General Transfer speculation thread with guff from Twitter

[Pilchard]

"We know we have to work with Paul to freshen the squad after a poor, disappointing season last year. It's about trying to get the squad ready to go so we can challenge in the top half of the table. We need to make sure Paul has the tools needed for a successful season"

Ten days left then PF

I've asked it before and no one answered, so I'll ask it again.

Why would Paul Lambert, a successful, young ambitious manager that would've had to nouse and confidence to realise that he could've gotten his pay rise from a number of clubs willing to take him on, and had a very secure position at Norwich, come to Aston Villa just to inherit a poor squad and be given no money to spend?

Seriously, what would make a chap like Paul Lambert, who's stock was very high at Norwich, come to Villa?

This is something that I keep thinking about, and I wonder if he is asking himself that question too! Similarly - McLeish kept going on about how in the summer he could bring in players and make the squad his own. Where's that money gone? Unless he was expecting to rebuild with £7million.

Possibly he over estimated the 'quality' in the squad - he certainly thinks Ireland and N'Zogbia are good enough players.

Perhaps he was told there was money available, only for it not to be? Or perhaps he saw the size of the club, the potential, and fancied the challenge? He could have said at Norwich and 'done a Moyes' or he could challenge himself a step up.

Same could be said of McLeish last year - he surely must have known the feeling - so why take it? The challenge.

[omariqy]

It's worryingly quiet for us. We usually get a sniff of transfernews early in the week and at the minute there is nothing so I don't think we will see any action this week.

[itdoesntmatterwhatthissay]

Not that we've been linked to him but i would love us to go after Nikola Maksimović from Red Star Belgrade.

I have a few ex Serb friend who support Zvezda and they think he'll be as good as Vidic.

I've only seen him 4 times but he really impressed me.

This is the type of signings we should be making, before he moves to a semi-big club. The next time he move's his value will have quadrupled.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVg9VG3RTyg

Not sure about the player but I agree with the approach, the German league signs a sickening amount of developing players and redistribute them with huge profits.

Can think of quite a few who have gone to Germany this year, only one or two left that didn't move.

[Risso]

Same could be said of McLeish last year - he surely must have known the feeling - so why take it? The challenge.

To be fair, Lambert was in a stronger position than McLeish, who had just relegated a team and wasn't on the best of terms with his employer. I bet the ginger ringpiece couldn't believe his luck when Lerner's jet touched down.

[StanBalaban]

"We know we have to work with Paul to freshen the squad after a poor, disappointing season last year. It's about trying to get the squad ready to go so we can challenge in the top half of the table. We need to make sure Paul has the tools needed for a successful season"

Ten days left then PF

I've asked it before and no one answered, so I'll ask it again.

Why would Paul Lambert, a successful, young ambitious manager that would've had to nouse and confidence to realise that he could've gotten his pay rise from a number of clubs willing to take him on, and had a very secure position at Norwich, come to Aston Villa just to inherit a poor squad and be given no money to spend?

Seriously, what would make a chap like Paul Lambert, who's stock was very high at Norwich, come to Villa?

This is something that I keep thinking about, and I wonder if he is asking

himself that question too! Similarly - McLeish kept going on about how in the

summer he could bring in players and make the squad his own. Where's

that money gone? Unless he was expecting to rebuild with £7million.

Possibly he over estimated the 'quality' in the squad - he certainly thinks

Ireland and N'Zogbia are good enough players.

Perhaps he was told there was money available, only for it not to be? Or

perhaps he saw the size of the club, the potential, and fancied the challenge?

He could have said at Norwich and 'done a Moyes' or he could challenge

himself a step up.

Same could be said of McLeish last year - he surely must have known the

feeling - so why take it? The challenge.

I don't think that Lambert would be the type of man that would take too kindly to having the goalposts moved in terms of his war chest.

Football is a pretty incestrous business too, so if we could see how crap the squad was then I'm sure he'd be doing his due diligence before he joined.

I could be left with egg on my face of course, but there was no need for Lambert to accept the Villa job unless the terms of the offer suited his ambitions.

For those that say it was to get a payrise, well he's a wealthy man already and I'm sure he wouldn't be short of similar offers over the summer and this season.

As usual all is quiet at VP, but this guy hasn't come here for a relegation scrap, or to be fighting it out for 15th place. I can't imagine he'd be too scared of letting PF and RL know his thoughts too.

We've appointed an experienced and highly respected (and probably paid) head scout. We've appointed a much sought after manager that was already in a job and didn't need to move. An ambitious manager to boot.

Like I said, I could be left with egg on my face, but surely the signs must point to money being there, just not yet spent, and I'm sure the rebuilding budget over the next few windows will already be clear to PL.

A pure sell to buy policy wouldn't bring the man her IMO. Selling off deadwood in order to free up more money does make sense for any club though. We may not sell Hutton and Warnock, but I think we'll get replacements either way. It may just mean that selling them permits spending more on the newcomers, not whether or not we get players at all.

[Rob182]

I still think we'll see movement in the next ten days.

Lambert could be playing a waiting game, knowing he'll get a few cut-price deals if he leaves it late.

The ITK's are suspiciously quiet!

I imagine there are two or three deals being worked on in the background. We'll probably see a flurry of activity when the market picks up and a few Premier League teams start to show their hands.

[jacketspuds]

Richard hasn't changed his tune throughout the whole transfer window. I'm hoping he remains spot on with his comments to date.

[Cracker1234]

I still think we'll see movement in the next ten days.

Lambert could be playing a waiting game, knowing he'll get a few cut-price deals if he leaves it late.

The ITK's are suspiciously quiet!

I imagine there are two or three deals being worked on in the background. We'll probably see a flurry of activity when the market picks up and a few Premier League teams start to show their hands.

We have to bring in a player before Saturdays game or I would start to worry, it seems we can't work on more than one transfer at time at Villa.

If we don't sign one before Saturday then we have 6 days to bring in the 3 players which we NEED. will not look good, more so if we can't get the targets that they've been working most on.

[jacketspuds]

My main concern is shipping out Hutton and Warnock. Seems like Stoke and Sunderland are going elsewhere and we are running out of options.

[villaglint]

Richard hasn't changed his tune throughout the whole transfer window. I'm hoping he remains spot on with his comments to date.

There has been a subtle shift.

Gone from very optimistic... to this will take several windows to sort out....

Can both be the same thing of course but I think most were hoping for more immediate and drastic surgery.

West Ham shows the squad is still short - we do have time to go but it's clear reinforcements are still needed asap.

[StanBalaban]

Just a little footnote, the level of spotlight and expectation here will be very different to that at Norwich.

What's the betting that in two or three years time, Di Matteo, Mancini, Fergie, Rogers or even Wenger will still be in their jobs? Bumble around lower / mid table for that amount of time at Villa and he'll be out of the reckoning for one of the very big roles in the PL.

I'm sure we'll see meaningful activity this window and in Jan.

[jacketspuds]

Richard hasn't changed his tune throughout the whole transfer window. I'm hoping he remains spot on with his comments to date.

There has been a subtle shift.

Gone from very optimistic... to this will take several windows to sort out....

Can both be the same thing of course but I think most were hoping for more immediate and drastic surgery.

West Ham shows the squad is still short - we do have time to go but it's clear reinforcements are still needed asap.

But I still think the "Lambert will be backed to achieve his targets" element is still true and I hope that we see some evidence of our ambition in the next 2 weeks.

[kevangrealish]

Think we need to face facts, not only is Lambert a wheel dealer but he also keeps his cards close to his chest ( maybe a bit too much ) . And lets be honest in the long term he wasnt going to get more money/resources from norwich than us ^^^

[smetrov]

"We know we have to work with Paul to freshen the squad after a poor, disappointing season last year. It's about trying to get the squad ready to go so we can challenge in the top half of the table. We need to make sure Paul has the tools needed for a successful season"

Ten days left then PF

I've asked it before and no one answered, so I'll ask it again.

Why would Paul Lambert, a successful, young ambitious manager that would've had to nouse and confidence to realise that he could've gotten his pay rise from a number of clubs willing to take him on, and had a very secure position at Norwich, come to Aston Villa just to inherit a poor squad and be given no money to spend?

Seriously, what would make a chap like Paul Lambert, who's stock was very high at Norwich, come to Villa?

This is something that I keep thinking about, and I wonder if he is asking

himself that question too! Similarly - McLeish kept going on about how in the

summer he could bring in players and make the squad his own. Where's

that money gone? Unless he was expecting to rebuild with £7million.

Possibly he over estimated the 'quality' in the squad - he certainly thinks

Ireland and N'Zogbia are good enough players.

Perhaps he was told there was money available, only for it not to be? Or

perhaps he saw the size of the club, the potential, and fancied the challenge?

He could have said at Norwich and 'done a Moyes' or he could challenge

himself a step up.

Same could be said of McLeish last year - he surely must have known the

feeling - so why take it? The challenge.

I don't think that Lambert would be the type of man that would take too kindly to having the goalposts moved in terms of his war chest.

Football is a pretty incestrous business too, so if we could see how crap the squad was then I'm sure he'd be doing his due diligence before he joined.

I could be left with egg on my face of course, but there was no need for Lambert to accept the Villa job unless the terms of the offer suited his ambitions.

For those that say it was to get a payrise, well he's a wealthy man already and I'm sure he wouldn't be short of similar offers over the summer and this season.

As usual all is quiet at VP, but this guy hasn't come here for a relegation scrap, or to be fighting it out for 15th place. I can't imagine he'd be too scared of letting PF and RL know his thoughts too.

We've appointed an experienced and highly respected (and probably paid) head scout. We've appointed a much sought after manager that was already in a job and didn't need to move. An ambitious manager to boot.

Like I said, I could be left with egg on my face, but surely the signs must point to money being there, just not yet spent, and I'm sure the rebuilding budget over the next few windows will already be clear to PL.

A pure sell to buy policy wouldn't bring the man her IMO. Selling off deadwood in order to free up more money does make sense for any club though. We may not sell Hutton and Warnock, but I think we'll get replacements either way. It may just mean that selling them permits spending more on the newcomers, not whether or not we get players at all.

I wouldn't think the head scout is highly paid - in relative terms. Its always a position that gets a lot of media coverage - then the head scout discovers nowt for a few years.

Seems to me Lambert thought Norwich were going to suffer second season syndrome - and had only miminal resources to prevent this - thus he may have felt the Villa job for all its problems and lack of cash - was the better option. I still feel he hoped to sell a big name, Gabby, Ireland, Nzog - and that would give him funds to revamp the squad. that has happened - which is why our activity has been limited.

It would be a major surprise to me if Lambert has significant funds now. you only have to look at the Vlaar deal - which had stalled until west ham came in for Collins, to see how the club is being run.

So yes - I beleive it now feasible that Lambert came here knowing there was only limited cash available - Indeed if you think about it from Lerners point of view - part of the attraction of Lamber was what he had done with limited funds.

I expect (at best) another £4m net to be spent.

[StanBalaban]

Think we need to face facts, not only is Lambert a wheel dealer but he also keeps his cards close to his chest ( maybe a bit too much ) . And lets be honest in the long term he wasnt going to get more money/resources from norwich than us ^^^

Not from Norwich maybe, but if we hadn't offered him a salary increase another club would have.

He didn't need to take this job unless he's been given the tools to keep his profile as high as it is.

[Papillon]

Richard hasn't changed his tune throughout the whole transfer window. I'm hoping he remains spot on with his comments to date.

Not to be rude, but Richard has often been very wrong with many of his overly negative posts during the last five years. So why should one possibly be very upbeat just because he is positive for a change?

[Rob182]

Because he wasn't ITK before, but he is now...

[Richard]

Richard hasn't changed his tune throughout the whole transfer window. I'm hoping he remains spot on with his comments to date.

There has been a subtle shift.

Gone from very optimistic... to this will take several windows to sort out....

Can both be the same thing of course but I think most were hoping for more immediate and drastic surgery.

West Ham shows the squad is still short - we do have time to go but it's clear reinforcements are still needed asap.

I am still very optimistic to be honest. I do recognise that this mess will not be fixed in one window. There is no shift from that perspective.

Mind you I will repeat what I said the other day to big john, I hope we get a move on as this pessimisim is very infectious especially to a sinner who has repented like myself!

[StanBalaban]

I wouldn't think the head scout is highly paid - in relative terms. Its always a position that gets a lot of media coverage - then the head scout discovers nowt for a few years.

Seems to me Lambert thought Norwich were going to suffer second season syndrome - and had only miminal resources to prevent this - thus he may have felt the Villa job for all its problems and lack of cash - was the better option. I still feel he hoped to sell a big name, Gabby, Ireland, Nzog - and that would give him funds to revamp the squad. that has happened - which is why our activity has been limited.

It would be a major surprise to me if Lambert has significant funds now. you only have to look at the Vlaar deal - which had stalled until west ham came in for Collins, to see how the club is being run.

So yes - I beleive it now feasible that Lambert came here knowing there was only limited cash available - Indeed if you think about it from Lerners point

of view - part of the attraction of Lamber was what he had done with limited

funds.

I expect (at best) another £4m net to be spent.

If PL wanted to leave Norwich for fear of second season syndrome, it doesn't mean he would have to take the Villa job. I'm sure there were other options, even if it mean biding his time a little once the managerial merry go round gets going.

Wanting to leave Norwich, which I don't think was the case either as it happens, and joining Villa don't necessarily need to go hand in hand.

As for Michael Henke, I'm sure he's paid more than the likes of Glen Roeder given his CV. Why bother if there's no cash?

[GREAT_BEARD_OF_ZEUS]

It’s possible that from the outside we look like a club under achieving, a club suffering problems which are easy to put right – we do have some players with very good reputations. It’s plausable for PL to have seen our side and thought he’d got the following…

Given –one of the best gks in the league

Dunne - The current ROI captain

Stephen Ireland – One time PFA young player of the season

Charles Nzogbia – one man saviour of Wigan a season ago

Darren Bent – England international striker

Agbonlahor – One of the fastest strikers in the league and capped by England

One of the best youth set ups in the league with lots of promising youngsters coming through to the 1st team

Whereas in fact he got…

Given – past his best and suffering a massive drop in confidence following an embarrassing Euros

Dunne – Fat whale way past his best with an attitude problem to boot

Stephen Ireland – Former nutcase getting back to his somewhere near the player he used to be but prone to disappearing in matches

Charles Nzogbia – a sulky inconsistent player who is a shadow of the player he was at Wigan

Darren Bent – England striker who contributes little other than goals and who no longer has the team mates capable of setting them up.

Agbonlahor – Inconsistent and more often than not crocked

And a youth set up devoid of confidence after a complete battering last term when they were over relied upon to perform above their years

Pre-season probably failed to highlight this as some of these players no doubt upped themselves to stand out in front of a new manager, but we all know the real story. The fact that at the fans forum PL said that if he had to go the season with what he’d got, he be happy to – says to me he hasn’t evaluated the squad well enough to realise what we all see is painfully obvious – the side isn’t good enough.

Whether that was said as a bluff to what’s really going on I don’t know – I certainly hope so!