Summer Transfer Window (2024/25)

[Jareth]

Barkley is a surprise IF true. Injuries withstanding, he did well here before so under Unai you’d imagine he could excel - used sparingly and precisely. 

[DaoDeMings]

1 minute ago, sne said:

Would be a strange career choice by him going back to a situation where he'll be a bit part player spending a lot of time on the bench. You'd think he'd be finished with situations like that.

This is a good point tbf. But then footballers are weird. And he would probably see decent game time in EFL/FA cup, and off the bench. Maybe that pull to play in a good team at a high level is enough

[Pez1974]

2 minutes ago, sne said:

Would be a strange career choice by him going back to a situation where he'll be a bit part player spending a lot of time on the bench. You'd think he'd be finished with situations like that.

Edit: Barkley.

Agreed

But - perhaps with his injury record, we are his best bet.
Someone like Ipswich (just for example) might want him, but he'd be under pressure and in a relegation dog-fight again most likely.
We can offer less pressure on him personally given the other players in the squad, but also lots of games, including Champions League, where he would be able to rotate in and get rest.
And I genuinely think that the Emery factor is underestimated. Players just want to play for him.

[Aston_Villan4]

I’m guessing the rumor is circulating because of the odds.

 

 

[DaoDeMings]

5 minutes ago, Aston_Villan4 said:

I’m guessing the rumor is circulating because of the odds.

 

 

Are the rumours circulating because of low odds, or are odds low because of rumours...

[sne]

Brighton feels like the obvious club. They love picking up veteran PL players for a final season or 2. Milner, Lallana, Welbeck, 

[CVByrne]

It takes pennies to move the odds in those markets. 

One thing I will say about Ross is the position change to CDM has really worked for him and he's shown some great form this season. He deserves to stay in PL 

Edited May 18 by CVByrne

[MSvillain]

15 minutes ago, Aston_Villan4 said:

Did your brother hear it from a mate who hangs out down at the pub with a bloke whose cousin works in the kit room at Villa?

Very possibly, he spends a lot of time down the pub

[AVTuco]

9 hours ago, duke313 said:

Could be a quiet summer

Will be very quiet. Hopefully an improvement at RB, that's it for me.

[OutByEaster?]

So it looks like we'll start with some money making outs.

Here's hoping that someone out there was impressed with Archer's season at Sheffield Utd.

 

[MSvillain]

9 minutes ago, Aston_Villan4 said:

I’m guessing the rumor is circulating because of the odds.

 

 

Yeah it’s a bit chicken and egg isn’t it.

Like I say, no idea on the source but thought I’d share

[Jareth]

Barkley is as technical as Unai needs from a player, with a hunger to fulfil a career that promised so much, to come play in a team that suits him. And he’s free. Other than the injuries, I can see it. Will play more than Zaniolo I’d suspect. 

[MSvillain]

I’m also not sure why people are worried about the ‘won’t sign many players’ aspect, I thought most were in agreement we need maybe 3 quality signings?

could maybe then do with a couple more for depth but that’s a nice to have

[DaoDeMings]

4 minutes ago, AVTuco said:

Will be very quiet. Hopefully an improvement at RB, that's it for me.

I’m weirdly happy about this. Id rather we have to be shrewd and focus on keeping what we’ve got that than sell a popular player to fund big transfers. IMO the first XI doesn’t need much, we just need depth to deal with injuries 

[CVByrne]

2 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

So it looks like we'll start with some money making outs.

Here's hoping that someone out there was impressed with Archer's season at Sheffield Utd.

 

Yes, we have the UEFA squad cost rules to abide by which is 80% for this year. We officially have Dendonker, Coutinho coming back, both on big wages. We have Chambers and rpobably Digne to move on too. Archer is coming back and that's amortisation + higher wages than he was on. We'll likely get our free transfer in, hopefully it's Hermosso then look at outgoings then move for targets in July/August.

We don't have much gaps in the squad if we get our players back fit. It's really CM and CB where we need to sign 2 players. From there we are in good place now we added 3 players for first team in Jan, GK, LM and RB. 

[AVTuco]

We need pace at the back more than anything. We ship in far too many goals.

We also need to make sure Coutinho is off the books.

Then sign some bench warmers for injury insurance and we're set.

[CVByrne]

4 minutes ago, Jareth said:

Barkley is as technical as Unai needs from a player, with a hunger to fulfil a career that promised so much, to come play in a team that suits him. And he’s free. Other than the injuries, I can see it. Will play more than Zaniolo I’d suspect. 

I don't think we are interested in Barkley, but my views are simple. If Emery and Monchi want a player I have complete faith in their decision making over opinions of myself and other football fans. I trust them completely. 

We cannot be going into Champions League without an experienced CDM so whatever way Emery and Monchi fill that gap (loan, short term contract to experienced player, signing a quality CDM to compete with Kamara) it needs to be filled.

[CVByrne]

2 minutes ago, AVTuco said:

We need pace at the back more than anything. We ship in far too many goals.

We also need to make sure Coutinho is off the books.

Then sign some bench warmers for injury insurance and we're set.

Mings is very very quick. So hopefully he hasn't lost that. McGinn and JJ said three quickest players at Villa were Leon, Ollie and Ty in a video a couple of years ago.

Moreno of last season was always with recovery runs back saving us too. 

Edited May 18 by CVByrne

[AVTuco]

3 minutes ago, DaoDeMings said:

I’m weirdly happy about this. Id rather we have to be shrewd and focus on keeping what we’ve got that than sell a popular player to fund big transfers. IMO the first XI doesn’t need much, we just need depth to deal with injuries 

This is how I think too. It's no guarantee a couple 25 million players are any better than what we have. And if you're expecting a 50 million signing after getting rid of our dead weight... get back to reality.

And it's not "negative" thinking  like some here are labeling it. It's smart.

[OutByEaster?]

I think as a priority we need an additional midfielder to provide the cover we didn't have when Kamara was injured, we could do with a CB to cover the loss of Lenglet, and possibly another one as insurance if Mings doesn't come back and because Carlos isn't getting any younger, and I think we need a right back depending on where the club see the Nedeljkovic in his development. If there's an opportunity we might take a left back due to the age of the two we have, again dependent on where the club see Sousa in his development, and I think we could do with an attacking midfielder who can open up a defence, both as cover or as a replacement for Buendia depending on how he comes back.

So for me, CB, CB, LB, RB, DM, AM would be the positions I'd like to see us looking at - although if one of January's youngsters is ahead of schedule we might already have one of those positions covered.