Summer Transfer Window 2022

[TRO]

13 hours ago, Peter Griffin said:

There are a few reason we can do it now imo. Firstly, FFP is definitely something Villa has to be carful of. We have spent a fortune since we came up and have huge annual amortisation costs to pay. We are still paying about 5m a year in amortisation each year for Wesley. Secondly, we are massively. increasing our wage bill. When we came up I think our highest earner was on 40k/50k and then we put Jack onto about 75k. Now we have multiple players on 120k+ a week. All of these costs have to be accounted for in every financial year and not just the year we sign the player. Thirdly, we need to grow the attraction of Villa for the better players to join us. Gerrard has really helped with this and we are now signing players that a lot of us did not think possible to sign. To move further up the food chain we need to build a team that is attractive to players to join. The big thing we are missing now is a top half finish in the PL. When we get that we will make ourselves more attractive and closer to the 40m/50m bracket.

What teams are getting further away from us, yes the top 6, but we simply can't compete with them yet, we need to climb a few more rungs up the ladder before we can. I don't see any team outside the top 6 that has pulled away from us. The only candidate is West Ham and I still don't think they have pulled away, we have at least maintained our gap in quality to them.

Yes Purslow was disappointed with not finishing in Europe, that doesn't mean it was an objective and it would have been really dumb if it was an objective. We are in the mix for clubs fighting for a European spot and if we don't make it it will be disappointing.

I agree that money doesn't necessarily mean a better quality player and there are loads of example of where it hasn't, however, there is no denying the correlation between higher transfer fee and a better quality player.

When you look back on last season.....you ony have to correct some of the sloppy work that resulted in goals against.....Watford, Spurs, Arsenal etc.

It doesn't have to be far reaching sophisticated ball work......We are not far away, cut out the stupid mistakes, and it can make a huge difference.....we was close in games with Man City, and Liverpool.....Its stuff that is easy to fix that need fixing.

Tighten up, discipline ourselves, show a willingness to compete and the talent will shine through.

[Peter Griffin]

1 minute ago, TRO said:

Its stuff that is easy to fix that need fixing.

I posted in the Gerrard thread that I believe he will be sacked in the next 6 months or he will be with us for a number of years. I think u hit the nail on the head with having stuff that is easy to fix. Deano wasn't able to fix it and so far what we have seen of Gerrard he has not been able to fix it either. However, I will give Gerrard some rope as he was only new to the job, new to the PL and he didn't have any of his players in when he joined us and the objective had to have been to avoid relegation at all costs, therefore the scope to try new things was limited. However, this season is different, a good pre season, his own players and no immediate pressure of relegation. Gerrard needs to be able to demonstrate over the next 17 league games that he can fix the issues and make Villa more consistent. 

[WHY]

7 minutes ago, TRO said:

When you look back on last season.....you ony have to correct some of the sloppy work that resulted in goals against.....Watford, Spurs, Arsenal etc.

It doesn't have to be far reaching sophisticated ball work......We are not far away, cut out the stupid mistakes, and it can make a huge difference.....we was close in games with Man City, and Liverpool.....Its stuff that is easy to fix that need fixing.

Tighten up, discipline ourselves, show a willingness to compete and the talent will shine through.

Don’t blow 3, 2 goal leads we finish 8th. 

[pas5898]

6 minutes ago, Peter Griffin said:

I posted in the Gerrard thread that I believe he will be sacked in the next 6 months or he will be with us for a number of years. 

I think if we aren't top 10 by the World Cup, he will be gone. Mainly because Pochetino is available, who could take us up a level (he did with Spurs). New manager can come in and have a 2 month transfer window (effectively) to bring in signings.

 

Edited August 4, 2022 by pas5898

[PerryBarrPet]

1 hour ago, Rustibrooks said:

 

So Sangare and de Tomas(maybe?) just judging on the players we've been linked to the most recently that fit the description

Certainly could be but the pleasing thing is that we will only buy players who are better than those we have. Coutinho, Carlos, Kamara and Digne set the standard for future additions.

[PieFacE]

Has anyone watched De Tomas? If so, any good? 

[allani]

38 minutes ago, macandally said:

First season was firefighting, we basically rebuilt the team from scratch on a limited FFP budget. We then stayed up by virtue of a technical hitch!

That was a wake up call, we had to upgrade players, it wasn’t strategy, it was necessity!  That saw us slightly more comfortable, but still not where we want to be but Jan/this summer is the first time I think we have some time on our side rather than “fire fighting”.

I think you see that as some form of plan, I see it as responding to events.  Either way, I don’t think anyone at the club “planned” to bring i players for 2 years, I think that is just people stepping up or not.

I think we are basically agreeing with each other.  Ideally the Board would have wanted to recruit the "right" players straight away - but FFP made that impossible.  Our choice was to buy older, experienced players who could help us avoid relegation in the first year (effectively what we tried towards the end of the Lerner era) or gamble on younger players who showed some promise.  The Board clearly devised a strategy based on the latter in the belief that if some of those players did make fulfill their potential then they wouldn't need to replaced as quickly but also hoping that those who didn't make the full grade would still retain some decent resale value to help fund the next stage of the development.  I think they were very aware of the fact that if you spend under £10m on 10 players then the chances are that to be climbing the table eventually you will have to replace the majority of those with better players.  For every player that doesn't need replacing they'd basically be saving themselves £20+ million.  Right back would be a perfect example of this - Matty Cash came in as a good Championship player, he settled into the PL pretty quickly and is now easily in the top 10 right-backs in the division.  He has some limitations but he's improved a lot and seems to keep on improving.  We've now got a young kid coming through who looks good enough to provide cover over the next couple of seasons but who could well be a ready made upgrade.  So basically it looks like we will have saved ourselves the best part of £40m in just one position.  I think we have some super smart people working at the club.

[Mic09]

5 minutes ago, pas5898 said:

I think if we aren't top 10 by the World Cup, he will be gone. Mainly because Pochetino is available, who could take us up a level (he did with Spurs). New manager can come in and have a 2 month transfer window (effectively) to bring in signings.

 

Even if we are 11th by Christmas, all likelihood is we will be 5-8 points away from 5/6th place. 

In which case, it would be stupid to sack Gerrard. 

Let the man try building something. If he fails in doing so over a long term, we can then discuss potential management change. Not while he is touching distance of success. 

[TRO]

2 minutes ago, Peter Griffin said:

I posted in the Gerrard thread that I believe he will be sacked in the next 6 months or he will be with us for a number of years. I think u hit the nail on the head with having stuff that is easy to fix. Deano wasn't able to fix it and so far what we have seen of Gerrard he has not been able to fix it either. However, I will give Gerrard some rope as he was only new to the job, new to the PL and he didn't have any of his players in when he joined us and the objective had to have been to avoid relegation at all costs, therefore the scope to try new things was limited. However, this season is different, a good pre season, his own players and no immediate pressure of relegation. Gerrard needs to be able to demonstrate over the next 17 league games that he can fix the issues and make Villa more consistent. 

For some time now Pete, with various managers.....I don't see the workrate in this team like I do some other Premier League teams.....I think a good 45 then a poor 45 or the other way around, is just a part of it...being second to the ball is another part of it, obviously awareness is too.

I am hoping SG came in, and in his first season, just got to know everyone, and eased his way in, getting everyone on side...building rapport.....Now its showtime.

The signs are, the training in Oz was more intense.....and IMO it needs to be.

As you know, I sometimes reflect back to Saunders days, where they was as fit as a butchers dog.....workrate was not a dirty word, intensity and urgency was the watchword....I am hoping we can replicate a bit of that mentality and physicality

The top teams today, don't hang around, they are first to the ball, and you have to be fit ,to do that....They have elite talent, but still reach High levels of fitness.

All the talent in the world ,won't save you from being second to the ball......Bournemouth will be a good test, because they will have their tails up, being written off by their own manager, and a partisan crowd, close to the pitch.....itsa good test for us imo.

I hope the fitness, goes up a few notches, and a few winces after training will do them good.....I am convinced we have good talent,.....I am hoping we have the application to go with it.

 

[duke313]

7 minutes ago, pas5898 said:

I think if we aren't top 10 by the World Cup, he will be gone. Mainly because Pochetino is available, who could take us up a level (he did with Spurs). New manager can come in and have a 2 month transfer window (effectively) to bring in signings.

 

Pochetino would be a major coup if we could convince him. I think he will wait for the Real Madrid job though, Ancelotti was talking about retiring.  Also he'd be in no rush to take a job in November, he just has to wait until the United, Chelsea or even Newcastle jobs become available.

[Peter Griffin]

8 minutes ago, pas5898 said:

I think if we aren't top 10 by the World Cup, he will be gone. Mainly because Pochetino is available, who could take us up a level (he did with Spurs). New manager can come in and have a 2 month transfer window (effectively) to bring in signings.

 

My dream manager for Villa. I would love to see him take on Villa. You now have me hoping we will be 11th by the time the WC break kicks in 

[Steero113]

8 minutes ago, PieFacE said:

Has anyone watched De Tomas? If so, any good? 

No better than what we have. 

[Peter Griffin]

9 minutes ago, PieFacE said:

Has anyone watched De Tomas? If so, any good? 

Do u have to actually watch a player before expertly commenting on how he would transform us into a top 7 club?

I must read the VT terms & conditions again.

[Peter Griffin]

2 minutes ago, duke313 said:

Pochetino would be a major coup if we could convince him. I think he will wait for the Real Madrid job though, Ancelotti was talking about retiring.  Also he'd be in no rush to take a job in November, he just has to wait until the United, Chelsea or even Newcastle jobs become available.

I don't see the Utd or Chelsea jobs coming available to quite some time. They both have very good managers and I expect them to be safe. I see no reason why MoPo would go to Toon over us.

[sheepyvillian]

I'd take a bet with anyone that Gerrard will still be here come the end of the season. He is far too driven to fail in being able to get us in the top 10. I wouldn't be surprised if we finish top 8.

Edited August 4, 2022 by sheepyvillian

[Peter Griffin]

1 minute ago, sheepyvillian said:

I'd take a bet with anyone that Gerrard will still be here come the end of the season. He is far too driven to fail in being able to get us in the top 10. I wouldn't be surprised if we finish top 8.

That's the hope and his character does suggest that he will do everything he possibly can to make it work. I just hope he is able to deliver. It would be great to go into a game and not be wondering which Villa side is going to show up today. I am looking forward to going into games I expect to win and having a relaxing afternoon / evening watching us get a straightforward professional win with no squeaky bum feelings 

[duke313]

1 minute ago, Peter Griffin said:

I don't see the Utd or Chelsea jobs coming available to quite some time. They both have very good managers and I expect them to be safe. I see no reason why MoPo would go to Toon over us.

Newcastle have unlimited funds, they might not be that much more attractive than us at the minute, but you'd be naive to think they aren't going to eventually attract elite managers and players

6 into 4 doesn't go, two of the big 6 will miss out on CL. If United or Chelsea are sitting outside the top 4 come the World Cup, there is a good chance they'll sack their manager,  United might give Ten Hag a bit more time as he is new.  But Poch isn't going to jump the gun and take the Villa job, if there is a chance one of big 6 jobs becomes available, even if he has to wait until next summer.

[Peter Griffin]

4 minutes ago, duke313 said:

Newcastle have unlimited funds, they might not be that much more attractive than us at the minute, but you'd be naive to think they aren't going to eventually attract elite managers and players

6 into 4 doesn't go, two of the big 6 will miss out on CL. If United or Chelsea are sitting outside the top 4 come the World Cup, there is a good chance they'll sack their manager,  United might give Ten Hag a bit more time as he is new.  But Poch isn't going to jump the gun and take the Villa job, if there is a chance one of big 6 jobs becomes available, even if he has to wait until next summer.

Newcastle do not have unlimited funds. That is a myth the media like to spread as it creates clickbait headlines. Its like saying Villa has unlimited funds. Newcastle is owned by PIF, it is one of many many investments that PIF own. PIF money is not Newcastle money. We are owned by NSWE they have multiple billions between them. From a footballing perspective that is relatively unlimited funds too. Also, clubs are constrained by FFP which Newcastle must adhere to. 

Edited August 4, 2022 by Peter Griffin
Fixed a typo

[paul514]

27 minutes ago, pas5898 said:

I think if we aren't top 10 by the World Cup, he will be gone. Mainly because Pochetino is available, who could take us up a level (he did with Spurs). New manager can come in and have a 2 month transfer window (effectively) to bring in signings.

 

I don’t think we could attract him

[Peter Griffin]

6 minutes ago, duke313 said:

if there is a chance one of big 6 jobs becomes available, even if he has to wait until next summer.

The top 6 managers are looking more secure now than they have in a very long time imo.