Summer Transfer Window (2024/25)

[NeilS]

1 hour ago, abdulaziz1 said:

Ireland somehow was our player of the season on McLeish days. 
Lescott didn’t come directly from Man City from what I remember. Richards was free transfer.

Only Sinclair was who we got from them, he didn’t do much but won us against Tesco Bags in our cup run if I’m not mistaken. Our issue was much bigger than buying from City. 

I reckon Ireland was a protest vote that year, as we were universally rubbish that season. It was the pain of drawing matches to crawl over the safety line from Relegation at at the end.

I had forgotten Sinclair, yes you are right bar a handful of matches he didn't light things up. But I never expected much from him to be honest, which is probably why I had forgotten about him.

You are right, We were rubbish and heading towards the Championship thanks to Randy and Co. So it probably harsh to say no to any City players, if we were buying someone of top quality from City with a good attitude it would be fine, unfortunately they won't be letting those type of players go to us easily. Dougie they had to let go because of work permit isues, so we were fortunate to get in early with him. With Grealish I fear he will not have the hunger if he were to return here, he has achieved what he wanted to at City and I fear he would be coming back to see out his career here. We need players looking to push on and improve and give their all for the team.

[thabucks]

love Grealish and would’ve love to see him under Emery especially after working under Pep but better value to be had in Baena & Williams who are younger with potentially higher ceilings . 

[Tom13]

10 minutes ago, thabucks said:

love Grealish and would’ve love to see him under Emery especially after working under Pep but better value to be had in Baena & Williams who are younger with potentially higher ceilings . 

Speaking of Williams, this clip did make me laugh

[abdulaziz1]

2 hours ago, NeilS said:

I reckon Ireland was a protest vote that year, as we were universally rubbish that season. It was the pain of drawing matches to crawl over the safety line from Relegation at at the end.

I had forgotten Sinclair, yes you are right bar a handful of matches he didn't light things up. But I never expected much from him to be honest, which is probably why I had forgotten about him.

You are right, We were rubbish and heading towards the Championship thanks to Randy and Co. So it probably harsh to say no to any City players, if we were buying someone of top quality from City with a good attitude it would be fine, unfortunately they won't be letting those type of players go to us easily. Dougie they had to let go because of work permit isues, so we were fortunate to get in early with him. With Grealish I fear he will not have the hunger if he were to return here, he has achieved what he wanted to at City and I fear he would be coming back to see out his career here. We need players looking to push on and improve and give their all for the team.

Ireland had couple of good games that season, add to that he came as a part of Milner deal, usually in those kind of deals fail. I’m usually against getting fancy names thats why I was against Coutinho for example. But I think Grealish is still a good player, we had good days with him. Even Young which we had him after more than 10 years helped us qualifying to Europe. A loan for Grealish would be perfect. We’ll need a proper rotation next season anyway. I doubt City would loan to be honest, but I think that would be perfect for all parties.

[sne]

5 hours ago, VillaJ100 said:

Some players not made out of papier mache would be nice

So no Jean-Papier Papin then?

[QldVilla]

No to Grealish. Villa are a better team without him and I don’t believe either Monchi or Emery would have the faintest interest in him.

[M_Afro]

5 minutes ago, QldVilla said:

No to Grealish. Villa are a better team without him and I don’t believe either Monchi or Emery would have the faintest interest in him.

I agree. Man City will totally fleece someone for Jack. He’s a busted flush. You can’t be an elite footballer these days and not live a healthy lifestyle. He will go somewhere and they will be stuck with him on massive wages until his contract runs down. Avoid at all costs.

We were very fortunate to get the very best of Jack and what a privilege it was. Better to remember those days rather than trying to re-live them!

[VillaChris]

14 hours ago, Jas10 said:

Thought Bowery was re-signing after seeing that! Him spinning around in that wheelchair still cracks me up.

[Jas10]

1 hour ago, VillaChris said:

Thought Bowery was re-signing after seeing that! 

DON’T SCARE ME LIKE THAT!

It was bad enough the first time!

 

1 hour ago, VillaChris said:

Him spinning around in that wheelchair still cracks me up.

The highlight of his Villa career…

Enjoy 

[zab6359]

23 hours ago, paul514 said:

Ramsey is our ball carrier which is what Grealish mainly does and he is obviously better. He clearly fits

No not for me no place in this team for him and certainly don’t want the side show that surrounds him, we have moved on and improved so much since we had citehs pants down for a hundred mil

[one_ian_taylor]

10 hours ago, sne said:

So no Jean-Papier Papin then?

Mache-ly Young?

[Jareth]

Not much comparison between Ashley young coming back and grealish, one of these is an athlete who looked after his body so was able to perform upon their return. 

[DakotaVilla]

Obviously a younger player like Nico Williams would be the dream but Grealish would be dynamite in this team under Emery and our issues versus the low block teams would be resolved. If it was 50m and a reasonable wage we’d probably do the deal. 

[chrisvilla4]

12 hours ago, sne said:

So no Jean-Papier Papin then?

Javier Mache rano?

[sne]

10 minutes ago, chrisvilla4 said:

Javier Mache rano?

Declan Rice-paper

[Teale's 'tache]

Where Grealish is concerned I just see too many barriers in the way of that transfer happening.

From his point of view he'd have to make a lot of concessions i.e. a massive drop in wages, understanding he wouldn't be the main man (that's Emery now), he wouldn't be captain, nor the focal point of how we play. His dream return it would not be.

Financially, to us, it would be a massive risk and I don't see us taking those kinds of risks, especially in the current climate.

From a footballing point of view, he's still got plenty of quality and I've no doubt Emery would be able to extract the best out of him, where we are going we do need quality players, but it has to be the right fit. I think we have more pressing matters than his position or skillset and that's where our budget should be going.

[Enda]

If Grealish would come back for reasonable wages, say less than £100k a week, I’d take him.

But I’d do it just to put him in the bomb squad training with the U21s for the rest of his life. That would be great. Money well spent.

[Leeroy]

We could probably do with a player like Grealish but our focus needs to be on defensive minded players this summer, creating chances and scoring hasn't been a problem, conceding too many goals has. 

 

I also think our defence is getting too old, two left backs that will be 31 next season, Mings and Carlos both 31 (and Mings coming back from a very serious injury), only Pau, Konsa and Cash are on the younger side and one of them (Cash) is likely to be sold. Kosta and Sousa are both very young but no way can be relied upon to start for us regularly next season in the league.

 

Depending on budget I'd go:

• Defensive midfielder - Guido Rodriguez on a free makes a ton of sense, not overly keen on signing 30 year olds but we don't need a long term replacement for Kamara just a short term one. His defensive stats are superb and he reminds me of Palhinha. 
• Left back - if we move Digne on because of his high wages, I don't think Moreno should be the undisputed first choice and we need someone new. Hartman or Kerkez would be my choices. 
• Right sided centre back (who can also play right back) - the two obvious choices here are Geertruida and Todibo.
• Attacking midfielder - I'd bring in one player to the attack and although I would sign Zaniolo I don't think Emery will. Grealish on very high wages and will be 29 next season, I'm not against it but I'm not sure it's sensible. Nico Williams is a left sided version of Bailey and Diaby but expensive and I think we need someone with more guile. My choice would be Gloukh who wouldn't cost that much and is an exceptional talent. He's also been linked to us before.

[paul514]

1 hour ago, Enda said:

If Grealish would come back for reasonable wages, say less than £100k a week, I’d take him.

But I’d do it just to put him in the bomb squad training with the U21s for the rest of his life. That would be great. Money well spent.

the average PL wage is something like 78k a week......

[TRO]

I am hoping we sign some players with defensive nous.....that's not saying I want us to play defensive football...I Don't.

I am happy to play attacking football, but with a tighter back door.