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Confirmed Signing: Shay Given (Man City)


Mr_Dogg

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I agree. The last two Villa players who had shoulder injuries didn't exactly set the footballing world on fire - Luke Moore and Curtis Davies

Gareth!!!!!! We have one for your apples analogy !!!!

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Given would be a risky signing in my opinion. He is overrated (and therefore overpriced) because of his shot-stopping, injury-prone, and will soon have little resale value.

I think he would do a decent enough job (when fit) for 3 or 4 years, but as an investment it doesn't take the club anywhere.

I know we signed Friedel at a ripe old age, but he was known for never missing matches, and we paid a fair price for him. He was never going to be a flop. It seems much less clear-cut with Given.

There are basically three types of keeper Villa can realistically sign and should be looking at (I don't necessarily rate the players in brackets):

1) safe pair of hands, just past their prime (Friedel)

2) young prospect with good potential looking for PL experience (Ruffier)

3) PL keeper at peak playing age who isn't quite good enough for big 4, playing at smaller club (Foster, Robinson)

To me, Given doesn't fit the bill. A safe pair of hands needs to play every match to be worth the long-term cash loss. We also need to be bold enough to say that even with a dodgy keeper, this club should not go down. So why not gamble on a young prospect? At worst this means signing another keeper next year. At best, it means 2 or 3 great seasons, and then doubling our money when Arsenal, etc. come in for him.

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Very good keeper imo.

I seem to remember when we were first interested in Friedel there was a some opposition due to his age and transfer fee,didnt turn out bad in the end did it?

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Given would be a risky signing in my opinion. He is overrated (and therefore overpriced) because of his shot-stopping, injury-prone, and will soon have little resale value.

I think he would do a decent enough job (when fit) for 3 or 4 years, but as an investment it doesn't take the club anywhere.

Although BF wasn't at his best last season, the reason the club didn't go anywhere wasn't down to him.

The first half of the season our squad was injury prone and we didn't have Bent :)

Second half, the defence was poor.

If BF was to stay and we our defence was better, the club would have been top 6 in my opinion. I believe Shay will do the same. Sure, he won't be here for 5 years, but he's a damn good keeper.

I think we need a U21 keeper as well, for Shay to mentor? So that when Shay does go, the new keeper can jump in his boots, so to say.

And I'm also pretty sure someone posted some great stats about the fact he isnt Injury Prone.

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I'd have him over Kuszak, Al-Habsi, Kameni all day long. Dont know anything about Ruffier so cant comment on him.

Exactly how I see it. he's better than those 3, imo, and similarly I haven't seen Ruffier so can't comment.

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Many felt he was undeservadly dropped as 1st choice keeper last season. I remember being baffled by Mancini's decision to go for Hart. It proved to be a successful decision but shows how highly most thought of Given. As many have said, 1 year on the bench doesnt make him a poor keeper. He is still one of the Top 5/ 6 keepers in the league. Will definitly improve the Villa side. Better than Friedel imo.

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Many felt he was undeservadly dropped as 1st choice keeper last season. I remember being baffled by Mancini's decision to go for Hart. It proved to be a successful decision but shows how highly most thought of Given. As many have said, 1 year on the bench doesnt make him a poor keeper. He is still one of the Top 5/ 6 keepers in the league. Will definitly improve the Villa side. Better than Friedel imo.

This.

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Saying Shay Given is only a good shot stopper is like saying Darren Bent only scores goals. I'd take him in a heartbeat.

Amen to that, brother. Couldn't agree more! He was outstanding before his injury for City. Yes please.

Agree on the wages too though, way too high!

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Given would be a risky signing in my opinion. He is overrated (and therefore overpriced) because of his shot-stopping, injury-prone, and will soon have little resale value.

I think he would do a decent enough job (when fit) for 3 or 4 years, but as an investment it doesn't take the club anywhere.

I know we signed Friedel at a ripe old age, but he was known for never missing matches, and we paid a fair price for him. He was never going to be a flop. It seems much less clear-cut with Given.

There are basically three types of keeper Villa can realistically sign and should be looking at (I don't necessarily rate the players in brackets):

1) safe pair of hands, just past their prime (Friedel)

2) young prospect with good potential looking for PL experience (Ruffier)

3) PL keeper at peak playing age who isn't quite good enough for big 4, playing at smaller club (Foster, Robinson)

To me, Given doesn't fit the bill. A safe pair of hands needs to play every match to be worth the long-term cash loss. We also need to be bold enough to say that even with a dodgy keeper, this club should not go down. So why not gamble on a young prospect? At worst this means signing another keeper next year. At best, it means 2 or 3 great seasons, and then doubling our money when Arsenal, etc. come in for him.

I find that totally baffling :?

Now you want a keeper purely so we can sell him and make a profit.

What do you then do with that money? go and buy a proven prem keeper.....o wait there's one available now.

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Also if IRC he's shoulder problem was that it kept dislocating. Similar to curtis davis. It's quiet common and the surgery fixes the problem, yet the recovery time is a long.

Dislocated shoulders have a nasty habit of just popping out at any time. (You not seen Lethal Weapon? :lol: )

They are a dodgy injury and even if the medical were very thorough, it would be hard to say with any degree of certainty wether it will completely heal. You mention Curtis Davies and he has still got the problem. Could pop out at any time. Luke Moore has it aswell. The difference with these players is that they are young and their bodies should heal better than a Shay Given for example. But they havent really. So like i said, its a dodgy injury. Not to mention the fact that goalies tend to use their arms more than outfield players...which would indicate to me that Given is more likely to have his shoulder pop out than the other two.

Im not totally against this signing. Theres no doubt hes a top keeper on his day. I just dont like the injury hes got. The money is a big factor for me aswell.

Im just hoping that in 6 months time im not saying 'told you so'

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He was outstanding before his injury for City.

See...this is the problem. Youre just looking at the Given before his injury. On that basis, youre right - he was outstanding.

But the fact is that nobody knows how he will be when he comes back. Ive mentioned above my concerns over his injury. Nobody on here can tell me with any certainty that he will be back to his old injury free self. Im not sure if this is worh a 5m and 60k a week gamble. Id also ask why is nobody else trying to sign him.

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Given was superb before his injury. Now he has this injury (albeit surgery can be successful) we just don't know how well he will play.

For me, Foster is a better option. Will be on cheaper wages but may have a higher fee initially. McLeish obviously rates Foster also

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I find it amusing that people are moaning about how much we'd be paying on wages.

I'm not sure whether people expect us to climb the table on cheap wages?

I think a lot of people are posing questions about his wages because the wages issue has been an important point of discussion for the last year or two and still is.

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Something to prove and with the state of goalkeepers ages he may have a new career plan.

I personally don't mind players with injury problems (depending on their wages) because I believe you should always have a replacement willing to challenge (and you always need a good keeper coming through), Givens injury issues do give us that which isn't necessarily a bad thing especially as he is getting on and a replacement would already be in the managers mind.

£5million though; pretty bloody steep.

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