gleaned this from the club itself who have a focus on sustainable, gradual growth, who knows. Not every club can, or maybe wants to achieve success using the man city, chelsea model, especially in this day and age or with the financial restrictions that are supposedly in place, and the utter unsurety of current and future income streams

i think as long as the expectations reflect that. we wont get the top half with the current midfield (IMO) but i would take a 12th/13th if we've given chukwemeka/philogene/ramsey a lot of game time

[VillaJ100]

So have we spent any money then? Grealish out 100 mil, ings/Bailey/buendia/young 100 mil? 

I know it's not 100 in one go

[villa89]

Just now, villalad21 said:

If we sign no more players we'll finish bottom half. Fighting it out with the likes of Burnley and Brighton 

I think a lot of villa fans have unrealistic expectations as to where we are going. Look at Everton, they've spent a fortune to finish 8th. To break into the top 6 would cost the owners a huge amount of money. Our current path is for stability in the top ten. Don't expect us to spend £100m+ every summer. The current squad is easily good enough to finish 9th or 10th this season, no chance we'll be near a relegation battle. 

[Made In Aston]

14 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

If we sign no more players we'll finish bottom half. Fighting it out with the likes of Burnley and Brighton 

Haven't you heard? Burnley and Brighton are in good shape to challenge for the champion's league this season. 

[Made In Aston]

1 hour ago, hippo said:

If we are done this window .........any theories as to why ?

Most logical would be that for some reason the financial brakes have gone on.

Ashley Preece has quoted DS as saying that we wouldn't have signed Ings and Bailey had Grealish not been sold.

I believe the money is there to buy new recruits but suspect we are done unless we can shift a few out. The club needs to manage the wage bill and squad size, so can't keep bringing more and more players through the door without some going the other way. 

Edited August 18, 2021 by Made In Aston

[HKP90]

12 minutes ago, Made In Aston said:

Haven't you heard? Burnley and Brighton are in good shape to challenge for the champion's league this season. 

Think you are being disrespectful of Brighton there. They had an xG that was way higher than their finishing position. With a decent striker they would have been flying.

[Pez1974]

Still this about "no more signings" in the press! 

The Ings transfer shows that there are no ITKs. There is no noise from the club, so they have to write something.

We have tonnes of money now, and rich owners - we are going to say 'yes, just 3 more signings', and see the prices double. The comments coming from anyone in the club are the only comments they could possibly make in the circumstances. So they ask the question to which there is an obvious answer, and then publish the rumour mill article.
(Seen a few comments on social media that 'fans need to know' - do these people think other clubs don't read comments!?)

We are in interesting times. If clubs need money, and they have a player we want, we need to be able to take advantage. So we can't just splash out all the money upfront, and miss out on bargains either later in the window or January. We are a well run club - let's remember this. 

[The Fun Factory]

Has Axel been brought in as defensive midfielder cover? 

[VillanousOne]

1 minute ago, Pez1974 said:

Still this about "no more signings" in the press! 

The Ings transfer shows that there are no ITKs. There is no noise from the club, so they have to write something.

We have tonnes of money now, and rich owners - we are going to say 'yes, just 3 more signings', and see the prices double. The comments coming from anyone in the club are the only comments they could possibly make in the circumstances. So they ask the question to which there is an obvious answer, and then publish the rumour mill article.
(Seen a few comments on social media that 'fans need to know' - do these people think other clubs don't read comments!?)

We are in interesting times. If clubs need money, and they have a player we want, we need to be able to take advantage. So we can't just splash out all the money upfront, and miss out on bargains either later in the window or January. We are a well run club - let's remember this. 

Agree with this, but it does seem that even all speculative links in the press have gone cold, we aren't being linked to anyone. I hope the press know nothing and we pull something out of the fire like we did with Ings.

I think our attacking options will be better this season once every one is bedded in and on the same page / fitness level. Signing Axel was a good piece of business, plus we have made some really good youth signings.

But our biggest weakness last season was undoubtedly our midfield which was frequently unbalanced and easily over run. Sanson might help things when back and fit but we still don't have a physical presence in midfield that can win tackles, win balls in the air and protect our defence. Nakamba can do a job, in a midfield three but is still pretty limited.

I know attack is the best form of defence, but our stats around the amount of shots and chances we allow opposition teams surely needs to be improved on if we have aspirations of finishing higher in the league.

 

[PieFacE]

I think we're done tbh. Which is a bit disappointing but I guess they have a lot faith in Sanson which is fine if he ever gets fit again. 

[jacketspuds]

6 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

Has Axel been brought in as defensive midfielder cover? 

I hope not, as I'm sure we could have found an actual CDM on loan if we looked slightly further afield.

[hippo]

43 minutes ago, TheMelvillan said:

Based on what Christian Purslow said in his Jack leaving video I think there is much emphasis on blooding the younger players in this year. The club and manager love this youth squad and are investing agressively to support it by buying other quality 16-18 year olds.

In order for this to be sustainable I think they have to be seen to trust the youth players in the first team squad and matchday team and i think we will see a lot of it this year.

It may be that this is a strategic direction for the club to grow in this way rather than just buy ready made players for tens of millions of pounds.

 "Success in a process, not an event" - maybe Buendia gleaned this from the club itself who have a focus on sustainable, gradual growth, who knows. Not every club can, or maybe wants to achieve success using the man city, chelsea model, especially in this day and age or with the financial restrictions that are supposedly in place, and the utter unsurety of current and future income streams

If they are hoping to build a team mostly or even a significant % from youth players then it won't work.

Consider the maths - The premier league attracts the best players from around the world costing many millions, the chances of you having 2 or 3 such players in your youth is pretty remote. You might get one maybe 2 but thats about it.

We owe NSWE nothing - and they are still underwriting the club by many millions each month. A sad indication of the modern game though without continual investment in the playing side we will struggle to be mid table at best. 

 

[Steero113]

10 minutes ago, Pez1974 said:

Still this about "no more signings" in the press! 

The Ings transfer shows that there are no ITKs. There is no noise from the club, so they have to write something.

We have tonnes of money now, and rich owners - we are going to say 'yes, just 3 more signings', and see the prices double. The comments coming from anyone in the club are the only comments they could possibly make in the circumstances. So they ask the question to which there is an obvious answer, and then publish the rumour mill article.
(Seen a few comments on social media that 'fans need to know' - do these people think other clubs don't read comments!?)

We are in interesting times. If clubs need money, and they have a player we want, we need to be able to take advantage. So we can't just splash out all the money upfront, and miss out on bargains either later in the window or January. We are a well run club - let's remember this. 

At this present second, we have a bloated squad. 

If we were to suddenly see 3 or 4 first teamers on loan or permanent transfers then I think we could reasonably assume that is an indication that another significant incoming is about to happen (i.e not a youth signing such as Caleb Chuk but a signing to come straight in and compete). 

Until that happens, I'm inclined to say that we are indeed done. 

[hippo]

50 minutes ago, LondonLax said:

Sanson was supposed to be signed this window wasn’t he? The club said they saw an opportunity to do it six months early and took it. 

I wonder if Sanson had come in this window as a central midfield signing along with the forwards and CB signing people would be less stressed?

Im sure that would be true. The levels he has played at and his overall game stats are very impressive. 

However he has started less than half a dozen games since Dec 2020 - and hasn't played in any of the pre season games. Mixed reports as to whether he is even back in full training.

Expecting a run of games from him looks a while away IMO. From what little I've seen seen I'm really not sure he is cut out for the hurly burly of the PL. However he's got the '8' shirt given by the head coach so maybe he is closer than we (I !!!!) think.

 

[hippo]

5 minutes ago, Steero113 said:

At this present second, we have a bloated squad. 

If we were to suddenly see 3 or 4 first teamers on loan or permanent transfers then I think we could reasonably assume that is an indication that another significant incoming is about to happen (i.e not a youth signing such as Caleb Chuk but a signing to come straight in and compete). 

Until that happens, I'm inclined to say that we are indeed done. 

Not sure myself. Doesn't the loan window to the EFL close some weeks later than the Aug 31 PL transfer window ? . Thus there is a good chance that outgoing loans will  happen in earnest  (for the more proven players)  after the PL window shuts 

[BOF]

50 minutes ago, VillaJ100 said:

So have we spent any money then? Grealish out 100 mil, ings/Bailey/buendia/young 100 mil? 

I know it's not 100 in one go

It depends how they want to spin the narrative, and I don't mean that in a negative way. Smith, (speaking days after Purslow's statement) said that Buendia was coming in regardless of the Grealish sale. He was brought in to play alongside him. By implication the others were not (i.e. Bailey & Ings). So from the original plan you could say we were willing to spend £34m of non-Jack money on Buendia and we've since spent £60m of the Jack money on the rest. Or, in light of the Grealish sale, they could just say the balance sheet is 100 in and 100 out so yeah we've spent it all.

But if they were willing to be £34m down while keeping Jack on the books then we've theoretically still got that £34m in the pocket ready to spend if needed.