Villarocker

I know a fella who is close to Jack's family. He told me about Jack agreeing a new contract and how much it was worth etc when we were last in the Premier League. He got that spot on. He also told me that, when Jack had to make the choice between England and Ireland, he chose England because they get paid. Not saying that its fact, just saying what I heard and the guy was spot on about personal things before with him. If that's the case, maybe money does talk with him.

Speak to Suso and Purslow then, maybe they'll bring in Neymar, Messi and Salah in the summer to replace that no good charlatan Grealish!

I, just like you, would be bitterly disappointed if he joined Man Utd. They have a massive rebuilding job on their hands to win anything big so why go there? I could understand if he joined Liverpool or Man City but where would he play in those teams? Behind the striker so Firmino or David Silva's replacement. Not too sure that would happen although, Silva may now be passed what Man City want from a player in that position. If/when Jack leaves, I hope it is to go to Barcelona as he would be a perfect fit there. If we stay up, I think it will lead to Jack sitting down with the senior bosses to discuss player recruitment. I think that he would want to know he won't have to drag the team along by himself all next season before committing to the club. I think that he has a fair case if that were to happen.

Neither has Riyad Mahrez. Man City paid £60m for the 27 year old in 2018 and he has scored 7 goals in each of his last two seasons. Grealish is worth £100m whether you like it or not. It's a crazy price but that's what special talents go for and everyone bar you seems to think he's a special talent.

If you believe the press, Man Utd are favourites to sign Jack. That was the case with Maguire iirc. Let's imagine the scenario where Woodward of Man Utd sits around a table with Purslow of Villa. Woodward says "We are really interested in signing Jack Grealish from you. What would be your asking price?". I don't know about you or anybody else but, as a fan of Aston Villa Football Club - and, Jack Grealish - I would be mortified if Purslow didn't reply by saying something like, "well, a year ago you paid £80m for Harry Maguire. We all know that the most valuable players are those that create and score goals and Jack is our very best at doing that so, by that alone, we are looking at over £100m for the player". If Purslow didn't do that he shouldn't be in the job.

I still think we need to get to 40 points so need 15 more. 3 wins and 6 draws or 4 wins and 3 draws. With way, have to get them from half our games. Going to be tough. We will have to beat one of the so-called big boys at home and improve our away form.

Harry Maguire is supposedly worth circa £80m! On the basis of that alone, Jack Grealish goes for a minimum of £100m. Also, its worth remembering that, if we do get relegated, we still hold all the cards. I don't buy this idea he would be worth less because he's our player and under a decent length of contract so we could play hardball and sell others to meet FFP before we let Jack go.

I think that the points total to survive will be at least 38-40 points this season purely because the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs and Man Utd have been below average, for them, this season and have conceded points to the teams in the bottom half. That's why, for me, I think we need to take points off those teams when we play them.

The ball is in Baston's court. Depends where he is as a footballer. Does he see this as a new contract and more comfortable than being on the move or does he see how big a club we are and have a real go at doing well here? I personally feel that he could be a secret weapon. We've not scored a headed goal this season until Samatta netted last week. Maybe Baston will give us the aerial threat we've badly lacked this season.

He's worth what we want for him. If FFP is thrown about we can always sell others in order to keep Jack if we wanted to. But, it would all depend on what Jack wants.

I was thinking this very same thing this morning. McGinn is going to be hungry to get stuck in when he gets back and will be like a new signing.

To all those who are doubting the abilities of Dean Smith - let me ask you a question. It appears that Purslow and the owners are going to keep faith with Smith this season regardless. So, if we stay up and finished 17th, would you want to keep Smith or sack him and start next season with a new man in charge?

Why would Jack want to go to Man Utd? If he did leave Villa it would be to win things so no way he's going to Old Trafford! The only places he would go here are Anfield or Etihad. I think he will go to Barca though - they play in similar colours!

I'm a Dean Smith fan and glad that we have a Villa fan as manager. I think the amount of players we've had to turnaround at the club is the reason for the position we are in. Had we come up with a fairly balanced squad of players and just had to add a few then we would probably have been better. We've also been unlucky with injuries to key players. If we go down then so be it, there's nothing we can do about it. We just need to hope we come straight back up and, with the squad we have, we should be able to. There's one thing I will agree on with Villalad21 and that is, the Villa team seems to lack a bit of fight as a unit. Is that the coaching staff or just the type of players they have? Smith has mentioned time and again how they asked the players to get more physical with their opponents so the main man sees it. Maybe the players just don't that about them?

West Ham have a decent run-in though. They have also signed some more quality during January to bolster their squad. I hope that Samatta and Baston can give us the goal threat and hold the ball up like we need, to release some pressure on the rest of the team. The good thing about Watford and West Ham is that their new manager bounce is now over and they can hopefully get back to the reality of just being pants.

To get anywhere near 40 points we have to ensure we do well at home. That's going to be tough when those home games include Spurs, Arsenal, Man Utd and Chelsea.

That formation is exactly what we need to be playing.

I've seen two games where this guy has continually got into goalscoring positions and, today, he scored a goal where he kept his eyes firmly on the ball and not the goalkeeper who could have flattened him. I'm very impressed by Samagol so far.

What do you think Wilder is doing differently this season to that of last season?

Question is, was that a directive from the head coach or did the players just not do as they were told?

To be fair though, fans want a striker for sure but, I'm sure they're thinking someone who will play and look like scoring? Not saying Baston won't but his career stats don't really give much hope.

Our last two signings from Swansea were Carroll and Taylor? Maybe this could be thrid time lucky! This doesn't fill me with any optimism whatsoever but, he's tall! We have yet to score a headed goal this season so maybe that's the thinking behind it?

I had a dry Jan once - I was sore for weeks after!

Coronavirus hasn't spread to Villa talk yet, has it?

Or laugh their arses off!