Pau Torres

[Indigo]

11 minutes ago, VillaParkAvenue said:

All those spanish sources say things like ”unless a more attractive club arrives”. Sounds like ”someone come and get me please”. Doubt he’ll come to us.

Definite Asensio vibes.

[AshVilla]

I'd class him as a meltdown signing.

26 year old CB who has not yet hit his prime or reached his ceiling, great passer, great reader of the game and a defender who has a completely different toolset to what we already have.

Also has CL experience and has a great chemistry with Unai.

[Rodders]

Any chance we play three at the back or play Konsa RB.

Torres Mings Konsa and Carlos is an excellent set of centre halves to have

[Keyblade]

1 minute ago, Rodders said:

Any chance we play three at the back or play Konsa RB.

Torres Mings Konsa and Carlos is an excellent set of centre halves to have

Or MON/Pulis it and play all 4 together.

[VillaParkAvenue]

Just now, Keyblade said:

Or MON/Pulis it and play all 4 together.

Playing 4 centre-backs, isn’t that Pep’s new idea?

[Keyblade]

Just now, VillaParkAvenue said:

Playing 4 centre-backs, isn’t that Pep’s new idea?

Oh yeah true, I forgot he invented football.

Easier to do when your defenders are more skilled than most other team's midfielders and not like, Carlos Cuellar and Ryan Shotton

[Tomaszk]

Can't figure out where he'd play. Ahead of Konsa presumably?

Chance of flopping too big for me to be properly excited to be honest. Not a PL style defender at all.

All trust in Unai.

[Tom13]

44 minutes ago, PaulC said:

Bayern are a bigger pull than Villa  but the Premier League is a bigger pull than the Bundesliga 

But the fact remains - Bayern are a bigger pull than Villa.

Anyway, sounds like this could be very close!

[Keyblade]

2 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

Can't figure out where he'd play. Ahead of Konsa presumably?

Chance of flopping too big for me to be properly excited to be honest. Not a PL style defender at all.

All trust in Unai.

If he doesn't work out, the alternative is...Konsa? Who's been brilliant under Emery. Not bad. We'd have 2 unknowns with huge potential though to potentially upset our solid partnership. I'd like to take that risk.

[AshVilla]

4 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

Can't figure out where he'd play. Ahead of Konsa presumably?

Chance of flopping too big for me to be properly excited to be honest. Not a PL style defender at all.

All trust in Unai.

It's quite possible our starters could be Torres/Carlos next season.

Our passing out from the back will be unreal.

 

 

[HalfTimePost]

Don't think this is close at all.

It sounds as though we've made an offer and there will be leaks from his side every step of the way as this progresses as he hopes an Elite Club comes in for him (fair enough).

But he'll also be worried we may move on if he doesn't seem interested and he wants his move and big contract. He could probably get his elite move next year when he's on a free but anything could happen in the next year, sensible choice is take the money, contract and extra exposure the Prem offers now and maybe he gets an Elite club in the future (or, , we manage to progress to where he wants to be ourselves)

[Tomaszk]

Just now, AshVilla said:

It's quite possible our starters could be Torres/Carlos next season.

Our passing out from the back will be unreal.

If we can get to a point where we don't fall apart as soon as Mings doesn't play, that would be very nice.

[StewieGriffin]

I dont dislike this signing, he's clearly a very good player who fits our system, but I cant help think this is ruthlessly harsh on Mings

[AshVilla]

19 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

If we can get to a point where we don't fall apart as soon as Mings doesn't play, that would be very nice.

I don't think we have been in the position before where we have had a quality manager and a decent enough defender to force him out the side.

I love Mings but he's not getting any younger and were going to need to replace him at some point.

May as well start laying the groundwork now.

[Tomaszk]

1 minute ago, AshVilla said:

I don't think we have been in the position before where we have had a quality manager and a decent enough defender to force him out the side.

I love Mings but he's not getting any younger and were going to need to replace him at some point.

May as well start laying the groundwork now.

You're right. I would anticipate absolute disaster if we have that as a straight swap though. Interested to see what the don does.

[KMitch]

39 minutes ago, AshVilla said:

I'd class him as a meltdown signing.

26 year old CB who has not yet hit his prime or reached his ceiling, great passer, great reader of the game and a defender who has a completely different toolset to what we already have.

Also has CL experience and has a great chemistry with Unai.

Exactly.  He's a brilliant player and has been the best defender in a Europa League winning side and a side which went all the way to the Champions League semi finals.  I don't think we would have a shot at him if he didn't already have a prior relationship with Emery.

[Tom13]

21 minutes ago, StewieGriffin said:

I dont dislike this signing, he's clearly a very good player who fits our system, but I cant help think this is ruthlessly harsh on Mings

Unfortunately there's no time for sentiment if you want to win things.

Mings is a very good defender, but if there's an opportunity to possibly improve on him, of course we'd take it. Plus the fact that he's 30, unfortunately he won't be around forever.

Mings will of course fight for his place and may even start alongside Pau, although two left footed CBs together is fairly uncommon.

All that said, I do understand completely where you're coming from. Mings is a club legend in my eyes.

[wishywashy]

It'd be pretty nonsensical for Mings to get a new (and presumably improved) long-term contract at Emery's request just to replace him less than 4 months later (especially considering how the past 4 months have probably been Mings' best at the club). 

I really think that Konsa is either being converted into a defensive RB or is off if we sign Torres.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

42 minutes ago, StewieGriffin said:

I dont dislike this signing, he's clearly a very good player who fits our system, but I cant help think this is ruthlessly harsh on Mings

Ming's himself came out a few weeks ago and said competetion is something to be welcomed, not be scared of.

If Mings gets an injury, Hause or Chambers being our backups is what is " harsh ' lol

If every club thought like this, they wouldn't progress. It's not about being " harsh " on anyone, it's about improving the team and squad brick by brick

 

Edited June 26, 2023 by JAMAICAN-VILLAN

[StewieGriffin]

Maybe this is a wider topic to be discussed elsewhere, but I think I/we struggle with the concept of squad depth and a manager who requires different players for the different systems he'll employ, rather than having 38 league games plus 2 or 3 cup games per season playing the same system in each game.

The Tielemans signing was met with a general reaction of "who is he going to replace?" and this has a similar vibe in that we may or may not sign a very good player and reactions are positive but hesitant because we cant visualise a season where we might need 4 centre backs, despite the best team in the world having a lot of centre backs.

Even our most successful period in recent history under MON, we only really used about 13 players (and then had mock amazement when we collapsed from March onwards), so maybe we're just struggling to process the idea of it? I dunno.