January Transfer Window - 2022

[villa4europe]

1 hour ago, nick76 said:

I have years of watching football as well and there are loads of fitting in straight away.  Just off the top of my head is Lingard at West Ham last season (not saying we should be after him).

Why do people think it is to replace Ollie or Ings.  We have three forward positions so at least one or two positions to compete for.  I’m suggesting a spark, a loan, something to create chances for Ollie or Ings.

But what does the loan do? 

Mean we finish 9th rather than 11th? I don't see it personally

Can maybe see a left back coming in or by some miracle a really good signing for the future out of nowhere (once again I'm asking for Julian Alvarez...) but nothing short term for this season because long term it wouldn't mean anything 

The spark should come from the academy, Aaron Ramsey PL debut around March for example 

 

Edited December 27, 2021 by villa4europe

[AvonVillain]

1 minute ago, villa4europe said:

The spark should come from the academy, Aaron Ramsey PL debut around March for example

It's such a fine balancing act, but I always believe this to be true. As someone mentioned recently, if we had bought JWP or what's-his-face from Arsenal, would we even be talking about Jacob Ramsey at the moment? Most likely not. I would personally always take a league position or two lower now for integration of crowd-thrilling youth product to get behind, instead of your overpriced, injury-prone mercenaries throwing their kit into the stands after being subbed off for yet another sub-par performance, for example.

[ferguson1]

We’re surely going to look at our defensive options in January and next summer.

Guilbert, Tuanzebe, Hause and possibly Young won’t be with us next season.

A specialist “no 6” midfielder is also a must but has been for two years now.

[flashingqwerty]

11 minutes ago, AvonVillain said:

It's such a fine balancing act, but I always believe this to be true. As someone mentioned recently, if we had bought JWP or what's-his-face from Arsenal, would we even be talking about Jacob Ramsey at the moment? Most likely not. I would personally always take a league position or two lower now for integration of crowd-thrilling youth product to get behind, instead of your overpriced, injury-prone mercenaries throwing their kit into the stands after being subbed off for yet another sub-par performance, for example.

JWP might have been competing with Ramsey but SmithRowe would not.  He'd be competing with Ings, Ollie, Buendia for the wide or behind the striker role, not CM.

For me, I think we need the following in priority order:

1. CDM to replace/cover Nakamba

2. LB to replace/compete with Targett

3. CB as I don't feel Hause is up to it and Tuanzebe is a loan (and not up to it) and I think we need a long term replacement/upgrade for Mings

4. Upgrade on Traore/AEG/Trez too much inconsistency and too many injuries in what we have.  Replace all 3 with 1 top player, and bring in some youth

5. CF we generally play 3 attacking players.  Ollie's gone off the boil, I don't think Ings suits our style, and they don't work well together. Archers coming through, but I'd look to replace one or both CFs with a top striker and have Archer on the bench.

If we could sort 1 and 2 in Jan, we'd be doing well.

[flashingqwerty]

2 minutes ago, ferguson1 said:

We’re surely going to look at our defensive options in January and next summer.

Guilbert, Tuanzebe, Hause and possibly Young won’t be with us next season.

A specialist “no 6” midfielder is also a must but has been for two years now.

You could argue 2 decades tbh

[nick76]

30 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

But what does the loan do? 

Mean we finish 9th rather than 11th? I don't see it personally

Can maybe see a left back coming in or by some miracle a really good signing for the future out of nowhere (once again I'm asking for Julian Alvarez...) but nothing short term for this season because long term it wouldn't mean anything 

The spark should come from the academy, Aaron Ramsey PL debut around March for example 

 

A loan like any new player can be a spark, be average or a failure. No guarantee of anything.

isn’t the difference between 9th and 11th about 7 million in prize money and also more attractive to prospective players in the summer being a top ten team.  So something short term can be benefit long term.

By a miracle what if it ended up being 7th than 9th, like Lingard made an impact at West Ham probably pushing them up a few places getting europe for us.

Why should a spark come from the Academy? I love Academy players coming through but it’s not always the answer.  It’s also more likely that Aaron takes a season or two to really come through to the first team with bits of appearances here or there and not the spark like you are saying.

If the right player is available I don’t care where they come from whether academy, loan or purchase.  My main point is there isn’t a spark in the front three yet this season.

 

[wilko154]

Personally I wouldn't bother with an attacking player (striker or winger) in this window; unless we could go back for Julian Alvarez who now seems to be the hottest property in football. Our forward players are strong and Traore and Bailey will improve us when fully fit.

I would look to offload Trezeguet and El Ghazi.

Leaving our forward players as Watkins, Ings, Buendia, Traore, Bailey, Archer, Davis.

 

Midfield would be an area I would look at improving. There's been a lot of talk of a defensive midfielder coming in, however with the new shape we play the midfield is almost a flat unit that drops in at every opportunity. Personally I would love Bissouma, but I think a player like Lingard would fit into the midfield well helping link up the play.

The midfield is actually quite strong with McGinn, Luiz, Ramsey, Sanson, Young, Chukwuemeka. But a new player to cover Nakamba's injury would give us more quality and strength in depth.

 

In defence I would look to add a left back to the mix. Although Young was signed in January he's become a versatile player all over the pitch for us, we could do with a left back to push Targett for a first team spot. I would hope our long term plan is for Kesler to push Cash next season for his spot. The Aaron Hickey links would be ideal for us.

Mings, Konsa, Hause, Tuanzebe, Targett, Young, Cash

Martinez, Steer

[sir_gary_cahill]

19 minutes ago, ferguson1 said:

We’re surely going to look at our defensive options in January and next summer.

Guilbert, Tuanzebe, Hause and possibly Young won’t be with us next season.

A specialist “no 6” midfielder is also a must but has been for two years now.

Isn’t Douglas Luiz that no 6?

[villa4europe]

12 minutes ago, nick76 said:

A loan like any new player can be a spark, be average or a failure. No guarantee of anything.

isn’t the difference between 9th and 11th about 7 million in prize money and also more attractive to prospective players in the summer being a top ten team.  So something short term can be benefit long term.

By a miracle what if it ended up being 7th than 9th, like Lingard made an impact at West Ham probably pushing them up a few places getting europe for us.

Why should a spark come from the Academy? I love Academy players coming through but it’s not always the answer.  It’s also more likely that Aaron takes a season or two to really come through to the first team with bits of appearances here or there and not the spark like you are saying.

If the right player is available I don’t care where they come from whether academy, loan or purchase.  My main point is there isn’t a spark in the front three yet this season.

 

I dont disagree that if the right player is available we take him

I'm just incredibly sceptical that the right player for us will be a loan signing

I'm even more sceptical that any player is going to make this team jump to 7th

And therefore I really don't think the loan market will provide any long term good answer for us

Van der beek coming in and playing brilliantly for 15 games will mean less than chuk playing bang average for 15 games 

[nick76]

8 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

I dont disagree that if the right player is available we take him

I'm just incredibly sceptical that the right player for us will be a loan signing

I'm even more sceptical that any player is going to make this team jump to 7th

And therefore I really don't think the loan market will provide any long term good answer for us

Van der beek coming in and playing brilliantly for 15 games will mean less than chuk playing bang average for 15 games 

I think that’s hard to judge, we don’t know whose available or anything.  I think to deny Gerrard additional options through the loan market isn’t wise either especially with Covid at the moment and for the next couple of months or so denying availability of players.

I don’t understand the VDB playing brilliantly mean less that Carney playing bang average. I’m not interested in VDB but if he came in and played brilliantly that could have brilliant/positive impacts for Villa for many many reasons.  

I know the Carney contract is an issue but aside from that having a quality player playing brilliantly for us is less appealing than a potential player playing bang average for us seems a hard thing to wrap my head around. I don’t get that.

[villa4europe]

2 minutes ago, nick76 said:

I think that’s hard to judge, we don’t know whose available or anything.  I think to deny Gerrard additional options through the loan market isn’t wise either especially with Covid at the moment and for the next couple of months or so denying availability of players.

I don’t understand the VDB playing brilliantly mean less that Carney playing bang average. I’m not interested in VDB but if he came in and played brilliantly that could have brilliant/positive impacts for Villa for many many reasons.  

I know the Carney contract is an issue but aside from that having a quality player playing brilliantly for us is less appealing than a potential player playing bang average for us seems a hard thing to wrap my head around. I don’t get that.

Because VDB playing brilliantly for 5 months will mean absolutely nothing next year 

Chuk playing even if it's poorly or average will have a bigger impact on our future 

I just do not see anything or anyone happening that will do enough to push us to 7th so the focus then is next year and the year after and a short term loan more likely than not means nothing positive 

[hippo]

3 hours ago, Peter Griffin said:

We have Ings, Ollie, Buendia, Bailey plus other attacking options and can promote Archer and bring back Wes if we want. Gerrard needs to work with what he has and show he can get them functioning properly and not be running to the cookie jar. 

Yep. Should be able to get a tune out of some of those players - can't see us getting better in the Jan window unless we are splashing serious cash.

[hippo]

3 hours ago, nick76 said:

I meant for the numbers 10 positions.  I’m still not convinced we have the strength at full backs to do what we want yet.  We have three forward positions so either Ings or Watkins plays one of this positions or both but we still have a spare.  Currently we have Buendia not playing great, Bailey injured and Traore off to AFCON.  Just wondering where the creativity is coming from.

Agree about  the full backs but no one has forced Stevie G to channel our attacking intent through the full backs. Personally I don't think that's the way to go. But that's up to Stevie G.

[nick76]

1 minute ago, villa4europe said:

Because VDB playing brilliantly for 5 months will mean absolutely nothing next year

Best: European place

Middle: more appealing to potential targets due to higher league position/ cup run

Worst: doesn’t play

2 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

Chuk playing even if it's poorly or average will have a bigger impact on our future 

Would like mean he’s sold, loaned out next season or another academy player moves ahead of him and he’s forgotten like so many academy players.

3 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

I just do not see anything or anyone happening that will do enough to push us to 7th

Can you tell me the lottery numbers for the weekend please.  You are making a lot of fortune telling when you don’t know whose available or what Gerrard wants to do and you are sacrificing this season already without knowing the options.  

Plus you haven’t even considered loan with the option to buy, loan converted into buy, a purchase and/or whether Gerrard might want to send out the likes of Carney on loan themselves to get weekly regular football.

[Tomaszk]

5 hours ago, Zatman said:

Bologna play more with 5 at the back which gets the best out of him. Not sure if he can play in a back 4 yet

As do Stuttgart where the supposed #1 target Sosa is a wingback.

Be a bold move to bring someone in not used to being left back.

Thought Targett won plenty of ball yesterday. Gerrard's formation asks for absolutely loads from your full backs and 8s. The 10s have a dream role for players of they nature, they need to win us matches.

[nick76]

7 minutes ago, hippo said:

Yep. Should be able to get a tune out of some of those players - can't see us getting better in the Jan window unless we are splashing serious cash.

To be honest we are under a new manager, would’ve likely asked for cash in January and will have his own ideas.  We literally have very little idea what he’s going to do, will he use his contacts or whatever.  We’ve had a few snip bits of areas for focus but mainly he’s talked about organising and then analysing the current squad before the transfer window.  We could do nothing in January but we could do a lot (comparatively in a notoriously hard window)…this is all new territory.

[Tomaszk]

3 hours ago, nick76 said:

I have years of watching football as well and there are loads of fitting in straight away.  Just off the top of my head is Lingard at West Ham last season (not saying we should be after him).

Why do people think it is to replace Ollie or Ings.  We have three forward positions so at least one or two positions to compete for.  I’m suggesting a spark, a loan, something to create chances for Ollie or Ings.

Willock also scored about 300 goals for Newcastle.

And Diagne was a big step up from what Albion had had up front.

Players are 100% out there and able to make an impact.

Not sure I'd be looking for a loan myself, unless it was a player we'd then look to sign in the summer.

We'd be better off immediately switching Ings and Watkins round if Gerrard is determined to start them both. Ollie has to be up front, doesn't have the ability or vision to play off a striker.

[Peter Griffin]

4 hours ago, nick76 said:

If the right player is available I don’t care where they come from whether academy, loan or purchase.  My main point is there isn’t a spark in the front three yet this season.

 

Yet is the key word. If you believe it is a 'yet' then why would we want to get a loan player in which would only reduce the playing time of one of our players, that is with the massive assumption that a loan player would hit the ground running

[Villaphil]

I’d have Bailey as LB in the current formation and look in the market for a 6 and a CB as a priority.

If you can turn Ashley Young into a LB, why not Bailey?

[nick76]

25 minutes ago, Peter Griffin said:

Yet is the key word. If you believe it is a 'yet' then why would we want to get a loan player in which would only reduce the playing time of one of our players, that is with the massive assumption that a loan player would hit the ground running

Because we’ve played half a season, Bailey is still injured for another 4 weeks according to Gary Mac and who knows how long after that and Traore is at AFCON.  Buendia is struggling despite how many games he’s played and Ings and Watkins are out of form and not really creators.

Reducing playing time of others

• take pressure off those not performing at the moment
• might provide a spark that nobody in the front line has had this season
• covers injuries, AFCON and any future Covid issues
• we desperately need some creativity and partly why our xG is so low

probably more but I’m watching Newc v Man U game so not totally focused.  A loan signing may not work but additional options for Gerrard can only be good when after half a season the current attacking third is struggling.  We just struggle to look like scoring…

Worst case scenario for a loan signing is that he doesn’t play and cost us a bit of money…not exactly the end of the world.  Just feel our attacking third is struggling and something needs to change/improve and it doesn’t look likely with the current players…