Summer Transfer Window (2024/25)

[Daulmakan]

12 hours ago, RicRic said:

Dont attack me but present your points to prove otherwise BUT i dont have that much confidence in Monchi, lets bear in mind that 90% of the team that have got us to where we are now before he arrived, zaniolo and lenglet were questionable at the time of signing and certainly proved to be so once the season had concluded. I respect both players for trying and giving what they could to the team absolutely full credit for that and to be fair they were loans, even Rogers who is a good player of course far from the finished article wasnt perhaps someone I expected us to sign at the time, and yes we did make a top four finish and rogers did contribute to that but more importantly down to super emerys coaching/management. 

While I agree that Zaniolo was out of left field (wasn't really in my radar, and no reason why he should be after the past season), and that Lenglet is absolutely terrible and he should've known that, wasn't he instrumental in convincing Torres to sign for Villa? Maybe not worth 38 million, but still a good player. With a year under his belt, some very good results achieved, and the coaching staff solidly in place, this market window will put the focus entirely on Monchi. IMO, the team has mostly reached its ceiling or very near to it barring a totally improbable injury-free season, it needs more depth and some more talent. It's still early, though. I expect things to be relatively quiet until after the eurocup where players rise and fall.

[Daulmakan]

4 hours ago, RicRic said:

Matheus Nunes anyone ? Talented player just lost and pushed to the side at City, personally i feel he would be a fantastic signing for us. Also fills in many of the CM roles we are happy to see an addition for

I watched City a fair amount this season, and Nunes probably has the dubious honor of looking absolutely mundane while playing with some of the best players in the world at the same time. And City already wants to ship him away... Not sold on him at all.

9 hours ago, duke313 said:

Only way this happens is with a loan, as PSG are reluctant to sell. 

Even if it happened with "just" a loan with no option he'd be a top-tier addition. 

[Kiwivillan]

4 hours ago, StewieGriffin said:

My issue with us signing Ndidi is that he's a **** midget

Taller than Makalele and then some on Kante and they did alright as CDMs

[cb_82]

3 hours ago, Daulmakan said:

While I agree that Zaniolo was out of left field (wasn't really in my radar, and no reason why he should be after the past season), and that Lenglet is absolutely terrible and he should've known that, wasn't he instrumental in convincing Torres to sign for Villa? Maybe not worth 38 million, but still a good player. With a year under his belt, some very good results achieved, and the coaching staff solidly in place, this market window will put the focus entirely on Monchi. IMO, the team has mostly reached its ceiling or very near to it barring a totally improbable injury-free season, it needs more depth and some more talent. It's still early, though. I expect things to be relatively quiet until after the eurocup where players rise and fall.

Not sure Lenglet was terrible! He served a purpose as a left sided centre back when Mings got injured and came in at late notice, he had some poor performances but was also good in some eg Fulham away and helped us through the period when Torress was out - Either way not one to judge Monchi on in my opinion

[DakotaVilla]

Lenglet was great considering the number of games he ended up playing and the fact that he was an emergency last minute loan and came in as fourth choice CB. Not sure what better quality you would have expected us to sign.

Zaniolo came good towards the end and made key contributions and again was a last minute loan to cover for injury. Yes we would have all preferred a 50m signing at that time but we have to be realistic, especially considering the obvious PSR issues that we are navigating. 
 

Edited May 25 by DakotaVilla

[theboyangel]

10 hours ago, Delphouneso said:

 

Ndidi arriving for his medical.

Which shoe is he hiding in? 

[John]

9 hours ago, useless said:

Hudson-Odoi is a good player, better than most of the Championship wingers that have been suggested, and have to remember if we're going to sign a right footed left winger, they're most likely going to be more of a bench option, because they aren't displacing Ramsey as a starter, because if you drop Ramsey for a winger, you then have to drop Bailey on the other side for a midfielder, because Emery usually plays with one winger and one wide midfielder, he actually plays a lot with two wide midfielders when everyone is fit, which is why I've also thought Nico Williams is unlikely, and winger we sign will more liklely be a squad option, Hudson-Odoi would probably represent something approaching the upper limits we could attract for such a role

But I would gladly take Philogene back instead, and I think that would make an whole lot of sense, if we've somehow messed up and don't have a buyback, then let them have Archer as part of the deal

Would actually take Chukwuemeka back the more i think about it, if we really are in talks with them over some possible deals, presuming his injuries haven't completely wrecked him, could play on the left, in central midfield in Dougie role, or a little further forward centrally, and I presume would help with the home grown, academy grown status things, but I doubt Chelsea would let him go

I wouldn't. He couldn't wait to leave us. He would not be prepared to sit on our bench, that's one of the reasons that he left last time. I doubt that he would want to return in any case, his loss imo. There are other bigger fish in the sea. I do think we have a buyback for Philogene, by the way. 

[macandally]

13 hours ago, RicRic said:

No absolutely not your right i cant judge those players but ive not been given any optimism of going after the calibre of players i feel that we should at this moment in time, i only see us linked to some underwhelming players as of now and also since he had come in, that is subject to change i hope, even in the dean smith and gerrard era there were players we were linked or going for that had abit of a wow factor we are going places feel, i am yet to feel that. 

Thankfully Unai is here to build a dynasty, not appease any specific individual. Roger’s by necessity dropped straight in and did a superb job for us when we needed energy, he wasn’t being mentioned at Europe’s top table but didn’t turn out badly.

If you want “big name” links, see how that has panned out for United 

[rodders129]

One profile of player we don’t have but Emery has utilised in his career is the 30+ experienced cohort.

When you see our lower running stats and favour over control vs press you can see why technically proficient and mentally astute older players would fit well v young runners. Makes me think Ramsay could be sold because of this.

We need quality and experience and we need it now. The UCL is here. The challenge has arrived. I think the emphasis may switch to experienced winners. We have the young core, now we need the immediate winning mentality and experience.

 

 

[Delphinho123]

Next season, if I’m Emery, I’m building my squad around:

Martinez
Torres
Konsa
McGinn
Ramsey
Rogers
Kamara
Bailey
Watkins

If we can some genuine quality to that base, we’ll be exceptionally good. 

[nick76]

1 hour ago, Delphinho123 said:

Next season, if I’m Emery, I’m building my squad around:

Martinez
Torres
Konsa
McGinn
Ramsey
Rogers
Kamara
Bailey
Watkins

If we can some genuine quality to that base, we’ll be exceptionally good. 

I would include Luiz in there, I think he’s key over a number of those above.

[zab6359]

On 24/05/2024 at 15:11, LondonLax said:

We did much better with Kamara than without him. We know we are going into a new season without him for half of it again.

We have an opportunity to cover his loss this time.

We would be foolish not to take it. 

I doubt we will be able to sign anyone of a similar standard teams just don't do that, he's one of the best Dm's in world football.

[VBM]

Signing a top DM also gives us the ability to play two defensive players together in the centre when Kamara comes back. 

This could be handy next year in the second leg of our Champions League semi away against Madrid when we are protecting a slender lead.

[Tomaszk]

52 minutes ago, nick76 said:

I would include Luiz in there, I think he’s key over a number of those above.

Quality wise, yes.

I don't "want" to sell him. But he's #2 in my list of big money sellable assets if we have to bring money in. There's not that many to choose from.

Martinez, Konsa, Torres, Doug, Kamara, Ramsey, Bailey, Watkins, Duran.

No one else gets any bids of £40m+.

Since December he's been very poor IMO. Tired? Eyes elsewhere? Loss of form? Emery fatigue? Could be anything.

Hopefully we keep him and he gets back to it when we start again.

[villa4europe]

The Simons link is weird cos my first thought is we would be over loaded with midfielders 

My second thought is then for the last month we've really struggled cos we've had no midfielders 

[The_Steve]

3 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

The Simons link is weird cos my first thought is we would be over loaded with midfielders 

My second thought is then for the last month we've really struggled cos we've had no midfielders 

He's mostly played as a winger on loan

[Teale's 'tache]

23 hours ago, RicRic said:

Dont attack me but present your points to prove otherwise BUT i dont have that much confidence in Monchi, lets bear in mind that 90% of the team that have got us to where we are now before he arrived, zaniolo and lenglet were questionable at the time of signing and certainly proved to be so once the season had concluded. I respect both players for trying and giving what they could to the team absolutely full credit for that and to be fair they were loans, even Rogers who is a good player of course far from the finished article wasnt perhaps someone I expected us to sign at the time, and yes we did make a top four finish and rogers did contribute to that but more importantly down to super emerys coaching/management. 
 

Rumours are not always true the Barkley one had my head spinning but if its a free and an extra player on low wages then it’s nowhere near as bad as first suspected so i can get on board, the other rumour is we may be signing a 33 yr old left back, im far from convinced and hope that is nothing but a rumour, we should not be signing anyone over 31 is my take.
 

Again unless confirmed officially i cant make judgment but if all is true, it just seems to have a pattern of Monchi all over it hes player search hasn’t given me much if any optimism and all in all it doesn’t seem like he wants or knows about the foreign high talent emerging market, its hard to explain in a way but im not hearing those names that certainly would make us a much stronger force.
 

@Daulmakan @burchy Boys your now in charge but please be mindful of FFP/PSR

 

@TRO thoughts 

I think it is a little early to be judging his work with us so far, it takes a few windows and in some cases multiple seasons to allow players to settle in and grow.

I think also it's important to understand what Monchi's supposed strengths are and what his brief is. Historically what has built Monchi's reputation is plucking relative unknowns that turn out to be superstars, prime examples being Dani Alves and Ivan Rakatic at Sevilla, both had small reputations and were bought in for small fees and eventually either sold for way more than they were bought for, after giving multiple seasons of great service to Sevilla, he also gets the coaches what they ask for rather than just buying someone he think might turn out great, but in no way matches the managers style or system. He's had great success with this at Sevilla, not so much at Roma.

It's never been more important to get value for money in the transfer market because of how FFP etc. work, hence why people like Monchi are much sought after. However, what Monchi is not particularly known for is throwing around big fees for big-name players, so if that is your expectation then I can see why you may not be convinced, and probably never will be, because that isn't his MO, and we aren't in a position to do that anyway at the moment because of financial restrictions. If you're concerned he's signing players you've never heard of or think are underwhelming then again, you are going to remain concerned, this is what he does, signs people you don't know or have lost their way with a high ceiling and then Emery gets to work on them, Rogers being a prime example of this.

Emery, of course, knew that we were never going to be able to compete financially with the clubs at the top, at least to begin with, if we wanted to get there then we'd need to be smart in the transfer market, hence why Monchi was brought in.

Boxing clever in the market is difficult, signings like Barkley are undoubtedly a risk, but when you have an amazing coach like Emery then the hit rate is always going to be decent. I expect there will be a few free transfers, and a few low fees, as we try to extract value whilst upping the overall quality of the squad. This is how we have to work until we are consistently finishing in the top 4, then you can start chasing the big names if you think they bring value.

[thabucks]

14 hours ago, Aston_Villan4 said:

Did he get the Sammy Sosa treatment?

Sammy Sosa over the years looks like Neapolitan  ice cream

Edited May 25 by thabucks

[thabucks]

Matts Hummels on a free anyone ? Silva proved at Chelsea class overcomes age and would add much needed elite game experience. Gives Swinkels, Smith & Feeney a year out on loan to prove they’re worth a place in the first team squad the following season. 

[MarkLillis]

5 minutes ago, thabucks said:

Matts Hummels on a free anyone ? Silva proved at Chelsea class overcomes age and would add much needed elite game experience. Gives Swinkels, Smith & Feeney a year out on loan to prove they’re worth a place in the first team squad the following season. 

I don’t know his form or fitness levels.However I would love to see a player of his quality at VP.

Edited May 25 by MarkLillis