Summer Transfer Window 2022

[Zatman]

10 minutes ago, paul514 said:

Seeing as people are going on about strikers and I am bored I decided to start looking for some I came up with this lot that MIGHT be good enough and we have ANY chance of getting......

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/amine-gouiri/profil/spieler/418659
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/hugo-ekitike/profil/spieler/709726
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/karim-adeyemi/profil/spieler/496094
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/darwin-nunez/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/546543
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/patrik-schick/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/242086
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/dominic-calvert-lewin/profil/spieler/306024

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/tammy-abraham/profil/spieler/331726

Fee's for most of them would be crazy and I am not even that sure on some of them. Schick's record for example is all over the place.

One of them has already signed for a new team in Dortmund

 3 of them have scored less league goals than Watkins, some in shitter leagues

Nunez will have higher bidders 

we might be able to attract Schick though

[paul514]

2 minutes ago, Zatman said:

One of them has already signed for a new team in Dortmund

 3 of them have scored less league goals than Watkins, some in shitter leagues

Nunez will have higher bidders 

we might be able to attract Schick though

Just what the data says and Schick for me is the riskiest of the lot.

[VillaHatesMe]

23 minutes ago, paul514 said:

Seeing as people are going on about strikers and I am bored I decided to start looking for some I came up with this lot that MIGHT be good enough and we have ANY chance of getting......

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/amine-gouiri/profil/spieler/418659
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/hugo-ekitike/profil/spieler/709726
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/karim-adeyemi/profil/spieler/496094
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/darwin-nunez/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/546543
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/patrik-schick/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/242086
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/dominic-calvert-lewin/profil/spieler/306024

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/tammy-abraham/profil/spieler/331726

Fee's for most of them would be crazy and I am not even that sure on some of them. Schick's record for example is all over the place.

I like Schick a lot. His season was thrown off by a calf injury that kept him out a while, but he started to find his form again late in the season. Darwin Nunez seems destined for bigger things than us at the moment. Had Everton gone down, I was sure we'd have made a run after DCL.

Edited May 23, 2022 by VillaHatesMe

[maqroll]

Oh man, Nunez would be volcanic.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

1 hour ago, Zatman said:

yes thats a pretty shocking total for a top team. 4 goals in 2022 and his shit form is why Atletico went from champions to fifteen points behind Real Madrid

they never played him in the Champions League knockout games when needed a goal

Saw an Atletico fan have a mini rant that the reason Kamara chose us, over them, is because they play shit football. lol

[TomC]

Looks like I'm late to the party in this thread. Here are my thoughts on the window. Sorry to be long-winded, but with the season over, I wanted to get my thoughts out so maybe I can spend less time on VT this summer (LOL).

I’m going to assume SG stays with the 4-3-3, regardless what formation I would like, so my shopping list is based on that formation.

Obviously, Marti is set in goal. (I’m saying Marti and Bueni to avoid confusion about which Emi.)

The defense this year gave up eight more goals than 2020-21 (54 vs. 46), but the pace over Gerrard’s 27 games was 48 goals for the season, so I think he has us going back in the right direction, and a good DM should make things better. Cash and Digne are good enough fullbacks for the system. (Cash needs to be careful about ball-watching; he relapsed against City in the final game.) Despite the criticism of Mings from some around here, I still rate him as one notch below world class, and it’s going to be hard enough to sign one world-class CB this year, let alone two, so Mings isn’t going anywhere. Chambers looked great the last couple games and might be worthy of a starting role. If, a big if, you can get a world class CB to pair with Mings, maybe move Konsa and use Chambers as your main backup.

In midfield, like almost everyone, I think we need a true DM. Despite some signs of improvement early in the SG era, Naka clearly isn’t the answer. I would rather spend a ton here and get a true world-class player, even if it means not upgrading anywhere else.

How to sort out JJ, McGinn, Dougie, and Sanson in the other midfield slots? JJ is the only one I would insist on keeping, because he’s young and might end up better than the rest of them. But don’t overuse him; he’s young. I don’t think McGinn fits the 4-3-3 system, for reasons I’ve explained elsewhere (in short, his skill set belongs in a 4-man midfield, e.g. a 4-4-2). Dougie might do well when he can finally play further forward rather than being the DM, but I won’t cry if he leaves. In short, I see room to upgrade a second MF, not just the DM. Given that neither Deano nor SG seemed to rate Sanson, I suspect he’s gone; he might be a useful rotation player, but Dougie or McGinn may get reduced to that role, especially if we buy two MFs. 

Maybe Coutinho can play in MF; he looked good there against Burnley, and it would solve the logjam at forward (see below).

As for forwards, let’s start with the numbers. We were down only three goals from last year (52 vs 55), so we replaced Grealish pretty well. Looking at goal contributions for the past two years will tell you why…this is per 90 minutes, all players with at least 0.10 per game…

2020-21
Grealish 0.66
El Ghazi 0.56
Watkins 0.51
Traore 0.50
Barkley 0.23
McGinn 0.21
(big dropoff to Cash at 0.07)

2021-22
Ings 0.61
Coutinho 0.54
Buendia 0.47
El Ghazi 0.47
Watkins 0.40
Bailey 0.36
Chukwuemeka 0.31
Digne 0.28
Ramsey 0.25
Hause 0.23 (obviously skewed by his goal in the Man U game)
McGinn 0.20
Cash 0.19
Luiz 0.17
Young 0.15
Targett 0.13
Mings 0.11
Chambers 0.11

What does this tell you? Well, the declared strategy was to spread out the attack over more players instead of relying on Grealish, and it worked. Last year we had six players over 0.20 and no others over 0.10. This year we had 11 players over 0.20 (OK, don’t count Hause, make it 10) and 6 others over 0.10.

No, goal contributions don’t tell you everything…otherwise I’d rate El Ghazi as a better player than I do, and I don’t think anyone is going to claim that Ings is as good of a player as Grealish. But looking at the numbers, you’d have to say that our signings were pretty successful. Ings, Coutinho, and Bueni were our top 3 contributors, Bailey actually didn’t do too badly in his limited time, and Digne did much better than Targett’s performance either year. And again, we only scored three less goals this year. We need to get better to move up, but we replaced Grealish pretty well. (We did miss him in holding possession; we went down from an average of 51% to 46%.)

Coutinho is the most talented player we have. We need a second creative player; otherwise, teams can double up on Coutinho and shut him down. Therefore, I’d rather see the 2-1 in the front 3 if it can be made to work. Then we could play both Coutinho and Bueni. I rate Bueni, but if we can’t play both, Bueni will probably become a rotation player and at least one of Bailey and Bert will be gone. That will be a shame, because Bert was good last year (despite any inconsistency; look at the numbers above) and Bailey deserves a healthy season before being written off. Could Coutinho play in midfield instead to open room for another forward?

Ings and Watkins? I’ve posted my opinions of their strengths and weaknesses many times. Watkins: holds up the ball well, presses well (which isn’t as important in SG’s system), was overthinking this year instead of trusting his instincts, often shot when he should have passed this year (reflected in the dropoff from 6 assists to 2). Ings: shooting touch has faded, but is a better off-the-ball runner, gets into more dangerous positions, and creates more in our buildup (as reflected in his assists). Neither is world class. When all is said and done, I think that 2021-22 Ings was better than 2021-22 Watkins, maybe marginally worse than 2020-21 Watkins. Watkins is certainly younger than Ings, so if we sign another striker, I still might prefer keeping Watkins rather than Ings, and take the risk that Watkins will get back to 2020-21 form. If SG prefers to go with the 1-2, we might keep them both and sign another striker.

So, in conclusion? A world class DM is a must. If can attract world class players (admittedly an if), upgrade a striker, another MF, and a CB in that order. Count me in the camp that thinks we’re only 3 players away from competing for the top 6.

 

[MNVillan]

22 minutes ago, TomC said:

 

Looks like I'm late to the party in this thread. Here are my thoughts on the window. Sorry to be long-winded, but with the season over, I wanted to get my thoughts out so maybe I can spend less time on VT this summer (LOL).

I’m going to assume SG stays with the 4-3-3, regardless what formation I would like, so my shopping list is based on that formation.

Obviously, Marti is set in goal. (I’m saying Marti and Bueni to avoid confusion about which Emi.)

The defense this year gave up eight more goals than 2020-21 (54 vs. 46), but the pace over Gerrard’s 27 games was 48 goals for the season, so I think he has us going back in the right direction, and a good DM should make things better. Cash and Digne are good enough fullbacks for the system. (Cash needs to be careful about ball-watching; he relapsed against City in the final game.) Despite the criticism of Mings from some around here, I still rate him as one notch below world class, and it’s going to be hard enough to sign one world-class CB this year, let alone two, so Mings isn’t going anywhere. Chambers looked great the last couple games and might be worthy of a starting role. If, a big if, you can get a world class CB to pair with Mings, maybe move Konsa and use Chambers as your main backup.

In midfield, like almost everyone, I think we need a true DM. Despite some signs of improvement early in the SG era, Naka clearly isn’t the answer. I would rather spend a ton here and get a true world-class player, even if it means not upgrading anywhere else.

How to sort out JJ, McGinn, Dougie, and Sanson in the other midfield slots? JJ is the only one I would insist on keeping, because he’s young and might end up better than the rest of them. But don’t overuse him; he’s young. I don’t think McGinn fits the 4-3-3 system, for reasons I’ve explained elsewhere (in short, his skill set belongs in a 4-man midfield, e.g. a 4-4-2). Dougie might do well when he can finally play further forward rather than being the DM, but I won’t cry if he leaves. In short, I see room to upgrade a second MF, not just the DM. Given that neither Deano nor SG seemed to rate Sanson, I suspect he’s gone; he might be a useful rotation player, but Dougie or McGinn may get reduced to that role, especially if we buy two MFs. 

Maybe Coutinho can play in MF; he looked good there against Burnley, and it would solve the logjam at forward (see below).

As for forwards, let’s start with the numbers. We were down only three goals from last year (52 vs 55), so we replaced Grealish pretty well. Looking at goal contributions for the past two years will tell you why…this is per 90 minutes, all players with at least 0.10 per game…

2020-21
Grealish 0.66
El Ghazi 0.56
Watkins 0.51
Traore 0.50
Barkley 0.23
McGinn 0.21
(big dropoff to Cash at 0.07)

2021-22
Ings 0.61
Coutinho 0.54
Buendia 0.47
El Ghazi 0.47
Watkins 0.40
Bailey 0.36
Chukwuemeka 0.31
Digne 0.28
Ramsey 0.25
Hause 0.23 (obviously skewed by his goal in the Man U game)
McGinn 0.20
Cash 0.19
Luiz 0.17
Young 0.15
Targett 0.13
Mings 0.11
Chambers 0.11

What does this tell you? Well, the declared strategy was to spread out the attack over more players instead of relying on Grealish, and it worked. Last year we had six players over 0.20 and no others over 0.10. This year we had 11 players over 0.20 (OK, don’t count Hause, make it 10) and 6 others over 0.10.

No, goal contributions don’t tell you everything…otherwise I’d rate El Ghazi as a better player than I do, and I don’t think anyone is going to claim that Ings is as good of a player as Grealish. But looking at the numbers, you’d have to say that our signings were pretty successful. Ings, Coutinho, and Bueni were our top 3 contributors, Bailey actually didn’t do too badly in his limited time, and Digne did much better than Targett’s performance either year. And again, we only scored three less goals this year. We need to get better to move up, but we replaced Grealish pretty well. (We did miss him in holding possession; we went down from an average of 51% to 46%.)

Coutinho is the most talented player we have. We need a second creative player; otherwise, teams can double up on Coutinho and shut him down. Therefore, I’d rather see the 2-1 in the front 3 if it can be made to work. Then we could play both Coutinho and Bueni. I rate Bueni, but if we can’t play both, Bueni will probably become a rotation player and at least one of Bailey and Bert will be gone. That will be a shame, because Bert was good last year (despite any inconsistency; look at the numbers above) and Bailey deserves a healthy season before being written off. Could Coutinho play in midfield instead to open room for another forward?

Ings and Watkins? I’ve posted my opinions of their strengths and weaknesses many times. Watkins: holds up the ball well, presses well (which isn’t as important in SG’s system), was overthinking this year instead of trusting his instincts, often shot when he should have passed this year (reflected in the dropoff from 6 assists to 2). Ings: shooting touch has faded, but is a better off-the-ball runner, gets into more dangerous positions, and creates more in our buildup (as reflected in his assists). Neither is world class. When all is said and done, I think that 2021-22 Ings was better than 2021-22 Watkins, maybe marginally worse than 2020-21 Watkins. Watkins is certainly younger than Ings, so if we sign another striker, I still might prefer keeping Watkins rather than Ings, and take the risk that Watkins will get back to 2020-21 form. If SG prefers to go with the 1-2, we might keep them both and sign another striker.

So, in conclusion? A world class DM is a must. If can attract world class players (admittedly an if), upgrade a striker, another MF, and a CB in that order. Count me in the camp that thinks we’re only 3 players away from competing for the top 6.

 

El Ghazi having a higher goal contribution rate than Philippe Coutinho. Un*******believable

Edited May 23, 2022 by MNVillan

[VillaParkAvenue]

3 hours ago, paul514 said:

Not if we want to score goals.

We do score goals though (even if more would be nice). Of teams placed 9-20 Villa scored the most goals with 52.

Quite a few of those teams conceded less than us: Brighton, Wolves, Palace, Burnley.

Still think we should focus on improving central defence and midfield before splashing 60m+ on a striker who may score 2-3 more goals than the current ones, when he’s settled.

Also need to sign a backup keeper — a keeper can make an absolutely huge difference, Jose Sa outperformed his xGA with 15 goals this season and probably gave Wolves an extra 10 points. An injury, or a run of bad form for Emi could cost us a season.

[peterw]

On 19/05/2022 at 20:21, MaVilla said:

just saw a vid of Coutinho saying Firmino is his favourite "brazilian" striker.....

i wonder......

I thought this was a possibility in January. I think he'll frustrate the hell out of us if he did join and would be similar to when Heskey joined us. I'm not sure he's what we need and it would be starting to have all the hallmarks of a manager who needs to spend big on reputation rather than understanding the sum of parts, and how to invest for the future. I'd be frankly worried if we went down this route - not so much for the player but what it says about us. I'm a born worrier (Brummie default setting) but it feels to me that we're once again at the start of another missed opportunity where we have money and squander it rather than having the right people in place to get the right players on the pitch. Gerrard could ruin us as he's never had money to spend and if the noises of Suarez, and Firmino to join Coutinho (mind you if it works out well I've got the start of a great and catchy terrace song) is hopefully media putting two and too together, otherwise we'll be stuck at trying to get to 11th inperpetutiy but then have a releagtion every 30 years or so. We are ahead of the game slightly with our wealth - if we waste the next two or three years we will be caught up and over taken again, similar to the mid to late 90s.

[Sulberto21]

Is Andre Silva any good? (No links)

[sparrow1988]

2 minutes ago, Sulberto21 said:

Is Andre Silva any good? (No links)

He's decent in the Bundesliga (especially when he played for Frankfurt) to be fair. Don't know how he'd suit this league based on the Bundesliga imports the last couple of years though.

[TheMightyVillans]

Would be very happy with a midfield squad of

Ramsey/Mcginn

Bissouma/Luiz

Kamara/Nakamba

 

I think sanson could probably work well with kamara as they have played together but surely he is being sold with Young above him in the midfield pecking order.

Edited May 23, 2022 by TheMightyVillans

[nepal_villan]

16 minutes ago, TheMightyVillans said:

Would be very happy with a midfield squad of

Ramsey/Mcginn

Bissouma/Luiz

Kamara/Nakamba

 

I think sanson could probably work well with kamara as they have played together but surely he is being sold with Young above him in the midfield pecking order.

Really feel the midfield needs a shake-up with one of Luiz or McGinn departing.  

[jacketspuds]

12 minutes ago, nepal_villan said:

Really feel the midfield needs a shake-up with one of Luiz or McGinn departing.  

Has to be Bissouma for me. Would transform our midfield alongside Kamara.

[Jareth]

FFS Villa, now we have to wait the entire window to see Kamara play. SG's a bit of a magnet eh - Kamara, Coutinho, Digne - all players that would slot in at any club. 

[Nicho]

So where does Lange step in during our signings? Is he managing the scouting? My general expectation was he would be picking out players early before they go on to become Champions League standard. Maybe that was too Football Manager. 

Is he part of our silent but efficent approach aswell?

Bailey and Kamara probably fit into what I expected from him, young, shown quality, top teams dont quite trust them yet. But they were both well known. 

[7392craig]

A top CB and maybe a CF and this team already looks completely different. WE HAVE A CDM!

[duke313]

2 minutes ago, Jareth said:

FFS Villa, now we have to wait the entire window to see Kamara play. SG's a bit of a magnet eh - Kamara, Coutinho, Digne - all players that would slot in at any club. 

No disrespect to Dean, but we aren't signing any of them if he was in charge. SG has his critics on his management and tactics, but his name alone will help attract players a level above us.

[lexicon]

Schick is class tbf - a clinical finisher. Would love to sign him. 

[Nigel]

29 minutes ago, lexicon said:

Schick is class tbf - a clinical finisher. Would love to sign him. 

i cant read this guys name without thinking of Sean Connery saying "Sick"!