Summer Transfer Window (2024/25)

[John]

38 minutes ago, allani said:

I agree with most of this.  Personally I still think Rogers needs to play more centrally at an attacker to make the best use of his physical and playing attributes.  The more I see him play the more I think he really could be a CF - in the Ollie mould rather than the Lineker mould.  I think he'd be better as a SS than a LM in the meantime - and a very different option to Bailey or Diaby.

I've seen this said quite often and agree that it does look like he does have it in him, to do a job up front, at some point. I suspect that it is a bit early to get him to change the way that he plays for us though, given he has only made the step up to the PL in the second half of last season and may well make the further massive step of playing CL football with us in the coming season. Watkins didn't become the striker he now is, when he was Rogers age and I think such a change may be a year or three ahead for him, rather than something for him to be working on now. Ultimately that decision will be for UE to make and if, as seems likely Duran does get a new club, I would think we will look to sign a replacement for him. By the way, if we can find one in the Lineker mould I wouldn't say no. 

[Jas10]

55 minutes ago, CarryOnVilla said:

What context do you need? Barkley was balling for Luton. He was the Barkley that should have been at Chelsea. We all saw it on match of the day. pundits and arm chair pundits were suggesting England call ups as well as other praise. The stats are there just to show it’s true beyond edited highlight clips. Main guy stuff is meaningless, as we wouldn’t hold that against Jack’s time with us. As I said, Ross isn’t  a glamour signing and there’s iffiness in his past. I’m also not suggesting he’s going to be the direct replacement to Doug. Tielemans is probably ahead on that. But Ross is better than we care to admit

as I’m keep saying. I’d love and want to us to sign better midfielders But it’s not a pressing need as we have a full squad of senior midfielders, even with donks and chambers sold. Any more players gives a massive head scratch on rotation. 

I think I laid out my points and questions previously (context)… I’m not looking at it as a poor signing at all btw. He will help us and will be much better than the squad options we had to use previously… I’m onboard.

Can he perform at least as well (if not better, which is probably what we need/want) at a higher level, with greater demands and many more competitive games we are required to win? Alongside players who are probably superior to him (and anyone he played with at Luton) and who will take on more of the ball/load? (That’s what I meant by “main man” at Luton, he won’t be like that here, at least I hope not or we’re in trouble).

Don’t think the Jack comparison is relevant  and it’s case by case… many think he’s become a worse player since he moved on anyway. But let’s not discuss him, it’s never something I’m interested in doing.

Can Barkley do the business for us in his new or restored position/role? We’ve only seen it for one season and it’s not how he used to play at previous clubs at PL level. We will have to see… it’s not a given. I think there are many valid questions that will need answering by the level of his performances… that’s not a criticism.

But he’s not like Dougie and not a replacement for him… we must set our sights higher than that (not in terms of name but ability), we’re going to be playing Champions League football and we want to qualify for it again and again (Unai said so)… and possibly do well in domestic cups too. It’s quite the challenge and step up. We need to be better than last season…

The only player we will have (until someone new or not linked or signing), who may have Dougie’s prowess on/with the ball is Tielemans but he is not as reliable over the course and duration of a while season. I certainly don’t think Ross is either.

I’m gonna stop before I repeat myself too much… we all have our own views mate and I respect yours, even if I don’t (fully) agree with it… we need more strength and quality imo.

[CarryOnVilla]

1 hour ago, allani said:

The question mark is how many matches can Tielemans play.  He really struggled to string matches together last season without getting injured (mainly niggles).  Which was part of the reason why Luiz had to play so much and then (unsurprisingly) ran out of steam.  It's easy to say that Tielemans was our best midfielder towards the end of the season - but part of the reason is that he'd got a lot fewer kms in his legs at that point.  Had we been able to rest Luiz in 5 - 8 matches then it is almost certain that he'd have maintained his excellent form at the start of the season much longer.  In the same way that McGinn and Ollie also struggled towards the end of the season.  All three had just played too much football.  We're already looking better placed to ensure that we've got more options to rotate / sub off our midfielders and protect them better over the course of (hopefully!) another long season.

I think we'll see a minimum of three CMs play almost every match (2 starters, 1 sub) possibly four as I can see us subbing off McGinn with a more "defensive" option in some games rather than having to play with Bailey and Diaby.  There may also be some games where a Enzo - Barkley - Tielemans - (insert LM of your choice) combination is preferable to a Enzo - Tielemens - McGinn - (insert LM of your choice).  McGinn will want to play every minute of every game because he's that type of person - but being able to get him in a settled position and give him some "time off" will ultimately help him too.

Even after Kamara comes back I think we're a CM short of the options we need to be able to ensure that we can compete for a full season and also be able to handle the injuries, suspension, drops in form, etc that are part of every season.

That’s all lovely and logical and makes sense. and I agree with it really 

My core argument is not to have more players in, but the ones we have covers all the spots and we can get by with what we have with little hassle (unless the same level of injuries as last season). Any more isn’t a big need… other positions are more of need

Also, people acting like we have a gaping hole of talent now Doug as gone. His spot is filled by Ross, who so happens to have had a good season with almost identical stats to Doug. So the need isn’t as strong as people fear

getting better midfielders in, I will champion and welcome, I just don’t see the gaping hole that everyone is fearful of. 

I also don’t see the need of too many players for a a couple of positions. Fine to be wary of injures or a dip in form, but if they don’t happen, then we got unused senior players collect a wage for doing nothing. my personal preference (not necessarily the solution or correct), 2 senior players for each position and 3rd choice players should be academy players/young prospects

Edited June 28 by CarryOnVilla

[allani]

21 minutes ago, duke313 said:

I should have added “in the first half of the season”. Which he’d be required to do if he’s replacing Kamara. If we don’t sign another DM, Enzo is going to have to play 20 domestic games + 6 CL games before Kamara is back in the pitch. I just can’t see Emery risking our season like that, we’ll sign a more experienced DM in addition to Enzo.

Yeah - I agree with that.  I'm sure we will see another CM arriving.  We might not be quite so much "6" and "8" as in the past and so we'll have a better set of options even if they aren't direct "swaps".

[duke313]

2 minutes ago, allani said:

Yeah - I agree with that.  I'm sure we will see another CM arriving.  We might not be quite so much "6" and "8" as in the past and so we'll have a better set of options even if they aren't direct "swaps".

I think we could see a loan, similar to how we loaned Lenglet and Zaniolo to cover Mings and Buendia.  A loan + Ezno will do nicely until Kamara is back up and running.

[allani]

2 minutes ago, CarryOnVilla said:

That’s all lovely and logical and makes sense. and I agree with it really 

My core argument is not to have more players in, but the ones we have covers all the spots and we can get by with what we have with little hassle (unless the same level of injuries as last season). Any more isn’t a big need… other positions are more of need

Also, people acting like we have a gaping hole of talent now Doug as gone. His spot is filled by Ross, who so happens to have had a good season with almost identical stats to Doug. So the need isn’t as strong as people fear

getting better midfielders in, I will champion and welcome, I just don’t see the gaping hole that everyone is fearful of. 

I also don’t see the need of too many players for a a couple of positions. Fine to be wary of injures or a dip in form, but if they don’t happen, then we got unused senior players collect a wage for doing nothing my personal preference (not necessarily the solution or correct), 2 senior players for each position and 3rd choice players should be academy players/young prospects

I think this is pretty much what I mean by us not necessarily being so definitively a "6" and an "8" - we've got a couple of options now who whilst maybe not a perfect "swap" are better at providing cover.  McGinn isn't a 6 or an 8.  Luiz wasn't a 6.  We're getting players who can "fill" either gap better than we've been able to in the past.  That's not to say that we'll be trying to play a load of players out of position - just that we're not relying on essentially "attacking" players to do more "defensive" roles.  Barkley can cover the 6 and the 8.  He's not a 6 but he's a better 6 than Luiz or McGinn.  So therefore that's a stronger position to be in.

[CarryOnVilla]

4 minutes ago, allani said:

I think this is pretty much what I mean by us not necessarily being so definitively a "6" and an "8" - we've got a couple of options now who whilst maybe not a perfect "swap" are better at providing cover.  McGinn isn't a 6 or an 8.  Luiz wasn't a 6.  We're getting players who can "fill" either gap better than we've been able to in the past.  That's not to say that we'll be trying to play a load of players out of position - just that we're not relying on essentially "attacking" players to do more "defensive" roles.  Barkley can cover the 6 and the 8.  He's not a 6 but he's a better 6 than Luiz or McGinn.  So therefore that's a stronger position to be in.

Yeah I think our current options are a bit broader. So it’s less likely of ramming a Zaniolo type in to midfield. I just hope we don’t get the injuries that caused that 

[Jas10]

Has been mentioned previously… suggested in the swap deal for Dougie too?
 

 

[LondonLax]

15 hours ago, Jas10 said:

Keep seeing suggestions or rumours that we’re going to “go big” once July starts… so you never know… 

I’d definitely take both Atalanta players

I can’t see that. We have just cleared the Premier League’s FFP but we are still constrained by UEFA’s FFP to a large extent. 

[Jas10]

 

Original fee was crazy anyway, but his value and form has plummeted.

If anyone needs to be investigated for “inflated fees” it’s Manure… an absolute joke.  Massive fees and wages (350k p w!!! On several players) on players who were or turned out to be utter shite. Antony? Maguire? 

Inflated the market…

[sheepyvillian]

This thread puts me off VT for at least 2 days. 

[Jas10]

1 minute ago, LondonLax said:

I can’t see that. We have just cleared the Premier League’s FFP but we are still constrained by UEFA’s FFP to a large extent. 

We won’t go wild or spend like crazy (not beyond our means or restrictions) but I expect some (perceived to be) big signings that really boost the team… don’t necessarily need to be overly expensive if we have intelligently identified high value, high quality targets. Am sure we have some freedom to spend.

Players on expiring contracts won’t command such huge fees, for instance. We could loan some good players, even bringing in frees like Hermoso, and make some opportunistic moves…

E.g. apparently Baena is available for around £25m which is relatively cheap for a young player of that talent and stats (most assists in Europe last season?).

 

Look at Juve’s business and targets for instance… they appear to be significantly upgrading their midfield without paying massive fees and offsetting costs by swapping players they don’t really need or value all that highly. I certainly think they’ve gotten Dougie on the cheap and they appear to be doing even better for Thuram. Might have to pay more for Koopmeiners though (why don’t we step in? ).

[allani]

12 minutes ago, CarryOnVilla said:

That’s all lovely and logical and makes sense. and I agree with it really 

My core argument is not to have more players in, but the ones we have covers all the spots and we can get by with what we have with little hassle (unless the same level of injuries as last season). Any more isn’t a big need… other positions are more of need

Also, people acting like we have a gaping hole of talent now Doug as gone. His spot is filled by Ross, who so happens to have had a good season with almost identical stats to Doug. So the need isn’t as strong as people fear

getting better midfielders in, I will champion and welcome, I just don’t see the gaping hole that everyone is fearful of. 

I also don’t see the need of too many players for a a couple of positions. Fine to be wary of injures or a dip in form, but if they don’t happen, then we got unused senior players collect a wage for doing nothing my personal preference (not necessarily the solution or correct), 2 senior players for each position and 3rd choice players should be academy players/young prospects

I slightly disagree on this although I agree with the sentiment.  I think we're already at the point (or at least when the signings are finally confirmed) where we've got some players who can play 2 positions well (maybe even a couple who can play 3 positions well) and so if we have a couple of injuries we won't end up with situations like we had this season where we had three or four academy players on the bench just making up numbers.  Bar a couple of key positions I think we're already seing that our "third" choice isn't quite so alien to that role as even they were last season.  In theory this gives us invreased depth of cover without the issue of stockpiling players.

However, although I think Enzo will prove a great buy - I'm still worried that an injury to Tielemans is already starting to give us (me) worries about not over-loading Barkley in CM, being over-reliant on Enzo settling immediately and / or playing someone there who is more out of position (e.g. McGinn).  I hope no-one thinks I am picking on McGinn because I'm not - he's a great example of a player who will play anywhere the manager asks him - but I really want us to play him more where he is better suited and impacts matches more positively.  I'm not as stressed as I was a week ago about midfield even with Luiz leaving - but I still think we need one extra strong option in there.

[Jas10]

Worked out so well Carney…

 

[Demitri_C]

43 minutes ago, Jas10 said:

Has been mentioned previously… suggested in the swap deal for Dougie too?
 

 

I thought we asked and were told he wasnt for sale?

[CarryOnVilla]

9 minutes ago, allani said:

I slightly disagree on this although I agree with the sentiment.  I think we're already at the point (or at least when the signings are finally confirmed) where we've got some players who can play 2 positions well (maybe even a couple who can play 3 positions well) and so if we have a couple of injuries we won't end up with situations like we had this season where we had three or four academy players on the bench just making up numbers.  Bar a couple of key positions I think we're already seing that our "third" choice isn't quite so alien to that role as even they were last season.  In theory this gives us invreased depth of cover without the issue of stockpiling players.

However, although I think Enzo will prove a great buy - I'm still worried that an injury to Tielemans is already starting to give us (me) worries about not over-loading Barkley in CM, being over-reliant on Enzo settling immediately and / or playing someone there who is more out of position (e.g. McGinn).  I hope no-one thinks I am picking on McGinn because I'm not - he's a great example of a player who will play anywhere the manager asks him - but I really want us to play him more where he is better suited and impacts matches more positively.  I'm not as stressed as I was a week ago about midfield even with Luiz leaving - but I still think we need one extra strong option in there.

I would totally agree with you here, if the injury list we had last season was a common occurrence. It was a freak season, happing again to that extent feels unlikely. Yet… It be a Sod’s Law thing, to have a huge squad and not need it, or a small squad and need more. 

As of mcginn, I don’t think anyone can bash him too hard, he’s like our ultimate utility player, that seems to play more out of position than he does in his best role. It’s so much I can’t even remember what his best position is anymore

[Jas10]

There was talk of it being a loan but sounds like it’s back to a termination of contract now…

”Vasco awaits document of termination with Aston Villa to announce Philippe Coutinho”

His loan contract ends today… 

Onto terminating his contract with us then.

Edited June 28 by Jas10

[CarryOnVilla]

3 minutes ago, Jas10 said:

Worked out so well Carney…

 

I’d have him back, dare I say 

[Jas10]

1 minute ago, CarryOnVilla said:

I’d have him back, dare I say 

[Jas10]

6 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

I thought we asked and were told he wasnt for sale?

Might have been deemed too “high value” to be included in a swap deal… like Soule and possibly Chiesa.

Plus, they’re after Calafiori now.