Summer Transfer Window (2024/25)

[allani]

Just now, MaVilla said:

Yeah, if we got Soule for 35-40m, so a net 5/10m spend, it could be great if the players develop.

Not sure we will get Soule tho?

Well I think we are interested.  Juventus seem keen to sell (as they want to sign first team players in other positions that are a higher priority for them).  We've just landed ourselves a sum of cash that pretty much meets Juve's valuation.  There's a few "ifs" in there for sure but it doesn't seem like it's unreasonable.  From a Juve perspective they will have sold three "promising" young players and probably replaced their central midfield so it would work for them too.  From our perspective we've added at least two high potential youngsters and a pretty good backup midfielder who could become very good himself.

[OutByEaster?]

The interesting thing about Illing and Barrenechea at the moment for me is that in Illing we're getting a player with some potential who will be both our third choice left back and third choice left sided midfielder - he'll get the occasional league cup game you'd have thought and chances from the bench when the possibility arises - whereas in Barrenechea, the way our squad is looking at the moment, we're getting a player who will have to start every single game in a position where our best player has left, our second best will miss half of the season and our emergency backup is about to go to Everton - he might well end up having to start those games next to someone who is out of position too!

I'm not convinced on the Barkley renaissance and I don't think McGinn or Tielemans can do it - so I think we still need at least one and possibly two more holding midfield players this summer.

 

[OutByEaster?]

2 minutes ago, allani said:

Well I think we are interested.  Juventus seem keen to sell (as they want to sign first team players in other positions that are a higher priority for them).  We've just landed ourselves a sum of cash that pretty much meets Juve's valuation.  There's a few "ifs" in there for sure but it doesn't seem like it's unreasonable.  From a Juve perspective they will have sold three "promising" young players and probably replaced their central midfield so it would work for them too.  From our perspective we've added at least two high potential youngsters and a pretty good backup midfielder who could become very good himself.

Where would he play?

We're becoming overloaded with attacking midfield players - how do you fit Soule, Ramsey, Rogers, Illing, Buendia, Bailey, McGinn, Tielemans and Diaby into three spots?

I mean, I know it's a squad game, but I'm not sure many of those players will appreciate not making the bench for league games.

 

[GREAT_BEARD_OF_ZEUS]

3 hours ago, duke313 said:

Well, it kinda is.  Tim is clearly not going to have a future here and would probably be sold this summer or next regardless.  We're just taking advantage of it now to get around PSR.

It's kinda not.

You’re saying we’re selling the non-exceptional players for profit… there’s no profit when we hand Everton their money back for Dobbin, it’s essentially just moving debt to a future balance sheet.

[allani]

2 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

Where would he play?

We're becoming overloaded with attacking midfield players - how do you fit Soule, Ramsey, Rogers, Illing, Buendia, Bailey, McGinn, Tielemans and Diaby into three spots?

I mean, I know it's a squad game, but I'm not sure many of those players will appreciate not making the bench for league games.

 

The fact that we seem to have specifically asked about him suggests that Emery has a plan.

[sharkyvilla]

12 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

The interesting thing about Illing and Barrenechea at the moment for me is that in Illing we're getting a player with some potential who will be both our third choice left back and third choice left sided midfielder - he'll get the occasional league cup game you'd have thought and chances from the bench when the possibility arises - whereas in Barrenechea, the way our squad is looking at the moment, we're getting a player who will have to start every single game in a position where our best player has left, our second best will miss half of the season and our emergency backup is about to go to Everton - he might well end up having to start those games next to someone who is out of position too!

I'm not convinced on the Barkley renaissance and I don't think McGinn or Tielemans can do it - so I think we still need at least one and possibly two more holding midfield players this summer.

 

To be fair McGinn and Tielemans played very well together when Doug was suspended, including the win at Arsenal.  They are actually quite well balanced.  I'd personally still like us to go for Onana anyway.

[lexicon]

13 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

Where would he play?

We're becoming overloaded with attacking midfield players - how do you fit Soule, Ramsey, Rogers, Illing, Buendia, Bailey, McGinn, Tielemans and Diaby into three spots?

I mean, I know it's a squad game, but I'm not sure many of those players will appreciate not making the bench for league games.

 

I think Tielemans will move to the Luiz role, sharing it with Barkley if/when it comes. 

[alreadyexists]

Quote

Take note of the name Nikolas Sattlberger. The new generation Sergio Busquets, the Austrian 191cm two-footed 6 player.

He stands out with his high diligence, pressing power, cutting edge, muscle mass, physical resistance and positional knowledge on the field.

One of those who promise high potential but fail to explode.

 

Only 20 and apparently a very high ceiling, not a link, just wishful thinking by me

[Awol]

1 hour ago, StewieGriffin said:

I'd be Führer-ous if we played him there

Naughty. 

[Jas10]

1 minute ago, alreadyexists said:

 

Only 20 and apparently a very high ceiling, not a link, just wishful thinking by me

Hopefully, we’re already getting the real deal (same profile) in Barrenechea… hearing a lot of positive things about him.

Proper defensive player but can pass it well and get around the pitch. We have nowhere near enough of those players…

[Awol]

1 hour ago, MSvillain said:

I think if we are targeting that profile we would target Baena and Pote first 

Fair, I think we will sign Baena (unless Sawiris goes tonto with the credit card and insists on Goncalves) 

[Indigo]

It's worth noting with Tielemans that playing as advanced as he often did last season was a relatively new experience for him, at least in the Premier League. He's mostly played in the central midfield position that Luiz did, Emery just found a way to get them both in the team by using Tielemans further forward. He did make his name playing deeper though and was excellent at times there when he's gotten the chance to do so at Villa. Given the amount of players in the squad that fit into those attacking midfield/winger/second striker positions I wouldn't be surprised if he played in that Luiz role more often next season. Which I'd be pretty comfortable with once he has the right partner next to him.

[allani]

17 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

The interesting thing about Illing and Barrenechea at the moment for me is that in Illing we're getting a player with some potential who will be both our third choice left back and third choice left sided midfielder - he'll get the occasional league cup game you'd have thought and chances from the bench when the possibility arises - whereas in Barrenechea, the way our squad is looking at the moment, we're getting a player who will have to start every single game in a position where our best player has left, our second best will miss half of the season and our emergency backup is about to go to Everton - he might well end up having to start those games next to someone who is out of position too!

I'm not convinced on the Barkley renaissance and I don't think McGinn or Tielemans can do it - so I think we still need at least one and possibly two more holding midfield players this summer.

Illing offers more width than Ramsey or Rogers do.  He's also better placed to cover our LWB if / when they go bombing past him.  On paper Maadsen and Illing looks the more complete long-term left-sided combination.  I can see Rogers being our ultimate replacement for Ollie and so this gives us more chance of playing him more centrally as the SS.

However, we definitely need another "holding" midfielder.  I'm not convinced that Tielemans / Barkley is anywhere near as good as Luiz / Kamara and even if it is "just" for 3 months that's a lot of games to get through.

That said Emery and Monchi definitely appear to have wanted to get Illing and Maadsen (and as per different conversation Soule) so maybe they've got a slightly different formation in mind?  Especially as McKennie doesn't seem to be a replacement for either Kamara or Luiz.

I'm not sure I can quite see the plan yet but Emery and Monchi are not in the business of doing a Gerrard or Sherwood and just signing players that become available and then figuring out what to try and do with them.  Even allowing for PSR reasons maybe being the priority it seems like these were players that we were very much interested in anyway.

[allani]

29 minutes ago, sharkyvilla said:

To be fair McGinn and Tielemans played very well together when Doug was suspended, including the win at Arsenal.  They are actually quite well balanced.  I'd personally still like us to go for Onana anyway.

McGinn in the 6 or 8 role massively unbalances our midfield.  People can quote the Arsenal win as often as they like - there are about 100 matches where McGinn's played in one of those deeper roles and we've struggled for balance in the middle of the pitch.  He's just not defensively disciplined enough to play there in anything other than an absolute emergency.  The number of times he fails to track his man is a major issue for our defenders who suddenly have another player to try and cover. 

Play him in a more advanced / more "free" position and he causes chaos with the opposition because he's harrying players in places where they expect to have more time on the ball.  Moving him deeper would weaken us as a team and it would weaken McGinn's effectiveness as a player.  He's played almost every position on the pitch for us in the past because he's desperate to help and we've been desperately short of better alternatives.  We need to plan on having McGinn play the role he plays best for us as often as possible and stop moving him around just because he'll give 100% wherever he plays.

[paul514]

52 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

Where would he play?

We're becoming overloaded with attacking midfield players - how do you fit Soule, Ramsey, Rogers, Illing, Buendia, Bailey, McGinn, Tielemans and Diaby into three spots?

I mean, I know it's a squad game, but I'm not sure many of those players will appreciate not making the bench for league games.

 

Correct, it's foolish talk.

None of Rodgers (New), Buendia/Ramsey (injured pretty much all of last season), Diaby (book value too high to bother selling and extreme high ceiling) are going to be leaving. You wouldn't have thought the best performing forward from last year in Bailey is going either.

Then there is the potential new signing of Illing, and the fact that McGinn (out captain) plays one of those three places and Tielemans when fit and on form looks excellent.

So in short, pointless talk.

[MaVilla]

Just now, allani said:

McGinn in the 6 or 8 role massively unbalances our midfield.  People can quote the Arsenal win as often as they like - there are about 100 matches where McGinn's played in one of those deeper roles and we've struggled for balance in the middle of the pitch.  He's just not defensively disciplined enough to play there in anything other than an absolute emergency.  The number of times he fails to track his man is a major issue for our defenders who suddenly have another player to try and cover. 

Play him in a more advanced / more "free" position and he causes chaos with the opposition because he's harrying players in places where they expect to have more time on the ball.  Moving him deeper would weaken us as a team and it would weaken McGinn's effectiveness as a player.  He's played almost every position on the pitch for us in the past because he's desperate to help and we've been desperately short of better alternatives.  We need to plan on having McGinn play the role he plays best for us as often as possible and stop moving him around just because he'll give 100% wherever he plays.

i agree that McGinn isnt a 6, and seeing him play the 8 role last season, i dont think hes that either, which is ironic because thats pretty much all he played before Emery came in.

He looks best in the 10 or inside wide role.

I think he might struggle to be a guaranteed starter this season, depending on who we bring in, he is a great player overall, but he has some huge limitations technically.

 

[allani]

27 minutes ago, Indigo said:

It's worth noting with Tielemans that playing as advanced as he often did last season was a relatively new experience for him, at least in the Premier League. He's mostly played in the central midfield position that Luiz did, Emery just found a way to get them both in the team by using Tielemans further forward. He did make his name playing deeper though and was excellent at times there when he's gotten the chance to do so at Villa. Given the amount of players in the squad that fit into those attacking midfield/winger/second striker positions I wouldn't be surprised if he played in that Luiz role more often next season. Which I'd be pretty comfortable with once he has the right partner next to him.

I'm not unhappy with Tielemans / Barkley as our Luiz replacement.  But we need someone to play the Kamara role OR change our formation somehow so that Luiz / Kamara (in defence) is replaced with maybe three?  I'm not quite sure how that would work but it would kind of fit with links like Gallagher whose closer to Luiz (with better defensive stats) than Kamara (with better passing stats).  I'm not sure I am convinced.  But I am sure that Emery / Monchi have a plan.

[alreadyexists]

That Baumgartner is having a great tournament so far, would love him at Villa but that won’t happen I don’t think 

[allani]

5 minutes ago, paul514 said:

Correct, it's foolish talk.

None of Rodgers (New), Buendia/Ramsey (injured pretty much all of last season), Diaby (book value too high to bother selling and extreme high ceiling) are going to be leaving. You wouldn't have thought the best performing forward from last year in Bailey is going either.

Then there is the potential new signing of Illing, and the fact that McGinn (out captain) plays one of those three places and Tielemans when fit and on form looks excellent.

So in short, pointless talk.

If it is pointless then why - according to pretty much every media outlet in Italy and most reputed transfer "experts" - was Soule the first player we asked Juventus about?  Obviously it's not a definite fact that that happened but it is as close to a fact as you can possibly get.

[allani]

8 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

i agree that McGinn isnt a 6, and seeing him play the 8 role last season, i dont think hes that either, which is ironic because thats pretty much all he played before Emery came in.

He looks best in the 10 or inside wide role.

I think he might struggle to be a guaranteed starter this season, depending on who we bring in, he is a great player overall, but he has some huge limitations technically.

 

And our midfield looked massively unbalanced until Kamara arrived (and Emery came in to tell the midfielders what they should each be doing).  It's hard not to play McGinn somewhere because he offers so much but he also doesn't really "fit" any single position.  It's part of the reason I love him - for someone who shouldn't really work in any position he's made himself the captain of a CL team through hard work, determination and huge commitment to the cause - all whilst being a real character and a great human.