Summer Transfer Window (2024/25)

[Villaphan04]

1 hour ago, Rodders said:

If we bought him it would be to flip him for profit in a couple of years. Don't get excited about young players we buy they aren't for our first team

He played a full championship season at 17/18. There’s no way he’d agree to move to us if he was not going to be involved in the first team. 

Edited Saturday at 13:46 by Villaphan04

[CVByrne]

Monchi and Emery are big on using the Loan market so I would expect at least one loan signing. 

[MaVilla]

17 minutes ago, Steero113 said:

Enzo might be rated higher than you think, someone in his thread posted his Serie A season stats and they really weren't far off Kamara's. And Italy is statistically the strongest league in the world at this moment. 

ye i dont deny he might be good, i dont know, but still, its 1 x DM we now have, and having 1 x DM effed us last season when Kamara got injured, would prefer 2 tbh.

Edited Saturday at 13:51 by MaVilla

[OutByEaster?]

14 minutes ago, thabucks said:

Yes the sales help but I don’t agree myself, we’ve strengthened the squad under PSR restrictions DM, LB & LMF and weakened CM with the sale of Dougie… 

We can now look to strengthen the first team now we’re not bound by it … Fantastic manoeuvring by Monchi & Co

I think Maatsen is the only player of those bought so far that I'd expect to play a significant part in our first team this season, many of the others won't be in the match day squad for the most part. 

We've strengthened at a position where we were already pretty good, and weakened significantly in the position where we had least depth at the end of last season. 

I think we'll spend heavily on one or two central midfielders and I think that'll make us a better side and give us more options - but right now, I'd say we're weaker than we were in May.

 

[MaVilla]

Just now, OutByEaster? said:

I think Maatsen is the only player of those bought so far that I'd expect to play a significant part in our first team this season, many of the others won't be in the math day squad for the most part. 

We've strengthened at a position where we were already pretty good, and weakened significantly in the position where we had least depth at the end of last season. 

I think we'll spend heavily on one or two central midfielders and I think that'll make us a better side and give us more options - but right now, I'd say we're weaker than we were in May.

 

i think ur right.

[OutByEaster?]

And I should add, I think it's okay that we're weaker right now than we were at the end of May - it's still June.

[Tayls]

8 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

And I should add, I think it's okay that we're weaker right now than we were at the end of May - it's still June.

Teams are going to be fully aware of that though and make it difficult for us to get who we want. I hope we have someone lined up already and progress is underway to bring them in. I’ll be annoyed if we go all the way through to the end of August without bringing the long term replacement in. 

Edited Saturday at 14:02 by Tayls

[CVByrne]

16 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

I think Maatsen is the only player of those bought so far that I'd expect to play a significant part in our first team this season, many of the others won't be in the match day squad for the most part. 

We've strengthened at a position where we were already pretty good, and weakened significantly in the position where we had least depth at the end of last season. 

I think we'll spend heavily on one or two central midfielders and I think that'll make us a better side and give us more options - but right now, I'd say we're weaker than we were in May.

 

I don't think the business we did this month or January was really about the present. I think the view is the players we signed a couple might be playing an important part come April and May with fatigue and injuries taking a toll they'll be hopefully settled and integrated. 

I think Maatsen, Barkley and any more players we sign will play bigger parts. Let's say they are Beier, Gallagher, Hermoso and Kayode

[MaVilla]

21 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

And I should add, I think it's okay that we're weaker right now than we were at the end of May - it's still June.

Im guessing that now we are PSR level, as you say all the big moves for us will be July onwards.

Im also guessing we will need to get some cash in to spend big, ie: selling Donk - 5-10m, Chambers - prob free, Digne or Moreno - 10-15m, Duran - 25-35m, so another 40-60m income??, to allow us to spend a bit?

[Leeroy]

3 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Yet we still finished above them with an " inferior " midfield.

The poster also literally gave you examples of a midfield with free transfers and players from the Scottish League and Championship which finished 4th.

Our squad will undoubtedly be stronger going into the next campaign

I'm guessing you'd rather 80 million pounds Maguire over Ezri Konsa because he's more expensive so must be better?

Or you'd take Antony over Bailey because he's expensive too.

I'm not sure where you've created the fantasy that we won't be spending any money either.

It's like you're trying to skew facts to suit your impending doom narrative.

Let’s just cut out the catty comments shall we, this isn’t a playground, maybe I was harsh on @allani in my response but I’m not sure why you couldn’t let him answer for himself.

 

We are not going to be able to keep picking up central midfielders for free or on the cheap like we did with McGinn, Kamara and Tielemans, eventually we are going to have to invest in this area and right now it needs investment. If you can suggest a quality midfielder we can get on the cheap go ahead but the truth is (and I’m not alone here reading through the comments) we are going to have to go into the market and spend a bit of money here. 
 

Until we start hearing of potential signings in this part of the pitch I will keep going on about it because it needs fixing. And currently we aren’t being strongly linked with any real quality central midfield players.

[MessiWillSignForVilla]

1 hour ago, Rodders said:

If we bought him it would be to flip him for profit in a couple of years. Don't get excited about young players we buy they aren't for our first team

Archie Gray is one of the most highly rated young players in England right now, if we signed him he may not go straight in to the first XI, but he wouldn't be long off it. Closer to a Duran or Rogers type signing rather than a Lino Sousa or Rico Richards signing

[VillaChris]

The only position we're currently weaker in than last season is central midfield. Last season we started the season with the pivot of Kamara-Luiz and they were brilliant as a duo up to January so lots of work for the club to do there. Just getting in a guy from bottom half Serie A, Barkley and then hoping Tielemans stays fit feels very risky with the high level fixtures (would be more acceptable if we were trying to improve from finishing 7th as was the case 12 months back).

At the back we have quickly found a younger and high quality LB solution to the existing options which is brilliant. One of Digne/Moreno will go in the next two months but no rush on that.

At the back Mings basically replaces Lenglet so we have can ease Ty back in and see how he looks after the terrible injury. Carlos, Pau and Konsa all still here and for RB we can just have him and Cash. People might not like either at RB but ultimately they both have played in Unai's system for 18 months and our results have largely been good for long spells of seasons so let's not be negative for the sake of it. The plan I presume will be for the Serb lad to get some chances in cups so he could be a solution there quicker than expected.

Upfront has Ollie, Duran, Diaby, Bailey so same as last season although of course Duran will likely leave so need another signing but again no rush.

The left side will have Ramsey and Buendia returning so with Rogers loads of options to rotate and keep them fresh.

Unless I've missed a glaring position our squad is looking o.k to me so far with the only exception being the glaring hole in that central midfield area. We've seen in the past it's not a good idea to let the CM area decline in quality as you tend to fall back down the league but Unai is too good to just let that happen so I'm expecting another good level CM to be signed in next two months.

To me we're currently in a better place than Newcastle and Man. United when you look at their squads. 

[allani]

3 hours ago, Leeroy said:

What a bizarre response. Of course money matters, you do realise we got relegated because we stopped spending money don’t you? Chelsea have a far better midfield than us, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez and even Gallagher would all walk into our current midfield. Man Utd are the only exception out of the 7 clubs we are competing with and that’s because they signed Casemiro who was too old and Mount who was injury prone. With Kamara injured our midfield options aren’t any better than theirs anyway. 
 

If you actually don’t think we have a problem in central midfield then there is no point in a discussion because I couldn’t disagree more with you. We are 2 starting players down from the start of last season, probably the strongest part of the team, and haven’t sufficiently replaced either player. 

Money doesn't matter zip when it comes to transfers.  McGinn isn't **** because he only cost £5m, Kamara and Tielemans are not awful players because they cost £0 between them in transfer fees.  If your only measure of a good transfer is the fee - which is pretty much what your original post stated then it's entirely the wrong measure.  Utd spent £80m on Maguire and another £80m on Anthony - it doesn't make them better players than Mings or Bailey who were acquired for a fraction of the price.

About 3 months ago there was a great article in one of the national papers about how brilliant Villa had been in the transfer market - especially in midfield where we had basically built an entire unit and most of its backup for less than most of the teams around us had spent on their least expensive starting midfielder (exc. those that had come through their youth ranks).  That doesn't mean our midfield is rubbish.

I don't quite understand how you think my response in any way suggests that I don't think we need to sign another midfielder.  My point is I don't really care whether that midfielder costs £0, £5m, £15m or £50m - what matters is that they improve our team, fit well with Emery's system and mix with the rest of the team.  Your post ignored all of these important elements behind any transfer and focussed entirely on the net spend.  That is the bit I disagree with.

[allani]

11 minutes ago, Leeroy said:

Let’s just cut out the catty comments shall we, this isn’t a playground, maybe I was harsh on @allani in my response but I’m not sure why you couldn’t let him answer for himself.

 

We are not going to be able to keep picking up central midfielders for free or on the cheap like we did with McGinn, Kamara and Tielemans, eventually we are going to have to invest in this area and right now it needs investment. If you can suggest a quality midfielder we can get on the cheap go ahead but the truth is (and I’m not alone here reading through the comments) we are going to have to go into the market and spend a bit of money here. 
 

Until we start hearing of potential signings in this part of the pitch I will keep going on about it because it needs fixing. And currently we aren’t being strongly linked with any real quality central midfield players.

This bit I agree with ENTIRELY.

(Oh and you're right - I don't think that it is a sensible plan to just try and collect free / cheap players because they won't all turn into McGinn or Kamara.  But I don't think there is anything to suggest that that is the way that Monchi / Emery work.  They'll pay when they need to pay and they'll save where they can save.)

Edited Saturday at 14:46 by allani

[Tomaszk]

Serious prospect.

Not quite what we need, but I said that about Wharton and was very wrong. We should have moved for him at the available £20m. His next move will be for £80m.

Who Brentford buy in the next few years will be quite interesting. They have so much spare room with FFP and have been linked with some very expensive good young players.

Johnson said no. Nusa seemed to have some sort of knee issues. This could be the one they blow £30m on.

Edited Saturday at 14:48 by Tomaszk

[Leeroy]

1 minute ago, allani said:

Money doesn't matter zip when it comes to transfers.  McGinn isn't **** because he only cost £5m, Kamara and Tielemans are not awful players because they cost £0 between them in transfer fees.  If your only measure of a good transfer is the fee - which is pretty much what your original post stated then it's entirely the wrong measure.  Utd spent £80m on Maguire and another £80m on Anthony - it doesn't make them better players than Mings or Bailey who were acquired for a fraction of the price.

About 3 months ago there was a great article in one of the national papers about how brilliant Villa had been in the transfer market - especially in midfield where we had basically built an entire unit and most of its backup for less than most of the teams around us had spent on their least expensive starting midfielder (exc. those that had come through their youth ranks).  That doesn't mean our midfield is rubbish.

I don't quite understand how you think my response in any way suggests that I don't think we need to sign another midfielder.  My point is I don't really care whether that midfielder costs £0, £5m, £15m or £50m - what matters is that they improve our team, fit well with Emery's system and mix with the rest of the team.  Your post ignored all of these important elements behind any transfer and focussed entirely on the net spend.  That is the bit I disagree with.

Ok my apologies for being short with you. I agree that up to now our business has been brilliant in the CM positions, and you’re right spending lots of money doesn’t guarantee success. From our point of view, it would be much better if we could sign a quality player on the cheap.

 

I think what my point was is that I’d like us to be prepared to spend big in that area. We’ve just lost 2 crucial players in that part of the pitch, and I don’t think it will be fixed by Barkley and Barrenechea. It doesn’t even have to be a huge fee - Fofana for example is available for £25m because he has one year left on his contract. Anyway there is plenty of time to get it fixed so no need to panic just yet, but I do hope we can make progress in the next couple of weeks before preseason starts. 

[OutByEaster?]

I guess if you were to look at a potential matchday squad (and this is just one I'm picking off the top of my head) and including our summer signings, (I'm adding Barkley) right now it'd look like this:

Martinez, Konsa, Carlos, Torres, Maatsen, Barkley, Tielemans, McGinn, Bailey, Diaby, Watkins

subs Olsen, Gauci, Cash, Mings, Digne, Barrenechea, Buendia, Ramsey, Rogers..

There's only really Nedljkovic, Dobbin, Illing-Junior and Kamara missing there and for me it shows we're both short of quality in the middle of the park and a few short on numbers in general.

Right now, Chambers and Dendoncker would still be in with a shout of getting in our matchday squad.

 

[useless]

Gray would probably cost thirty or forty million, definitley wouldn't be someone to just make a profit on, although wouldn't come straight into our first team either, he isn't really a standout at Championship level, it's the fact that he's as good as he is at such a young that makes him so valuable and sought after, contines on the same trajectory, will be a big player

And to be fair on Lino Sousa I'd put him in a different category to Richrds, he will have been brought in the hope that he can become good enough for our first team and if not we can sell him on for a profit, this is a player who has been a regular for England at youth level, has also played for Portugal, did well at Arsenal, was making their first team squad last season, but wanted to move away from London, and his first loan after not long turning nineteen was to a Championship club, so whilst his Plymouth loan seemingly didn't go brilliantly, I think he's a better prospect than some are giving him credit for, truth be told he's probably closer in profile to the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Kesler-Hayden, Philogene as they were at his age, and so on, than he is to Azaz and Richards who he's been compared - both of whom have done well as it happens, Richards was probably just brought in as a stop gap, but got himself a loan, semmingly did well, now things looking better for him, and of course Azaz has done brilliantly

[Leeroy]

4 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

I guess if you were to look at a potential matchday squad (and this is just one I'm picking off the top of my head) and including our summer signings, (I'm adding Barkley) right now it'd look like this:

Martinez, Konsa, Carlos, Torres, Maatsen, Barkley, Tielemans, McGinn, Bailey, Diaby, Watkins

subs Olsen, Gauci, Cash, Mings, Digne, Barrenechea, Buendia, Rogers, Illing-Junior.

There's only really Nedljkovic, Dobbin and Kamara missing there and for me it shows we're both short of quality in the middle of the park and a few short on numbers in general.

Right now, Chambers and Dendoncker would still be in with a shout of getting in our matchday squad.

 

You’ve also missed out Ramsey and Duran (unless you were assuming we were selling them).

[STO]

4 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

I guess if you were to look at a potential matchday squad (and this is just one I'm picking off the top of my head) and including our summer signings, (I'm adding Barkley) right now it'd look like this:

Martinez, Konsa, Carlos, Torres, Maatsen, Barkley, Tielemans, McGinn, Bailey, Diaby, Watkins

subs Olsen, Gauci, Cash, Mings, Digne, Barrenechea, Buendia, Rogers, Illing-Junior.

There's only really Nedljkovic, Dobbin and Kamara missing there and for me it shows we're both short of quality in the middle of the park and a few short on numbers in general.

Right now, Chambers and Dendoncker would still be in with a shout of getting in our matchday squad.

 

Must be honest, I'd be really disappointed if we start with only one new player in the first 11. I still think our midfield lacks physicality and I hope this is addressed.  Central defence is weak too.