January Transfer Window 2024

[MotoMkali]

19 hours ago, John said:

We are in Europe and in a Champions League position, yet the talk is again of "sell to buy".... Have I gone back in the Tardis to the days when HDE treated every pound spent, like it was his own, rather than the club's?

We should be thinking of adding a couple of players to strengthen the squad for the run in. We should not think about selling a first team player, because that would weaken us and reduce our chances of making this the season to remember it looks like becoming. Sell the odd player who isn't good enough, if you can, but don't do so without replacing them and don't do the press and pundits job for them, by linking our players with a move! 

It's sell to make room in the squad. Guys like Cash, Digne, Mcginn, even as much as I am loathe to admit it Mings will all likely need to be moved on for financial reasons before the end of their current contracts. Not because they are too good for us, or we really need the money to buy the calibre of players we have purchased recently, but because if we want to be at the top we need to but the next level up who do cost 35-45 mil a pop. Those 4 would make good cash and are likely to regress first among our players so we aren't caught holding the grenade. 

That being said its not time to sell now but in the summer. We need to bring in a couple more players to build squad depth before we can start rotating out the players who can actually contribute towards winning for us. Dendoncker, Traore and Chambers all need to go before the 4 I mentioned need to. 

It's worth pointing out that our transfer record is 44 million great British pounds. Diaby was 35 mil, Torres was 28 so you can find steals. But if you really want to get guaranteed quality paying 60 million for a midfielder might be necessary. Paying 40-50 mil for CBs, paying 80 mil for wingers etc. 

[thabucks]

Our squad is 21 plus youth … ALL players have their price and will be sold if that’s met or exceeded. We will be active in January if the players are available 

[paul514]

17 minutes ago, MotoMkali said:

It's sell to make room in the squad. Guys like Cash, Digne, Mcginn, even as much as I am loathe to admit it Mings will all likely need to be moved on for financial reasons before the end of their current contracts. Not because they are too good for us, or we really need the money to buy the calibre of players we have purchased recently, but because if we want to be at the top we need to but the next level up who do cost 35-45 mil a pop. Those 4 would make good cash and are likely to regress first among our players so we aren't caught holding the grenade. 

That being said its not time to sell now but in the summer. We need to bring in a couple more players to build squad depth before we can start rotating out the players who can actually contribute towards winning for us. Dendoncker, Traore and Chambers all need to go before the 4 I mentioned need to. 

It's worth pointing out that our transfer record is 44 million great British pounds. Diaby was 35 mil, Torres was 28 so you can find steals. But if you really want to get guaranteed quality paying 60 million for a midfielder might be necessary. Paying 40-50 mil for CBs, paying 80 mil for wingers etc. 

we aren’t going to move on mings or Carlos the sale fee wouldn’t make it worth it for mings and Carlos won’t register a profit for ffp. Both are excellent back ups.

digne I could see due to the age of the first choice.

cash I’m not sure on as he would be worth quite a lot and if we upgraded it does make sense in some form to sell and from the players pov to leave.

we aren’t going to sell McGinn the leadership lost and the performances he has given for the last year rules it out.

if we were to raise funds I suspect it would be Watkins or Luiz.

having said all that as far as I know we don’t need to sell for ffp unless we want to spank a load of money on players

[grantholtgolazo]

I understand it’s naive in the context of the modern game but I’ll never be comfortable with the mercenary tactics necessary to exist as a “top club”. Selling your dedicated performers in anticipation of a potential future drop off, or to balance the books due to a small shift in profit to wage ratio isn’t a part of football I’ll ever appreciate. Can’t separate the results from the process but still wonder if it indeed must be done in such a coldly calculated fashion.

[DakotaVilla]

All of this talk about FFP proximity has come from one sole journo (Greg Evans) who - and I’m being kind here - has not exactly dropped any major exclusives on the club since he has been covering them… which is a while.

First of all. Do we have flex in FFP to spend in January if we wanted? Only the club know, but I would strongly suspect that we do. At the very least they have the option of betting on making top 4 with the back up of selling a first teamer in the summer to get us compliant if we don’t make champions league.

The second and far more relevant question for January is whether the calibre of player that would improve  the first team squad is available and wants to come to us in January. If such a player at right back, back up GK or as an upgrade to Donks appears I think we will definitely do business in Jan. 

 

[paul514]

30 minutes ago, grantholtgolazo said:

I understand it’s naive in the context of the modern game but I’ll never be comfortable with the mercenary tactics necessary to exist as a “top club”. Selling your dedicated performers in anticipation of a potential future drop off, or to balance the books due to a small shift in profit to wage ratio isn’t a part of football I’ll ever appreciate. Can’t separate the results from the process but still wonder if it indeed must be done in such a coldly calculated fashion.

Players largely move in the same fashion , not all but most

[MotoMkali]

17 minutes ago, paul514 said:

we aren’t going to move on mings or Carlos the sale fee wouldn’t make it worth it for mings and Carlos won’t register a profit for ffp. Both are excellent back ups.

digne I could see due to the age of the first choice.

cash I’m not sure on as he would be worth quite a lot and if we upgraded it does make sense in some form to sell and from the players pov to leave.

we aren’t going to sell McGinn the leadership lost and the performances he has given for the last year rules it out.

if we were to raise funds I suspect it would be Watkins or Luiz.

having said all that as far as I know we don’t need to sell for ffp unless we want to spank a load of money on players

For mings we'd only need to sell for like 5 mil for FFP profit, 0 the following season. After next season you could see a potential sale in the 15 mil region. With Carlos after next season it would be like 8 mil. 

Whilst mcginns leadership is no doubt important he's also a place to upgrade in the team. Realistically we aren't upgrading on Emi, Torres, Luiz, Diaby and Watkins. And Ramsey is young and can improve. That leaves RB, RCB, LB, CDM and RM as places where we can bring in more talent. So once we get the low hanging fruit of RB our of the way then what? We just don't upgrade on the rest of our players? 

We are getting close to the point where to improve we need to start moving on from very good players like Konsa, like Mcginn maybe even like Kamara. 

[DakotaVilla]

Mings will be sold sooner or later. He’s unlikely to come back the same player and unfortunately but understandably he will want to play for the rest of his career. When the time is right, We should let him go for a reasonable fee as thanks for the service he has given us and maybe one day we’ll see him back as a coach or in some other capacity. 

[MotoMkali]

33 minutes ago, grantholtgolazo said:

I understand it’s naive in the context of the modern game but I’ll never be comfortable with the mercenary tactics necessary to exist as a “top club”. Selling your dedicated performers in anticipation of a potential future drop off, or to balance the books due to a small shift in profit to wage ratio isn’t a part of football I’ll ever appreciate. Can’t separate the results from the process but still wonder if it indeed must be done in such a coldly calculated fashion.

It does suck but it's necessary otherwise you end up with Gabby Agbonlahor earning 70k a week in the Championship. 

[Villaphan04]

1 hour ago, paul514 said:

we aren’t going to sell McGinn the leadership lost and the performances he has given for the last year rules it out.

if we were to raise funds I suspect it would be Watkins or Luiz.

so, we keep McGinn for his performances over the year but then could sacrifice Luiz or Watkins who have had better overall performances than him over the year. I'd also argue that replacing McGinn would be far easier than Watkins or Luiz for the roles they play in the system. I don't see that at all tbh

[John]

1 hour ago, MotoMkali said:

It's sell to make room in the squad. Guys like Cash, Digne, Mcginn, even as much as I am loathe to admit it Mings will all likely need to be moved on for financial reasons before the end of their current contracts. Not because they are too good for us, or we really need the money to buy the calibre of players we have purchased recently, but because if we want to be at the top we need to but the next level up who do cost 35-45 mil a pop. Those 4 would make good cash and are likely to regress first among our players so we aren't caught holding the grenade. 

That being said its not time to sell now but in the summer. We need to bring in a couple more players to build squad depth before we can start rotating out the players who can actually contribute towards winning for us. Dendoncker, Traore and Chambers all need to go before the 4 I mentioned need to. 

It's worth pointing out that our transfer record is 44 million great British pounds. Diaby was 35 mil, Torres was 28 so you can find steals. But if you really want to get guaranteed quality paying 60 million for a midfielder might be necessary. Paying 40-50 mil for CBs, paying 80 mil for wingers etc. 

Those four are all current first team players, or would be in Tyrone's case. Would we really get enough for them at the end of the season to enable us to replace them all and also strengthen elsewhere at the prices that you rightly quote? I think we are more likely to spend big on another three players and keep these four, or most of them, so that the squad grows stronger.  

[Villaphan04]

10 minutes ago, John said:

Those four are all current first team players, or would be in Tyrone's case. Would we really get enough for them at the end of the season to enable us to replace them all and also strengthen elsewhere at the prices that you rightly quote? I think we are more likely to spend big on another three players and keep these four, or most of them, so that the squad grows stronger.  

Unless we get Champions League in the summer, I'm under the assumption that we wouldn't have the FFP headroom to spend big on another 3 top players without selling a first team regular. 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

48 minutes ago, Villaphan04 said:

Unless we get Champions League in the summer, I'm under the assumption that we wouldn't have the FFP headroom to spend big on another 3 top players without selling a first team regular. 

Surely we still have players we can sell to get fees in and free up a load of wages before we need to sell any of our own top players?

Dendonker, Sanson, Hause, Chambers, Traore, Olsen, Coutinho ( Let's say we get to 20 mill for those 7, and free up say 300 - 400 k per week in wages )

PLUS added money from finishing higher, added gates, Cups, Europe, which will also undoubtedly bring better sponsorship packages etc.

As mentioned, especially if we qualify for Europa or Champions League.

Edited November 30, 2023 by JAMAICAN-VILLAN

[MotoMkali]

42 minutes ago, John said:

Those four are all current first team players, or would be in Tyrone's case. Would we really get enough for them at the end of the season to enable us to replace them all and also strengthen elsewhere at the prices that you rightly quote? I think we are more likely to spend big on another three players and keep these four, or most of them, so that the squad grows stronger.  

I'm not suggesting we sell all of them immediately. Presumably we bring in a RB in January. So there that covered. Then in the summer maybe we sell cash bring in an even better RB. But having 3 RBs is superfluous. So selling him would be necessary. 

But then once we have shifted Traore, Dendoncker, Chambers we don't really have any deadwood left in the squad. So we maybe bring in 2 other players in addition to the RB with general none player revenue. Then what Mcginn is just happy to be coming off the bench?

I mean if we look at our teams depth

Emi - New GK

New RB - Cash

Konsa - Carlos

Torres - Mings

Moreno - Digne

Kamara - New CDM/Tim

Luiz - X

Wingers/SS/CAM: Tielemans, Bailey, Diaby, Ramsey, Mcginn, Buendia 

Watkins - Duran

Like we have 6 players for 3 positions already, they can all pretty much play in any of those 3 roles. I think most of us would bring back Bidace and we might bring in zaniolo or sign another better winger. 

At which point we need to sell someone as you can't just have 8 players for one position even if McGinn, Tielemans and Ramsey are depth pieces for CM/CDM as well. We would need to sell someone. We presumably aren't selling Tielemans or diaby as they've just joined. Buendia is coming off a long term injury. Which leaves Ramsey, Bailey and Mcginn. Ramsey would bring in the biggest return but he in my opinion is most important to how we want to play and has the most potential. 

So Bailey and Mcginn. We could probably get like 30 mil for Bailey but Mcginn we could get somewhere in the 40-50 mil range which would cover us for whatever we purchase the new winger for basically. 

Edited November 30, 2023 by MotoMkali

[Adman]

I'd just like to say, we're not selling John McGinn

[Stockbridgehibby]

I think it’s helpful to be specific.  May I ask, of those who propose to sell McGinn, the captain:

a) how much they think they will get for him next summer (assuming he continues his largely good form; I understand it’s not being suggested that he should be sold in January);

b) who, among those who might realistically be available, would they wish to replace him; and

c) how much they consider that such a replacement is likely to cost?

Just to be clear: I am not saying McGinn shouldn’t be sold.  Although he has pledged himself to Villa (what price that in today’s market?!), loyalty is a two- way street.  

[Mazrim]

There are tribes in the amazon that have never seen an aeroplane, a tv, a white person. They've no idea what coca cola is, they've never seen a road, never mind anything that might travel upon one. They've never had antibiotics or aspirin, they've never read a book or heard any other language but their own. Their way of life has not changed in over 1000 years. The sun rises and the sun sets and they hunt and forage for everything they own, every meal, every drink. Life is brutal, simple and hard.

These people know more about what happens at Aston Villa than Greg Evans.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

9 minutes ago, Adman said:

I'd just like to say, we're not selling John McGinn

Bizarre to me how some people nonchalantly think he's so easy to replace.

When he is at his best he's unplayable and crucial to the team.

He's a very unique player imo.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

4 minutes ago, Mazrim said:

There are tribes in the amazon that have never seen an aeroplane, a tv, a white person. 

So the poor bastards have no idea who white Jesus is, and are destined for eternal damnation in the Lake of fire!

[Mazrim]

12 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

So the poor bastards have no idea who white Jesus is, and are destined for eternal damnation in the Lake of fire!

Yes, I'm afraid so. But they know we don't have to sell any key players and can buy a right back.