Summer Transfer Window (2024/25)

[sne]

Just now, CarryOnVilla said:

Why do feel that way? 

History is littered with clubs that struggle in the league during their first season in the CL even if they are allowed to keep their core squad together. Replacing the main cog that is the CM while doing it is a huge challenge. Have every faith in Emery but this is a massive challenge. The PL is unforgiving and with us doing if not a mini re-build then a mini re-tooling I think it will take time for us to gel. Kamara-Luiz was a huge part of why we were able to play how we did and why we were so successful. Now we have to find a new way and that is likely to take time.

[Eligius]

33 minutes ago, CarryOnVilla said:

We have no reason to buy any more than 1 CM, as we’re pretty stacked already 

DM Karmara/ Barrenechea/ Dendonker/ Chambers

dCM Tielemans/ Barkley 

aCM Mcginn/ Buendia/ Ramsey/ Rogers

assuming we’re selling Dendonker and Chambers, and Buendia, Ramsey and Rogers are also options elsewhere on the pitch, we still got 2 or more players for our main 3 midfield roles already. Yet, people are doubtful on Tielemans & Barkley, and suspect that we need a “better” player there.
As nice as that will be, I wouldn’t be surprised we not signing another CM this window. If that’s the case, I’m not bothered as I’m relaxed about the idea that Emery can get the best out of Barkley 

Dendonker and Chambers are surplus to requirements, I can see another coming in yet on top of those already on their way.

[The_Steve]

2 minutes ago, Eligius said:

Dendonker and Chambers are surplus to requirements, I can see another coming in yet on top of those already on their way.

I will be shocked if either are still here come 31 August. 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

Chelsea highjacking Brighton move for Drewsbury Hall is cold.

Is he actually that good? Or are Chelsea just rotating their homegrown quota?

Drinkwater vibes.

[Jas10]

We don’t have quality midfield depth, not centrally.

Buendia, Ramsey and Rodgers are not central midfielders. Will play on the left (Emi can go on the right too) or SS position alongside Ollie (seemingly Bailey’s position). They are forwards or attackers.

JJ’s a bit slight (and his ball carrying more useful in attack or out wide) and Emi too small for the physical challenge and midfield battle also. Too lightweight.

Dendoncker and Chambers are well below standard and not in favour anyway, hopefully we finally manage to offload both of them. Totally discounting them.

McGinn… will probably still play RM, LM or SS. We’ve failed in our recruitment if he has to keep filling in at CM or DM or have to play there regularly. 

Even Tielemans is possibly not seen as an out-and-out CM and Unai may continue to prefer him in an attacking role, back to LM and SS. But he’s the main candidate to replace Dougie atm, just hope he can keep fit and maintain sharpness… no more signs of exhaustion and lapses please, as we saw earlier in the season.

Kamara is injured and unavailable for a while.

So… who do we really have as a proper first choice CM or DM to primarily and regularly play in those positions?

Barkley isn’t here yet but will be one option. I’ll be disappointed if he’s seen as first choice or a starter though, not a CL level player for me even if he looked and did well at Luton. Useful for the squad. 

Barrenechea is on the way and is another… might be a big ask for him to come in and try and hit the ground running though… but he’s a better option as backup/alternative DM to Kamara than we previously had.

We have to strengthen and I believe we will. And we should see more sales.

Atm, we could line up in a few different ways but… it doesn’t look all that strong centrally and represents a weaker midfield than the previous season. We need more…

LM - Rogers, Ramsey, Tielemans, Buendia, Iling Jr (other options, McGinn, Diaby, Bailey)

RM - McGinn, Buendia, Diaby, Bailey.

CM - Barkley, Barrenechea, Tielemans, McGinn.

We don’t have enough nor enough quality at central midfield. Not enough “proper” CMs. Imagine that midfield in the CL against tough opposition… we don’t have enough.

I’d be happy to add a high quality CM (creative and capable in attack) and another DM or more rounded CM…

I really feel that Unai and NSWE are ambitious and enthusiastic about the season and bigger/better signings are on the way… yeah, I do kind of expect 2 midfielders to join at and of high quality. That’s not to mention the other positions we will address.

We have to have a better squad and a stronger first 11 if we really want to make our mark in the CL and keep up momentum and progress in the league. It’s big step up, we struggled in ECL and have to be a lot better in European competition.

Edited Friday at 12:59 by Jas10

[Awol]

One thing we haven’t really mentioned is the loan market, whether that includes options to buy or not. Might be opportunities there to pick up a player or two from the bigger European sides who are ridiculously stacked with super young players who will otherwise rot on the bench. 

Real Madrid seem set to buy another two or three major young talents this summer, and maybe they will look to farm out a couple already on their books. 

[villaglint]

2 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Chelsea highjacking Brighton move for Drewsbury Hall is cold.

Is he actually that good? Or are Chelsea just rotating their homegrown quota?

Drinkwater vibes.

Just cutting out the middle man. Finally realised it wasnt a good business model to wait and pay £100m for him in 12 months time. 

[Jas10]

16 minutes ago, sne said:

History is littered with clubs that struggle in the league during their first season in the CL even if they are allowed to keep their core squad together. Replacing the main cog that is the CM while doing it is a huge challenge. Have every faith in Emery but this is a massive challenge. The PL is unforgiving and with us doing if not a mini re-build then a mini re-tooling I think it will take time for us to gel. Kamara-Luiz was a huge part of why we were able to play how we did and why we were so successful. Now we have to find a new way and that is likely to take time.

Couldn’t agree more… the downgrade from Kamara- Luiz atm is significant, and we can’t just wait around for Bouba to return until we can put out a strong and dominant midfield.

Work to be done  

[CarryOnVilla]

7 minutes ago, sne said:

History is littered with clubs that struggle in the league during their first season in the CL even if they are allowed to keep their core squad together. Replacing the main cog that is the CM while doing it is a huge challenge. Have every faith in Emery but this is a massive challenge. The PL is unforgiving and with us doing if not a mini re-build then a mini re-tooling I think it will take time for us to gel. Kamara-Luiz was a huge part of why we were able to play how we did and why we were so successful. Now we have to find a new way and that is likely to take time.

Champions league is a different format now, it’s not completely stacked against the newbies being lumped in to a group of 2 giants. Our chances of reaching the knockout stage is a lot more open. 

you’re are right the Kamara-Luiz partnership made us great. But once kamara was injured, Doug was average at best. Tielemans ending up being our best midfielder in the post Boub injury era

it may take time to get the midfield flowing, but it won’t take as long as you fear. As Tielemans is up to speed already 

[duke313]

6 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Chelsea highjacking Brighton move for Drewsbury Hall is cold.

Is he actually that good? Or are Chelsea just rotating their homegrown quota?

Drinkwater vibes.

Probably cheaper to buy him off Leicester now rather than for triple the price from Brighton in 2 years time 

[sne]

7 minutes ago, CarryOnVilla said:

Champions league is a different format now, it’s not completely stacked against the newbies being lumped in to a group of 2 giants. Our chances of reaching the knockout stage is a lot more open. 

you’re are right the Kamara-Luiz partnership made us great. But once kamara was injured, Doug was average at best. Tielemans ending up being our best midfielder in the post Boub injury era

it may take time to get the midfield flowing, but it won’t take as long as you fear. As Tielemans is up to speed already 

Doubt it but let's hope so.

Also don't get the logic that Luiz turned bad once Kamara got injured but that doesn't matter now because we have (imo at least) inferior players to Luiz coming in and still not having Kamara next to them. If Kamara was fit them yeah perhaps Luiz leaving would not matter as much. Being without both makes the job more difficult for Tielemann and everyone else in the team.

Edit: And the new CL format has even more games now.

Edited Friday at 12:52 by sne

[mikeyp102]

14 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Chelsea highjacking Brighton move for Drewsbury Hall is cold.

Is he actually that good? Or are Chelsea just rotating their homegrown quota?

Drinkwater vibes.

Think he was Maresca’s main player at Leicester, so wants to take that signing with him 

[Jas10]

11 minutes ago, sne said:

Doubt it but let's hope so.

Also don't get the logic that Luiz turned bad once Kamara got injured but that doesn't matter now because we have (imo at least) inferior players to Luiz coming in and still not having Kamara next to them. If Kamara was fit them yeah perhaps Luiz leaving would not matter as much. Being without both makes the job more difficult for Tielemann and everyone else in the team.

Edit: And the new CL format has even more games now.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we buy two new starting central midfielders… we will get at least one, I’m confident of that.

Aside from quality, we don’t really have proper depth in that area rn. We’re not in a great position if we keep needing wide or attacking midfielders to fill in at CM…

Ideally, we want our best players playing in their best positions most of the time and some form of continuity in that respect.

Edited Friday at 13:03 by Jas10

[Jas10]

23 minutes ago, Awol said:

One thing we haven’t really mentioned is the loan market, whether that includes options to buy or not. Might be opportunities there to pick up a player or two from the bigger European sides who are ridiculously stacked with super young players who will otherwise rot on the bench. 

Real Madrid seem set to buy another two or three major young talents this summer, and maybe they will look to farm out a couple already on their books. 

Yep, must be a few options out there. Players like Ugarte and Soler could be brought in on loan to buy deals… and spare some of our funds.

Players on the fringes of CL teams who might want a move away and more minutes.

[Jas10]

Assuming we would line our midfield up like this if the season started fairly soon… 

 

Ramsey  Tielemans    Barkley     McGinn

Beyond that, Buendia/Rogers/Iling Jr to come in on the left, Barrenechea to come in for Barkley. Bailey or Diaby on the right.

It’s lacking… for me anyway. Not good enough in the middle up against top/strong opposition in good form.

Edited Friday at 13:18 by Jas10

[Vive_La_Villa]

52 minutes ago, sne said:

I think this season will be extremely difficult even if we get a top CM in. Without one I think we'll really struggle until Kamara is back and the January window opens.

I tend to agree. Feels like we could push on to another level but will be held back by PSR and be a mid table team again. 

I don't really care that much anymore.  Nothing we can do about it. 

[John]

17 minutes ago, mikeyp102 said:

Think he was Maresca’s main player at Leicester, so wants to take that signing with him 

Chelsea's fans are unlikely to be impressed. They have grown used to spending big money on players. 

[abdulaziz1]

10 minutes ago, sne said:

Doubt it but let's hope so.

Also don't get the logic that Luiz turned bad once Kamara got injured but that doesn't matter now because we have (imo at least) inferior players to Luiz coming in and still not having Kamara next to them. If Kamara was fit them yeah perhaps Luiz leaving would not matter as much. Being without both makes the job more difficult for Tielemann and everyone else in the team.

Edit: And the new CL format has even more games now.

He regressed but mainly because playing out of position. If he had a DM beside him I guess he’d have continued his form. I think we’ll be fine with Enzo until Kamara is back, we don’t have to play a DM in each game anyway. 
However, a replacement for Luiz is much needed. I think Fofana would be perfect. So we can have choice going into some tough games,

Fofana, Enzo then two out of (McGinn, Youri, Ramsey and Rogers). While the easier home games we can go with Fofana and Tielemans. All with having Barkley if we’re chasing a game or playing the odd game here or there. 
Some people do underestimate player’s positions, So a lot suggest Barkley, Gallagher…etc to play instead of Kamara. We’ve needed a short term replacement and I think now we’re sorted with Enzo. 
First Emery season, all of our best performances came with Dendonker starting. Not because he’s quality but it’s his position which gave Luiz the chance to play well. I think having Dendonker might’ve helped us a bit second half last season, but long term he can’t. Our game, passing, play building is improving. I don’t think Dendonker will help in that aspect, but we need to play a DM.

I can wee Enzo featuring more than Barkley and than people imagine, it’s his attributes, even if quality wise he was less than other players right now. 
 

Same goes for Luiz position, I see some suggest pure attacking midfielders to play there, that would damage the whole structure. 
For the odd game, or during a game and circumstances, you could do so. But for stability we need the right players.

[Captain_Townsend]

2 minutes ago, Jas10 said:

Assuming we would line our midfield up like this if the season started fairly soon… 

 

Ramsey  Tielemans    Barkley     McGinn

Beyond that, Buendia/Rogers/Iling Jr to come in on the left, Barrenechea to come in for Barkley. Bailey or Diaby on the right.

It’s lacking… for me anyway. Not good enough in the middle up against top/strong opposition.

It's a weaker midfield than the one we had first half of last season.

[Captain_Townsend]

2 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I tend to agree. Feels like we could push on to another level but will be held back by PSR and be a mid table team again. 

I don't really care that much anymore.  Nothing we can do about it. 

Well, off the field we could put the building blocks in place to catch up on revenue but we have decided to go a bit Mickley mouse on all that.