Rovers13 Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 I would of stuck by him like Lambert. It was clear as day from the off that he was better than both Bent and Heskey by some margin. You only had to see the way he played to see that. He owes us nothing really. he has done exactly what we paid him to do and more. He is an absolutely top notch player that is far too good for us and it will be some time before we see a player as good in a villa shirt. Wow! I think he's going to be a great player but in my opinion your comments are way over the top. He's had a really great first season for us and showed immense potential and scored a bucket load of goals. He isn't too good for us, that's a bizarre statement to make. He owes us another three years on his contract that he signed last year so he does owe us something. We also were the team that took the gamble on him (you may say it wasn't a gamble but nobody else put a real challenge in to buy him over us). I think he's had a really great first season but like many that have come before him at our club and other clubs he needs to continue to do it at this level into the second season and then some big club can buy him. I can name a number of players that I feel were better than him at our club in prior years, different positions and consistent over a number of years so if we did lose him i'm sure over the next couple of years we would get somebody else of quality in the club. I would be interested to know what players were better than him. Were they better than him in as bad as a team that he has been in. Were they as young as him? Were they already making an impression on an international stage. I cant think of any that were making the impression Benteke has made at his age. I dont think its a bizarre statement to make. So are you telling me 15th in the premiership is his level? People just look to his goals. Its far more than that. The quality of his goals for a start. His technique. The way he brings people into play. The kids the real deal. You only have to think of the amount of academy players that we have banged on about on here over the last few years. The vast majority of them turn out to be absolutely useful. If they were going to be any good, theyd be good at a young age. They would make an impact at a young age instead of 'looking lively'. Benteke has done that on a monumental scale and I am still absolutely astounded he did not win the player of the year award and I dont think it did our chances of keeping hold of him much good (not that it would have done much - The lad is off). Thank you. If Benteke scored once every four games I'd still be happy with him as a striker. he does everything else so well it creates opportunities for other and allows you to keep possession. He also wins everything in the air, except maybe against Samba. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeyAnty Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 Nah.. can't see the Liverpool thing tbh... Not even in the Champs League... Liverpool 2010-2020 = Villa 1990 - 2000 in my opinion... Living on past glories.In that respect you could say in some bizarre kind of way we are ahead of them as we have already hopefully done our transition into a new streamlined club. Now we just need to build a good team & repair the clubs severely damaged reputation thus filling out Villa Park again & hopefully expansion, European football & trophies as a result.... a few years off yet mind!... I see Liverpool as not having quite realized yet that they need to follow a similar path. They still think they are a bully when in fact nobody else is scared of them anymore... I can see CB going to London IF he moves & even that may not be until next season... May depend on his family though..he did say he would speak with his family about it so i guess it depends if they are settled in the area or not? Liverpool have already done what you are saying Villa have done. I have no idea how you can say Villa "are ahead of Liverpool" in any shape, way or form other than pure tribalism. All the overpaid dross is gone. Wages are down to 60% of turnover come next release of accounts. Johnson is the only player in the first team left who is on a contract bigger than he deserves/earns. Dalglish and Comolli who were the the big problem financially and signing players and getting it wrong are gone, a brand new scouting team has been robbed from Man City and there is a Committee approach to signings now with no one person having ultimate say over who is bought. The building of a more financially effcient team has started with two class buys in Sturridge and Coutinho who cost less than Downing combined. Liverpool will get permission to finally start expansion of Anfield by end of Summer. All the debt we have is owed to our owners (£80m when it used to be £240m) who have promised they will not take money from the club to be repaid they hope to get it back when they sell the club. Still a lonngggg way to go for Liverpool, but lets get our facts right, everything off the field at Liverpool is better than its been for a long, long time. The challenge now is replicating the superb work that's been done by the Executives, on the football side of things, which is going to be so hard when Arsenal, City, Utd, Chelsea all have bigger revenues to spend and Spurs have built up a great side that they seem to manage to keep going strong fighting for 4th, even when losing their best players like Modric and VDV. There's been a big gamble made on 1) Brendan Rodger's being the right man for the job and 2) Trying to copy a Spurs-like strategy of investing in top scouts to find affordable, potential world class players, before the bigger clubs get on to them, and having these players fulfil their potential with you, before being swiped by the bigger clubs. Signings such as Alonso, Mascherano, Suarez and now potentially Coutinho. If this gamble works then it will pay of massivley on and off the field, if it does not, then Liverpool may end up stuck outside the top 4 for a generation. At least Villa fans are realists more from what i can say for pool fans. In my reckoning you need at least 3 world class players to push for top 4 min. If Suarez goes, which looks likely, how many World class players have you got? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condimentalist Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 Thibault Courtois has openly said he will be tapping him up for Atletico on international duty according to this morning's papers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoughboroughLion Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, on loan at Atletico Madrid from Chelsea, believes Belgium team-mate and Aston Villa forward Christian Bentekecould be just the man the Spanish club need to replace Radamel Falcao. "He's a very strong centre-forward, tall, but with very good technique and skilful with the ball at his feet," said Courtois. "I think that he could be a great signing for Atletico. During these days with the national team and I'm going to ask him about his future." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SikhInTrinity Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 Shouldn't he be concentrating on his own future. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metalhead_villain Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 I think he needs to STFU. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samjp26 Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 But Courtois is back at Chelsea in a few weeks, no? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanO Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 The only club who could get near Villa's asking fee for Benteke is Liverpool. They will have at least £50-70m to spend this Summer from Suarez, Carroll, Skrtel, Coates, and possibly Reina, plus the usual £20m from FSG. Downing/his Agent have said that Benteke is open to a move in England (don't know about abroad) to Spurs, Arsenal and Liverpool, preferably Arsenal, but Spurs aren't interested as they have other targets according to their best so called ITKs, and Arsenal with their board won't go up to the £20m+ Villa are quoting clubs. This is from the Downing camp via a close mutual friend. He was the one who told exactly what was happening, step by step, with the Downing move to LFC and got every bit right, down to an article Downing's camp had planted in a Newspaper the day before it appeared in print. Agent's talk to other Agent's. A lot. Thats how most Clubs find out if prospective targets are interested in their club or not. Right now, because of the financial side, I'd say, (if they even want him and I don't know if they do, he's certainly not the top target though-thats Muriel at Udinese) if someone held a gun to my head, that Liverpool have the best chance purely because their the only Club I can see agreeing to pay at least £20m for him, but I just don't think theirs genuine interest from LFC. Benteke is great but he doesn't fit Rodger's much heralded system and philosophy (look at how he treated Carroll who physique wise is a similar build to Benteke. Rodger's like's fast, technical, midgets like Coutinho). Aspas has already also been bought with Munian/Muriel being the two other main Striking targets as of this minute. I think he'd be interested in LFC but it could be a hard sell depending on Competition. it all depends how he looks at it. LFC could put a convincing argument together stating the corner being turned under Rodger's, a brand new scouting dept robbed from the then Prem Champs who have impressed already with Sturridge/Coutinho for combined £20m & plenty of cash to reinforce with. Top 4 calibre form since turn of year, better win ratio and stats when Suarez doesn't play, compared to when he does. But the opposite argument could also be put forward. Losing their best player again, coming 7th never looks good and outside top 4 four seasons running now. Jury still out on BR & whether he'll be a success. If Reina goes there could basically be a whole new Defence next season and that could cost lots of points bedding in. A strong argument can be made either way based on the argument you're trying to prove. It'll come down to which clubs can make the best sales pitch. If Arsenal and Spurs are indeed interested and are willing to put up the fee (which I don't think they will be) he'll end up there. If they won't then the only other threat in England is Liverpool. Can't see him moving abroad again, twice in 2 seasons. Based on what he's said I can't see him staying at Villa I'm afraid. i think he would take any step up that was available and then look to keep moving up the ladder. LOL, Wake up and smell the roses mate! RL has said that Villa will not even consider offers of 30m this summer. And you come on here writing your "dream" about some rubbish from Downing (as if hahaha) saying Villa are quoting 20m to any club who inquire shows that you didn't learn a thing from the Barry to Liverpool fiasco, more fool you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KennyPowers Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 Liverpool fans are just scary deluded. It must have taken some serious scouting to unearth players at teams no-one had even heard of like Sturridge at Chelsea and Coutinho at Inter. There's a reason Liverpool fans should be very worried. Read comments from Terry Francona's book about FSG, how they sacked him because they were obsessed with image despite him leading them to 2 championships. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshVilla Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 (edited) I think its going to be tough for Liverpool fans to accept they are no longer an elite club that cannot attract the kind of quality they have done in the past Any proven quality player will want european football at a minimum I cannot see Liverpool spending 30 mill on a striker then what another 15 mill on wages? Edited June 4, 2013 by AshVilla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islingtonclaret Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 I can't tell you how much I want less Liverpool in this thread. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacketspuds Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 I think its going to be tough for Liverpool fans to accept they are no longer an elite club that cannot attract the kind of quality they have done in the past Any proven quality player will want european football at a minimum I cannot see Liverpool spending 30 mill on a striker then what another 15 mill on wages? I can. If they sell Suarez to Real Madrid for the reported £40m they will have the money to buy Benteke. The question will be how much will Liverpool bid before Lerner cracks and accepts an offer. I think £25m will get Benteke. I think that Benteke should be looking to player for a better club than Liverpool. Not a bigger club as don't want to offend anyone, but a better club. Atletico Madrid, Dortmund, Arsenal or Spurs (hopefully not) would still be better options than Liverpool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshVilla Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 Wasn't there something last week about Lerner being ready to turn away 30 mill offers to keep him? I really hope he plays Levy Hardball I can't see us getting more than 30 unless there is a bidding war between two or three clubs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyp102 Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 But Courtois is back at Chelsea in a few weeks, no? Think they the looking at extending the loan.. But even so will eventually be back at Chelsea yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarethRDR Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 (edited) This is complete and utter conspiracy theory-level gubbins, but I do find it a teeny tiny bit strange that Benteke - the Belgian chocolate in this season's bag of supermarket pick 'n' mix - is omitted from the cover of the new season review DVD. Are we being subconsciously prepped for the departure of our monochrome monolith? Should I wipe the foam from my mouth, don my tin-foil hat and stop listening to "the voices"? Whatever happened to that last packet of Doritos in my cupboard? *cue Twilight Zone music* Edited June 4, 2013 by GarethRDR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted June 4, 2013 Moderator Share Posted June 4, 2013 It's certainly an interesting omission that is hard to justify given his contribution to the season. Guzan too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 I would have liked a little inset of Simon Dawkins in the bottom left corner 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSV Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 they even covered his face with a shirt in the background. shameless. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeyAnty Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 It would bring his value down being on the front cover of that rubbish. Seriously last seasons review, i wouldnt pay 50p for it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 Basically just fast forward aug - mar and start watching from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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