CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Hm, there have been some bad signings, and disappointing ones, but for me it has to be Heskey. Not because he was worse than anyone else, but because of everything around that signing. In true Villa fashion, we were going rather well and just needed a player to come in and help us get over the line. We were desperate for a bit of quality up front, even if the 4-5-1 was working well (although we were starting to get found out), and we waited, waited and ended up with Heskey. Awful signing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papillon Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Yeah I agree with that sentiment. We were 3rd or 4th around Christmas, Arsenal were 9 points adrift. They got the (at the time) world-beater Andrey Arshavin and we got Emile Heskey. Everyone in the league knew we were not going to finish 4th that season. Imagine getting Darren Bent instead at the time, or someone similar, who knows? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted March 28, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted March 28, 2013 Even more annoying was that it was so predictabel.I remember us getting linked with someone else and I definitely made the joke along the lines of"Would be an amazing signing.But I won't hold my breath, I'll be at VP on 31st January with a sign saying "Welcome Emile!""And lo and behold, it was Emile we got.Still not sure he qualifies as the worst signing, but it was pretty bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oaks Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 With Given it goes to a new level though. Look at the difference between the league and cup games in terms of conceding from set pieces. This debate has been had elsewhere so I won't go into it, but the cup wasn't Given's fault. He couldn't have done anything about the goals. Regardless, even if that were true, being slightly worse at set pieces with him in goal than without him doesn't make him the worst signing of the past 5 years. That's madness. I genuinely feel sorry for Shay Given. Villa fans seem to have this opinion of him these days that he's absolute dog shit, and he appears to now be shouldering a lot of the blame for the Bradford defeat as a result. He's still a decent keeper. To be completely honest with you, ive never particularly rated Given as a top keeper, and this season has proved we didn't need a new keeper, therefore a rather expensive pointless signing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denis_B Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Habib Beye - never played £50k a week and left on a free 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8pints Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 I can certainly see the strong logic of picking Heskey, it was a crucial part of the puzzle and it was like we'd bought a soggy piece from a different jigsaw puzzle. I hoped to see a lot more from Ireland too and I agree with the suggestion of Beye. Makoun is another annoying one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SikhInTrinity Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 The problem wasn't us really signing Heskey, its the fact we didn't replace the big gaping hole when Laursen was injured. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkyvilla Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Tough one but I'd go for Makoun. Might as well have just burnt the money. So many shockers though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fazilla Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Thinking about what we've paid Ireland and what we've seen from him is a disgrace. His transfer fee was around 8.5million as part of the Milner deal. His wages are rumoured to be around 60k a week. So over his 2 1/2 year period at the club to date, he's cost us around 16.3 million (8.5m fee + 7.8m wages). He's top of my list. I would love to know the truth behind the Ireland transfer. We were well and truly shafted by Man City over this one. If MON knew this was in the pipeline, its no wonder that he threw his toys out of the pram. Over the years Villa must have wasted more money on duds like Ireland than any other club. NRC, Davies, Balaban, Collymore, Harewood, Curcic, Shorey, Hutton, Warnock, Sidwell, etc, etc, etc, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P3te Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Heskey Purely because of the disruption to a proven system his arrival cost us. We'd have gotten CL football had we signed anyone else, or nobody at all, that window 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Heskey by far the man that would fire us to top 4. after that is a long list and Davies and Cuellar wouldnt be far behind. nearly 20 million on them 2 duds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biskitt Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 (edited) When you look back at our transfer business over the last 5 years, it really is shocking. I'd argue that only Milner, Downing, Benteke, , Guzan and Dunne ( at a push ) could be classed as good signings ( as in value for money ) . Hopefully a few of lamberts signings will fall into the good signing category in due course Edited March 28, 2013 by Biskitt 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Wow, there have been a few shockers. Beye, Jenas, Ireland, Makoun, Pires, Davies, Given. Ireland for me . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biskitt Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Just had a look on here: http://www.transferleague.co.uk/premiership-transfers/aston-villa-transfers.html A little part of me just died inside Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
03butpau Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Surprised no one has mentioned curtis davies. 10 million pounds a truly dreadful signing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Surprised no one has mentioned curtis davies. 10 million pounds a truly dreadful signing Mentioned 2 posts above Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AValon Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Been some shockers! I'm convinced Ireland would be a bloody good player.....if he could just get his head out of his own ass! As it is, he has disappointed on so many levels. But I think Makoun edges it for me, simply because it was the biggest waste of time ever. He looked like a fish out of water and I very much doubt he stopped to say cheerio on his lightning exit from B6.Again, could have had some promise, but you always had the feeling his driver had the engine permanently ticking over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corcaigh Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Surely Sidwell has to be up there. Sure he got a couple of goals and assists but for the transfer fee and wages paid he was pretty useless. The club lucked out big time with Fulham willing to come in and take him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morpheus Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 KEA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 In terms of Premier League minutes played / cost (fee and wages) Jermaine Jenas cost about £60k a PL minute Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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