January Transfer Window - 2022

[HeyAnty]

4 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

 

Steven Gerrard takes active role as news 'filters' through over Aston Villa January transfer - Birmingham Live (birminghammail.co.uk)

The few times i saw him play this season he has impressed me.  Ive a feeling they would look 15-20m for him.  

[gwi1890]

15 hours ago, VillaChris said:

That sort of move makes sense. Played well in SPL, moved to better league and after settling in looking good for mid table Serie A club so sort of quality we need. Think he can play either FB position so could slot in at LB ahead of Targett (as he's scored a few recently so better going forward) and could also cover at RB on occasions.

IIRC he was also on our radar summer 2020.

Impressive that he’s managed to score 5 goals this season for them to, 19 and settling  in a new country isn’t for everyone 

Edited December 29, 2021 by gwi1890

[Dale]

1 hour ago, Xela said:

Its a controversial view! What references are you using? I don't think many English born centre backs are better than them. White was £50m, Stones was £45m, Maguire was £75m (i think). I'm not convinced they are better. We'd have to go abroad I'd imagine to upgrade?

None of them are. 

[Tomaszk]

12 hours ago, VillaFaninLondon said:

Someone that hasn't been mentioned is Lucas Digne at Everton. Clear upgrade on Targett and clearly on his way out of Everton.

 

That's the sort of calibre of player we should be targeting, and for me Targett is one of the first players in the starting 11 I'd look to upgrade if we're going to get better.

 

Cucurella at Brighton is another that would be an upgrade but not gonna happen in January.

 

We needed another holding midfielder regardless, but we need one even more now Nakamba is injured. 

 

Attack-wise, lots of players have underperformed or been injured (Ings, Watkins, Buendia, Bailey, Traore) but I reckon the quality is there and defensive positions need fixing more.

 

If we signed 2 quality players to come straight into the first team next month at DM and LB we'd have had a very good window. But we need proven quality and not the lazy links of players from Rangers who would only make the squad even more bloated than it already is.

Cucurella is brilliant.

Think that ship has sailed. We'll be paying through the nostrils if we want him now.

Another excellent signing from Brighton.

If Dan Ashworth goes to Newcastle, I do worry they'll be storming up the league(s) much quicker than is comfortable.

[Zatman]

13 hours ago, useless said:

Only just realized that Hickey is still only nineteen, maybe we wouldn't have to guarantee him first team football after all, convincing him that he's more likely to eventually become a regular first team player for us in the coming seasons than elsewhere might be enought to convince him. And dig this he's already got four assists this season.

He has 4 goals but no assists. No chance he is joining us to be a future project player when he is playing regularly in Serie A

 

[Zatman]

16 hours ago, Laughable Chimp said:

I'm gonna say it quietly here, but I really don't think either of our starting CBs are very good. I think Gerrard should be looking to upgrade at least one of them soon.

 

This keeps coming up by fans yet nobody can come up with an alternative solution who is attainable and actually better 

*please don't use the cop out that its not our job but the scouting team*

[useless]

Signing for us initially as a squad member isn't the same as being a future project. If he's of the mind to come back to Britain he can either sign for a club like us knowing he may not play every game to begin with but will have a very good chance of establishing himself as a regular in the not too distant future, or go to a so called bigger club but knowing it will be much harder to break into their team.

 

[Phil Silvers]

32 minutes ago, Zatman said:

This keeps coming up by fans yet nobody can come up with an alternative solution who is attainable and actually better 

*please don't use the cop out that its not our job but the scouting team*

What we have is good enough for where we are and higher, the new coaches will hopefully fix the errors and improve the consistency. If we get to that stage it will cost a LOT to upgrade Mings and Konza. However, I think we need another really good CB that can play L and R to really keep them on their toes, there is a gap in quality to Hause and Axel imo, either would be an ok 4th choice but we need 3 good ones to pick from.

[Laughable Chimp]

32 minutes ago, Zatman said:

This keeps coming up by fans yet nobody can come up with an alternative solution who is attainable and actually better 

*please don't use the cop out that its not our job but the scouting team*

I could come up with a lot of centrebacks who I think could be an improvement and are attainable. But that's only because like I said, I don't actually rate our CBs very highly in the first place. I think they're bang average.

Any name I'd give out would just be countered by someone who does rate them highly saying that they aren't an improvement on Mings and Konsa. Fair enough, but kind of makes whatever suggestion I provide pointless. We're not working with the same premises.

 

[Zatman]

6 minutes ago, Laughable Chimp said:

I could come up with a lot of centrebacks who I think could be an improvement and are attainable. But that's only because like I said, I don't actually rate our CBs very highly in the first place. I think they're bang average.

Any name I'd give out would just be countered by someone who does rate them highly saying that they aren't an improvement on Mings and Konsa. Fair enough, but kind of makes whatever suggestion I provide pointless. We're not working with the same premises.

 

Thats not true though, if you have a viable suggestion then people will hear you out. 

As it is our centre backs are 2 of the best defenders in the league outside the Sky 6 and are certainly better than some in that group

[Laughable Chimp]

1 minute ago, Zatman said:

Thats not true though, if you have a viable suggestion then people will hear you out. 

As it is our centre backs are 2 of the best defenders in the league outside the Sky 6 and are certainly better than some in that group

I literally just explained why my suggestions wouldn't be considered viable and you proceeded to completely ignore it.

Your second paragraph is precisely my point. You rate them as the 2 best defenders in the league outside the sky 6. I don't, not at all. Any suggestion I make will just be shut down because we can't agree on this fundamental premise.

[Zatman]

7 minutes ago, Laughable Chimp said:

I literally just explained why my suggestions wouldn't be considered viable and you proceeded to completely ignore it.

Your second paragraph is precisely my point. You rate them as the 2 best defenders in the league outside the sky 6. I don't, not at all. Any suggestion I make will just be shut down because we can't agree on this fundamental premise.

Is that not the point of a discussion board so you can have your own opinions

[a m ole]

10 minutes ago, Laughable Chimp said:

I literally just explained why my suggestions wouldn't be considered viable and you proceeded to completely ignore it.

Your second paragraph is precisely my point. You rate them as the 2 best defenders in the league outside the sky 6. I don't, not at all. Any suggestion I make will just be shut down because we can't agree on this fundamental premise.

I’d like to at least hear just how wrong you are

[Delphinho123]

We'll probably need to replace every single outfield player over the next 3 years if we want to break the top 6, and certainly if we want to break the top 4. That's just how it is.
Unfortunately, you can't do that because of FFP so it's a slow process where we need to constantly improve on our weakest player/area. 

If I had to guess, we'd be looking at the following as our next signings:
LB
DCM
DC

I quite like Targett but I'm not sure he's athletic enough for the style Gerrard wants to play. A defensive midfielder because, well, I think it's been a weakness of ours for a while. Nakamba came in and did very well but he's nowhere near progressive enough with the ball to turn us into a possession based team. A central defender because Tuanzebe and quite possibly Hause, will be leaving at the end of the season. 

After those three areas are sorted, I imagine we'll strengthen the forward areas - The two no.10's and the striker as they haven't performed well at all really this season. The problem with doing this is we'd need to get rid of a few before we brought any in. We are very bloated in attack but frustratingly, none of them seem to perform on a consistent basis.

All of the signings we need to make need to be better than what we have if we want to improve. There is no point buying a defensive midfielder to sit on the bench, he needs to come in and command a place in the side. 

[Zatman]

2 minutes ago, a m ole said:

I’d like to at least hear just how wrong you are

Ben Mee and Phil Jones  

[Mark Albrighton]

A third defender who genuinely could start ahead of Mings or Konsa.

Likewise competition for starting places for both Targett and Cash.

A solid back up keeper, who realistically isn’t going to displace Martinez but a keeper people will feel more confident about than Steer.

There are other places that people want to improve on, but just on these alone, how much are people expecting to see spent? With the obvious caveat that a bargain could be picked up somewhere.

£70m-80m?

[nick76]

10 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

We'll probably need to replace every single outfield player over the next 3 years if we want to break the top 6, and certainly if we want to break the top 4. That's just how it is.
Unfortunately, you can't do that because of FFP so it's a slow process where we need to constantly improve on our weakest player/area. 

If I had to guess, we'd be looking at the following as our next signings:
LB
DCM
DC

I quite like Targett but I'm not sure he's athletic enough for the style Gerrard wants to play. A defensive midfielder because, well, I think it's been a weakness of ours for a while. Nakamba came in and did very well but he's nowhere near progressive enough with the ball to turn us into a possession based team. A central defender because Tuanzebe and quite possibly Hause, will be leaving at the end of the season. 

After those three areas are sorted, I imagine we'll strengthen the forward areas - The two no.10's and the striker as they haven't performed well at all really this season. The problem with doing this is we'd need to get rid of a few before we brought any in. We are very bloated in attack but frustratingly, none of them seem to perform on a consistent basis.

All of the signings we need to make need to be better than what we have if we want to improve. There is no point buying a defensive midfielder to sit on the bench, he needs to come in and command a place in the side. 

Quality post!

I think some fans need to let go of favourites because if we do want to be a top six team then we could see a number of them being replaced.

[VillaFaninLondon]

10 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

Cucurella is brilliant.

Think that ship has sailed. We'll be paying through the nostrils if we want him now.

Another excellent signing from Brighton.

If Dan Ashworth goes to Newcastle, I do worry they'll be storming up the league(s) much quicker than is comfortable.

If we want to break into the top 6 we will have to spend big to upgrade some of our starting positions at some point I reckon. Cucurella was a snip though at 15m. 

 

Think Newcastle's aim this season will be to just get 17th. Think they're in major trouble regardless of who they bring in. 

[useless]

Whenever I've watched Brighton this season I haven't been overly impressed with Cucurella, technically looks good, but never seems to make the best of the good positions he finds himself in, doesn't seem to have a great final ball. Is he another one of these players that people overrate just because he plays for Brighton.

Edit: I've just looked on a Brighton forum and their fans seem to like him a lot so maybe I've just caught him on not so good days.

Edited December 29, 2021 by useless

[VillaFaninLondon]

I think there's no question if we want to break into the top 6 or heaven forbid the top 4 most of the team will need upgrading.

 

Other than Martinez I can't honestly say anyone else is top 4 standard. Konsa is a very good defender but is a little bit overrated on here as he also makes mistakes. 

 

In terms of who could we get that are better CBs than our current ones, Gomez could well be (I don't know how good he actually is because anyone playing alongside VVD would look good). Botman at Lille has been linked with teams like Wolves and could be an upgrade on what we've got (he was outstanding last season when they won the league and is only 21). Otherwise it's up to our scouting team to find them. Mings and Konsa definitely need a quality third defender to compete with IMO.