VillaChris Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 4 hours ago, allani said: Given that our summer window and winter window have exactly followed Monchi's standard approach of summer = first team, winter = youth / development - then I think it is highly likely that we will sign a player for the first team in the summer. People underestimate the business we did in the summer. Pau, Tielemans and Diaby were three potentially transformational signings and were all signed at significant outlay. After a dodgy start Pau has been really good and has been badly missed in the last month. Tielemans had to wait but looked very good in December although feels like one of those who takes time to get up to speed after an injury. Diaby gone the other way after a bright start but ultimately no one will care if he finds some form in April/May and wins us a few big games. What didn't help for business this month were the serious injuries to Mings and Buendia. I very much doubt we'd have got either loan in to replace them and so we'd have probably had the flexibility to get in a decent loan this month but it wasn't to be. I'm actually quite relaxed about the lack of business compared to previous January windows when we've been in good positions and just sat on our hands. We need to get the decent players going again, there's enough of them still playing. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allani Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 24 minutes ago, VillaChris said: People underestimate the business we did in the summer. Pau, Tielemans and Diaby were three potentially transformational signings and were all signed at significant outlay. After a dodgy start Pau has been really good and has been badly missed in the last month. Tielemans had to wait but looked very good in December although feels like one of those who takes time to get up to speed after an injury. Diaby gone the other way after a bright start but ultimately no one will care if he finds some form in April/May and wins us a few big games. What didn't help for business this month were the serious injuries to Mings and Buendia. I very much doubt we'd have got either loan in to replace them and so we'd have probably had the flexibility to get in a decent loan this month but it wasn't to be. I'm actually quite relaxed about the lack of business compared to previous January windows when we've been in good positions and just sat on our hands. We need to get the decent players going again, there's enough of them still playing. Agree with you entirely. The other thing to note is that FFP has really cut deep this winter for all the other teams in the division. Especially after the penalty handed out to Everton and the potential penalty for Forest. I think everyone is trying to make sure that they are well within the limits so that they aren't relying on a big offer coming in for a player in order to balance the books and / or climbing 5 or 6 places in the league. It feels like Emery and Monchi have had control over the signings. If we've not made signings it isn't because the owners aren't willing to back the manager and we've not made a panic signing and overpaid for a short-term "potential" fix. I can't say that the players we have signed would necessarily have been on my list / I don't know a great deal about them - but the data and stats all seem to fit in with the way we want to play. They all feel like they "fit" the master plan. It will be interesting to see how well they turn out and how we view the signings in a couple of years. But this is exactly what we wanted Monchi to do - find some young gems and buy them before they become £30m players. We'll find out whether he's managed to do that. But they all seem pretty low risk - if things don't quite work out then I don't see us losing a load of money on any of them. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 7 minutes ago, allani said: Agree with you entirely. The other thing to note is that FFP has really cut deep this winter for all the other teams in the division. Especially after the penalty handed out to Everton and the potential penalty for Forest. I think everyone is trying to make sure that they are well within the limits so that they aren't relying on a big offer coming in for a player in order to balance the books and / or climbing 5 or 6 places in the league. It feels like Emery and Monchi have had control over the signings. If we've not made signings it isn't because the owners aren't willing to back the manager and we've not made a panic signing and overpaid for a short-term "potential" fix. I can't say that the players we have signed would necessarily have been on my list / I don't know a great deal about them - but the data and stats all seem to fit in with the way we want to play. They all feel like they "fit" the master plan. It will be interesting to see how well they turn out and how we view the signings in a couple of years. But this is exactly what we wanted Monchi to do - find some young gems and buy them before they become £30m players. We'll find out whether he's managed to do that. But they all seem pretty low risk - if things don't quite work out then I don't see us losing a load of money on any of them. I like the look of the Serb lad. Balkan players usually have a fantastic mentality, are technically excellent and for someone so young he's already played in CL so I think that's a future gem we've got already. Keeper also fits what we need, young but quite experienced and played for Australia a few times so someone to hopefully build up for next 2-3 years to eventually take over from Emi. Only one that probably won't come off is Rogers because fans are putting unrealistic expectations on him already "fire us into the top 4" etc when reality is he'll probably have a Duran type role of coming off the bench late in games. It's an intriguing window and one that should give us scope to make 1-2 significant further signings in the summer window. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vancvillan Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 6 hours ago, VillaChris said: someone to hopefully build up for next 2-3 years to eventually take over from Emi. Emi is 31. I'm hoping he joins the illustrious ranks of keepers who made it to their 40's playing topflight football, alongside Steve Ogrizovic, Neville Southall and some American guy we sold to Spurs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaVilla Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 any rumours on Chambers or Traore? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacketspuds Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 It won't happen but I would still love us to sign another midfielder. But that would just be a bonus for what has been a fantastic window. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allani Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 8 hours ago, VillaChris said: I like the look of the Serb lad. Balkan players usually have a fantastic mentality, are technically excellent and for someone so young he's already played in CL so I think that's a future gem we've got already. Keeper also fits what we need, young but quite experienced and played for Australia a few times so someone to hopefully build up for next 2-3 years to eventually take over from Emi. Only one that probably won't come off is Rogers because fans are putting unrealistic expectations on him already "fire us into the top 4" etc when reality is he'll probably have a Duran type role of coming off the bench late in games. It's an intriguing window and one that should give us scope to make 1-2 significant further signings in the summer window. Yeah Kosta looks like a great find. A player at that age with good CL experience - including doing pretty well against Man City - looks like a real prospect. It will be interesting to see him during pre-season. My Arsenal supporting mates seem to think that Sousa is a really good prospect and are not happy that he's been let go. Sounds like they thought he might make the odd appearance next season - but will be good for him to get some experience at Plymouth. Gauci is an interesting one - one thing that stood out to me is that he made to penalty saves in a penalty shoot out, one of the things I love about Emi is how you can almost see striker's confidence drain away when they are taking a penalty against him! Seems like a division of opinion on Rogers - I've definitely read more negative "opinions" about him being no better than players we've let go - but the data suggests he hits the target on a lot of the things we need. He gives me the vibe of someone who will get better when playing with / against better players. I have a sense that he might score a big goal quite early on and play more minutes than we might expect. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allani Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 1 hour ago, Vancvillan said: Emi is 31. I'm hoping he joins the illustrious ranks of keepers who made it to their 40's playing topflight football, alongside Steve Ogrizovic, Neville Southall and some American guy we sold to Spurs. Argentina's Gigi Buffon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacketspuds Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 (edited) Forest need a GK. They can have Olsen if they want. Edited February 1 by jacketspuds 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RicRic Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 As much as i rate the young player approach we really needed guys that can come and change what’s happening right now that may be rogers but its not clear that it would be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 16 minutes ago, RicRic said: As much as i rate the young player approach we really needed guys that can come and change what’s happening right now that may be rogers but its not clear that it would be But I think realistically that's not what the January window seems to be for anyone anymore, there's hardly any activity Add to that we have a decent injury list and those players will come back, if we sign say another 2 first team starters now then in the summer we have problems when buendia and mings come back + Ramsey and Digne get 100% fit and firing, what we've done this January is sensible There's also a danger of us chasing a £30m first teamer this window that we don't know if we will be playing CL or not next season which has to factor in, I'd rather we save the money get CL and go shopping in the posher shop 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duke313 Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 14 minutes ago, RicRic said: As much as i rate the young player approach we really needed guys that can come and change what’s happening right now that may be rogers but its not clear that it would be What guarantee is there that a new first team signing would come in and change things now? Our summer signings are currently being thrown under the bus by some fans, and being blamed for our current slump. What if this mythical January signing doesn't hit the ground running? I'd rather trust Emery and co to fix things, than just throw money at someone in the hope they do. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick76 Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinRichardsonsMoustache Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 2 minutes ago, nick76 said: Bloke has a bit of a tan in that photo. Rather than the photos in training of him looking like a heroin addict. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herman22 Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 59 minutes ago, MaVilla said: any rumours on Chambers or Traore? Looks likely that Chambers will get a loan move to the championship. Haven’t seen anything on Bert! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Herman22 Posted February 1 Popular Post Share Posted February 1 It surely make more financial sense to just buy West Brom at this stage. 2 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PerryBarrPet Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 10 minutes ago, Herman22 said: It surely make more financial sense to just buy West Brom at this stage. Yes, going cheap at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RicRic Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 23 minutes ago, duke313 said: What guarantee is there that a new first team signing would come in and change things now? Our summer signings are currently being thrown under the bus by some fans, and being blamed for our current slump. What if this mythical January signing doesn't hit the ground running? I'd rather trust Emery and co to fix things, than just throw money at someone in the hope they do. We have a right to ask for change through analysing the form of the team, so if certain players have not been nowhere near good enough we have the right to point this out as fans of this club, I appreciate the work we have done up until this point. However standing still and not risking to improve the squad would be an idiotic approach, the scouting team have a job to identify the right players to improve and do their due diligence in the process. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewiek2 Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 3 hours ago, Vancvillan said: Emi is 31. I'm hoping he joins the illustrious ranks of keepers who made it to their 40's playing topflight football, alongside Steve Ogrizovic, Neville Southall and some American guy we sold to Spurs. Thank god keepers are fitter nowadays. I remember being at the old Baseball Ground when we beat Derby, and you could take a shot back then and Peter Shilton would still be on his way down to save it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 36 minutes ago, nick76 said: Yeah no one is a buying him. A series of loans until the end of his contract then. We'd prob have to cover some of his wage too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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