Confirmed Signing: Shay Given (Man City)

[KSV]

What is frustrating.. is because a few really great goalkeepers have gone till the age of 40.. doesnt mean they all will. Some outfield players play till 35-36.. others.. like our beloved Martin Laursen retired earlier.

Given just because hes a keeper.. doesnt mean he will play on till 40.. he may have to retire due to constant shoulder problems. We dont know.

I think it is a big risk to take him on board.. i would only sign him if we bought a really good no.2 and he was on half the wages hes on now. Otherwise.. look elsewhere.

[Houlston]

Dont really see the fascination in wanting a young keeper in the hope he will stick around for longer. Who really cares, the players certainly dont. If we sign someone like Foster the first club that comes sniffing with a CL place and he'll be off. Thats not to say we shouldnt sign younger players its just that the argument about signing younger players because they'll be here longer is totally irrelevant in the modern game.

Shay Given is a very good keeper, Brad Friedel was an excellent servant to us and there is no reason why Given cant emulate that.

Like someone else posted that if he doesnt come off his line then at least you know where he is as opposed to a nutter like Gomes. Given played for Ireland last month and was excellent.

[Pelle]

There are very few keepers that would fill me with excitement. And none of them would come here. Given is good enough for us. He's a very good keeper.

[AndyM3000]

Dont really see the fascination in wanting a young keeper in the hope he will stick around for longer. Who really cares, the players certainly dont. If we sign someone like Foster the first club that comes sniffing with a CL place and he'll be off. Thats not to say we shouldnt sign younger players its just that the argument about signing younger players because they'll be here longer is totally irrelevant in the modern game.

Shay Given is a very good keeper, Brad Friedel was an excellent servant to us and there is no reason why Given cant emulate that.

Like someone else posted that if he doesnt come off his line then at least you know where he is as opposed to a nutter like Gomes. Given played for Ireland last month and was excellent.

Thats not the point.

Foster for 9m even if someone like Spurs want him 4 years down the line, that fine. They can pay at least what we paid if not a lot more. Given? Thats just 5m down the drain IMO plus he will be on a lot more than Foster.

[Houlston]

Dont really see the fascination in wanting a young keeper in the hope he will stick around for longer. Who really cares, the players certainly dont. If we sign someone like Foster the first club that comes sniffing with a CL place and he'll be off. Thats not to say we shouldnt sign younger players its just that the argument about signing younger players because they'll be here longer is totally irrelevant in the modern game.

Shay Given is a very good keeper, Brad Friedel was an excellent servant to us and there is no reason why Given cant emulate that.

Like someone else posted that if he doesnt come off his line then at least you know where he is as opposed to a nutter like Gomes. Given played for Ireland last month and was excellent.

Thats not the point.

Foster for 9m even if someone like Spurs want him 4 years down the line, that fine. They can pay at least what we paid if not a lot more. Given? Thats just 5m down the drain IMO plus he will be on a lot more than Foster.

And that point is also irrelevant

Most contracts are around 4 years so chances are by your example he'd move on a free, or say he had one year left on his contract we wouldnt get what we pay for him.

We spent 2.5m on Friedel so is that money "down the drain?"

To me Foster and Given in terms of ability are very much of a muchness and in Givens longer career i'm fairly certain he's made less howlers than Foster has already. Like Pelle said there are few keepers that would excite me and non of them would sign for Villa. Given is a very good keeper.

[theunderstudy]

I'd have him.

[AndyM3000]

Dont really see the fascination in wanting a young keeper in the hope he will stick around for longer. Who really cares, the players certainly dont. If we sign someone like Foster the first club that comes sniffing with a CL place and he'll be off. Thats not to say we shouldnt sign younger players its just that the argument about signing younger players because they'll be here longer is totally irrelevant in the modern game.

Shay Given is a very good keeper, Brad Friedel was an excellent servant to us and there is no reason why Given cant emulate that.

Like someone else posted that if he doesnt come off his line then at least you know where he is as opposed to a nutter like Gomes. Given played for Ireland last month and was excellent.

Thats not the point.

Foster for 9m even if someone like Spurs want him 4 years down the line, that fine. They can pay at least what we paid if not a lot more. Given? Thats just 5m down the drain IMO plus he will be on a lot more than Foster.

And that point is also irrelevant

Most contracts are around 4 years so chances are by your example he'd move on a free, or say he had one year left on his contract we wouldnt get what we pay for him.

We spent 2.5m on Friedel so is that money "down the drain?"

To me Foster and Given in terms of ability are very much of a muchness and in Givens longer career i'm fairly certain he's made less howlers than Foster has already. Like Pelle said there are few keepers that would excite me and non of them would sign for Villa. Given is a very good keeper.

How exactly is it irrelevant? It should be the thinking of our club. Ashley Young had 1 year left on his contract and we got almost twice as much as we paid for him.

Simple fact is Lerner clearly isn't prepared to throw money at the club anymore and we need to buy players that have resale value. Im not the biggest fan of Given however I dont mind if we were to sign him, but the point remains that we wont get any money back for him and the club makes a loss.

[GaztonVilla]

I can't remember one single "howler", (of the type that Sorenson, Foster, Green were guilty of) in the entirety of Given's career.

He's an excellent shot stopper and while he may not be great at "commanding his area" he is, IMO, excellent at commanding the defence in front of him in a way that makes it almost unnecessary for him to command the area.

[Edinburgh-Villa]

I can't remember one single "howler", (of the type that Sorenson, Foster, Green were guilty of) in the entirety of Given's career.

He's an excellent shot stopper and while he may not be great at "commanding his area" he is, IMO, excellent at commanding the defence in front of him in a way that makes it almost unnecessary for him to command the area.

+1: hits nail on head.

[mjmooney]

Goalies are different. You don't sign the promising youngster as your No. 1, you go for experience and ability, even if it means they have no resale value.

I'd be very happy with Given, provided they have him well insured against injury. Similar scenario to when we bought Friedel.

[Shillzz]

Given (sorry) the amount of areas of the first team that need addressing this summer, I think it would make sense to get a solid, experienced keeper like Given in, over a more expensive, younger keeper like Foster.

If this was the only position that needed strengthening, then fine, spend all your money on someone younger, but it's one of about 4/5 problems that will need solving.

[AshVilla]

Seriously hope we dont pay 5 mill for a 35 year old GK surely a joke?

I would go up to 3 mill max take it or leave it

For the 5 mill they are asking for id rather us bid an extra 3 mill on foster who's best years are still ahead of him at least he would have some kind of resale value.

[Shillzz]

Seriously hope we dont pay 5 mill for a 35 year old GK surely a joke?

I would go up to 3 mill max take it or leave it

For the 5 mill they are asking for id rather us bid an extra 3 mill on foster who's best years are still ahead of him at least he would have some kind of resale value.

Given that they're asking for about £13/£14m for Scott Dann, I dont think we'd get Foster for £8m. Nor do I think they would really want to do business with us.

[villa89]

I can't remember one single "howler", (of the type that Sorenson, Foster, Green were guilty of) in the entirety of Given's career.

[AshVilla]

I'd go up to 10 mill for foster i genuinely do think he is a great goalkeeper with a bright future

I would also take the blues GK coach as well he did a great job with both Joe Hart and now him

[Houlston]

How exactly is it irrelevant? It should be the thinking of our club. Ashley Young had 1 year left on his contract and we got almost twice as much as we paid for him.

Simple fact is Lerner clearly isn't prepared to throw money at the club anymore and we need to buy players that have resale value. Im not the biggest fan of Given however I dont mind if we were to sign him, but the point remains that we wont get any money back for him and the club makes a loss.

When we signed Ashley Young he himself was very young, he developed as a player and as you must know outfield creative players always command a higher price tag. Foster is unlikely to get much better and like I say he might leave on a free if you use your originally example.

Simple fact is Given is a very good keeper. I wouldnt worry yourself so much over whether the club loses £5m or not. You never said whether the £2.5m on Brad was a waste either?

[AndyM3000]

In terms of the fact we got nothing back for him then yes it is a waste, even back when we signed Big Brad I would rather we got someone younger and more long term. The top defences dont chop and change players every season, how long have Rio/Vidic/VDS been together? I know thats broken up now but you see my point.

Given is a good keeper, Foster is a good keeper. Ill be fine with either, but from a financial aspect and going on the figures that I have heard then I know which one sounds like the better deal. I wouldn't mind about the club losing 5m if it wasn't for the fact we now seem to have a sell to buy policy and are trying to balance books.

[GaztonVilla]

I can't remember one single "howler", (of the type that Sorenson, Foster, Green were guilty of) in the entirety of Given's career.

My memory is refreshed.. Thank you

[BG_Villa_Fan]

I remember the times when discussing a potential target was about how good of a player he was and not about his potential wages or resale value or whether it's 3.5 mil or 3.75 mil.

Given is a very good keeper, who would make us better and we're not exactly in a position to be picky, remember the manager search... People will moan but people will do with whoever the club is able to get.

[Alec]

In terms of the fact we got nothing back for him then yes it is a waste, even back when we signed Big Brad I would rather we got someone younger and more long term. The top defences dont chop and change players every season, how long have Rio/Vidic/VDS been together? I know thats broken up now but you see my point.

Given is a good keeper, Foster is a good keeper. Ill be fine with either, but from a financial aspect and going on the figures that I have heard then I know which one sounds like the better deal. I wouldn't mind about the club losing 5m if it wasn't for the fact we now seem to have a sell to buy policy and are trying to balance books.

You don't just need to look at the amount of money invested in relation to what you can subsequently generate when the player leaves - more importantly is how well the player performed during his time at the club. I don't think anyone could argue we didn't get £2.5m worth of value out of Friedel during his three years here - in fact, it looks like a bargain in retrospect. Who knows if the absence of such a reliable keeper might have been the difference between finishing sixth and finishing tenth, or God forbid, between finishing ninth last season instead of going down. I couldn't point to one game or one save as being singularly key to anything, but the importance of the overall contribution mounts up over time. If we get a couple of good seasons out of Given, the £5m will have been a good investment regardless of what anybody else may pay for him in the future.