Summer Transfer Window (2024/25)

[Hank Scorpio]

I think you need to balance expectation versus reality.

We have never played in the  champions league until now.  Whilst we have a world class manager, players that we may have considered who may have said no, based on the usual other teams have better finances , and bigger reputations to young players. We have been shit, bar a few years for most players under 30's lives.

Sadly the sky 6 hold the power and the attraction to the players now. One season in the champions league for villa won't change that. We need to do it consistently, but how do we do that with our hands tied by PSR and our previous transfer misjudgements holding us back?

[Jas10]

28 minutes ago, RicRic said:

I always wonder why no other teams are circling for his signature

The release clause is massive… hard to negotiate a reasonable fee for him. But you would think he would love and want to try a different league or higher level before it’s too late in his career… talented player.

[Jas10]

1 minute ago, Zatman said:

not as bad as the nonsense he said when we wouldnt get top four because we lacked ambition by not signing Timo Werner

Ouch

[thabucks]

I wonder if we’re one of the teams in for Southamptons Carlos Alcaraz - fits the profile and did well at Juve by all accounts - versatile, young with a high ceiling  

Edited August 13 by thabucks

[MaVilla]

6 minutes ago, Captain_Townsend said:

I think we have been too Conservative in shifting the deadwood. Deadwood is deadwood. You need to get the wages off the books and free up squad places for the newcomers. 

Obviously we Don't know the inds and outs but we seem to have played hardball on Duran and Carlos in particular. Like many others I would rather they were gone and replaced by two new players.

who do we have left who is actual dead wood?

We have got rid of Sanson, Chambers, Coutinho, Nakamba, Davis, Traore & Wesley in the last 2 years.

The only players left that are probably dead wood are Dendoncker and Hause?

I know we are open to letting Carlos go, but i wouldnt say he was "dead wood", even if it might be good to get him off the books also?

I suppose we could say Dendoncker, Hause and Archer 100% need to go?, then Carlos and any others, it might be good if they go, but not critical?

Edited August 13 by MaVilla

[Zatman]

6 hours ago, Leeroy said:

Even little old Fulham are signing players I'd quite happily take here. 

 

Being stuck with Carlos and Duran really will be depressing given they would have funded new signings. 

Fulham have spent 33 million this summer and are 9 million in profit

We have spent more money on two separate players than Fulham have spent this window

[Captain_Townsend]

1 minute ago, MaVilla said:

who do we have left who is actual dead wood?

We have got rid of Sanson, Chambers, Coutinho, Nakamba, Davis, Traore & Wesley in the last 2 years.

The only players left that are probably dead wood are Dendoncker and Hause?

I know we are open to letting Carlos go, but i would say he was "dead wood", even if it might be good to get him off the books also?

Yeah, may have worded it harshly. Let me rephrase. I see Carlos as a player who was brought in when we aspired to be a top half side challenging for 7th in 2022. Now we are an established top 7 side who have got to 4th. He'd be one who can be upgraded.

[MaVilla]

Just now, Captain_Townsend said:

Yeah, may have worded it harshly. Let me rephrase. I see Carlos as a player who was brought in when we aspired to be a top half side challenging for 7th in 2022. Now we are an established top 7 side who have got to 4th. He'd be one who can be upgraded.

ye, fair point.

[Enda]

1 hour ago, OutByEaster? said:

I have, a number of  times - he struggles a bit at times. He was great for a game and a half in pre-season, but even at U21 level you can see that he's not a natural CB.

Two pre-season performances seem to have given a lot of people the idea that he's going to be a great CB.

Season on loan at a mid-table Championship club?

[Enda]

Unrelated to anything discussed on the last page, some of you might like the archive.is website.

[Captain_Townsend]

58 minutes ago, grantholtgolazo said:

Over Unai’s time here and our unprecedented success there’s been no small amount of talk about a long term strategy for the future, growing commercial revenue, villa park renovations, crashing the “sky 6” etc.

I think some anxiety exists due to this longer term project, instead of a pure focus on this new season and champions league there is a background uneasiness of how will we maintain and build on this position to further the project. It’s easy, and accurate, to say Unai deserves our trust, but it’s less easy for some to silence the concern about our longer term position. That concern can appear as negativity but I think it might be more accurate to call it anxiety. It can almost feel like we’re on an hourglass timer desperate to be successful while we have Unai on board.

We don’t like it but despite our finish last year many in football will still see Chelsea as a bigger club, larger revenue, stacked roster & the trophies and results from recent time to back it up. Villa aren’t there yet, we don’t necessarily need to exceed last years results but for the long term project to succeed we need to maintain the level we have reached. I’ll speak for myself and say I’m hopeful and believe we certainly can but I’m not without worry.

This transfer season has seen our squad grow stronger, it remains to be seen how our first team will function. I plan to enjoy this season regardless, I can’t ignore the importance of maintaining momentum with our project, but I’m trying to take it match by match as much as I can in order to savor the position we are in now regardless of our future.

Good post. The progress since 2018 has been fantastic.  The Emery era has been nothing short of magic!

I actually think 2022-23 was the best season of the lot. Finishing in Europe was exhilarating After so long out of Europe. It seemed to deliver on the 'constant progress' mantra we had since 2018 and there was a clear medium plan for competing regularly with the sky 6 clubs.

Weird as it may sound I found 2023-24 a bit different because all the bombastic rhetoric I kept hearing about us rattling the elite wasn't matching up with the rumours about PSR issues, big sales and shelved stadium redevelopment. 

I don't want 4th to be a one off (have at times felt there is a bit of a 'crikey, we might never finish 4th again lads' vibe coming off the club) I want us to always believe we belong in that conversation. As our manager keeps saying,  I am "always demanding more" and I think that's what we should be doing.

UTV

Edited August 13 by Captain_Townsend

[Anything11]

Too many pissy pants around here crying about 5/10 window.

Shows a complete lack of mentality and the antithesis of what the club is trying to foster. 

 

I would like Duran and Carlos to move on so we are able to fill out the squad some more. But if not I hope Duran comes on and scores a bicycle kick last minute winner against some mid table tosh and Carlos has Arsenal in his pocket again home and away. 

[RicRic]

7 hours ago, Jas10 said:

Might make some people feel better, constant theme and envy from opposition fans:

 

so many saying this:

 

Bruv he looks THE business, highly talented and looks proper for us so far so not surprised by those comments  

[Anything11]

1 hour ago, Marka Ragnos said:

Have Emery and Monchi stumbled? Yes, that's a bit of a troll, but maybe not, too.

I like to complain about the media as much as the next person, but I don't think Tom Collomosse is a nervous nellie or crackpot. He's a good, serious football reporter, and I have to admit, he's not completely unpersuasive here in suggesting we're heading out onto thin ice. I don't think anything bad has happened at all -- it's just football, and we have lots of options -- but I must admit, I'm beginning to suspect we've taken some chances that aren't working our way. The long pursuit of Felix seemed like a big waste of energy and focus. Not our fault, but again, I'm wondering if we're a little too risk-happy? It's a good, thorough, fair article that shoes Collomosse does his homework and has candid sources -- a nice break from the nonsense world of the Muskiverse. 

 

It makes sense in context. The squad was getting very thin due to injuries and fatigue and due to PSR no club can just go out and buy a whole new team like they used to. This is enough to increase the anxiety around the place and people start stressing about how we can maintain this level or the fact that we have to sell to buy etc.

 

However, the actions over the summer speak more to a calm and level headed approach. Lots of sales to cover PSR but strengthening the squad as a whole. I see it as somewhere in the middle.

[allani]

10 hours ago, Captain_Townsend said:

Yeah, may have worded it harshly. Let me rephrase. I see Carlos as a player who was brought in when we aspired to be a top half side challenging for 7th in 2022. Now we are an established top 7 side who have got to 4th. He'd be one who can be upgraded.

This touches on a good point.  There's always going to be debate about how good signings are and invariably that tends to focus purely on the financial impact - Bought For This / Sold For That - loss = bad / profit = good.  However, I think we've had so much churn because in a very short period of time our transfer targets have gone from: promotion to PL, avoid relegation, avoid relegation battle, midtable / top half, challenge top 8, challenge top 4/5 - so six significant "jumps" in quality.  There aren't many signings (especially under Smith and Emery) who haven't helped us move between those levels.  Often those that have been "less successful" are players like Carlos or Sanson who've had a long injury and so missed out completely on the "jump" that they were signed to help us make.  What I think is impressive is how many players we've signed who have taken us up multiple levels and are either only just now probably below the level we need (Cash probably being a good example) or have somehow managed to keep developing as players and improve to the next level (Emi, Konza, Mings, McGinn, Luiz, Ollie, etc). 

Edited August 14 by allani

[allani]

33 minutes ago, Captain_Townsend said:

Good post. The progress since 2018 has been fantastic.  The Emery era has been nothing short of magic!

I actually think 2022-23 was the best season of the lot. Finishing in Europe was exhilarating After so long out of Europe. It seemed to deliver on the 'constant progress' mantra we had since 2018 and there was a clear medium plan for competing regularly with the sky 6 clubs.

Weird as it may sound I found 2023-24 a bit different because all the bombastic rhetoric I kept hearing about us rattling the elite wasn't matching up with the rumours about PSR issues, big sales and shelved stadium redevelopment. 

I don't want 4th to be a one off (have at times felt there is a bit of a 'crikey, we might never finish 4th again lads' vibe coming off the club) I want us to always believe we belong in that conversation. As our manager keeps saying,  I am "always demanding more" and I think that's what we should be doing.

UTV

This is interesting to me.  Maybe because I am a long way from Villa Park and so miss some of the more day-to-day "noise".  But I've always felt that everything that NSWE, Emery, Monchi and Heck say all seems to be around "we're not here for one good season, we want to be competing at the top for a long time".  I know we have different views on some of the off-field stuff so I'm not looking to re-raise any of that and keen to settle on the agree to disagree approach.  I do think finishing 4th again will be very difficult (at least this season) but I think the football and business strategy is to get as close as we can as often as we can.  I am especially interested in the strategy that NS will run during the season in terms of challenging the legitimacy of PSR and how it creates an unfair transfer market that creates business practices that would be seen as negligent (dare I say even illegal) in many other industries and seems to encourage "cooking the books" as much as possible.  I think some other owners were a little reluctant to rattle too many cages thinking that it might raise PSR compliance rumours or who thought that NS was only doing it because we were in the **** last season.  But I think there are quite a few who will be more supportive this year.

However, your main point about not wanting this to be a one off and demanding more is one I am fully behind!

[Kiwivillan]

47 minutes ago, Anything11 said:

Too many pissy pants around here crying about 5/10 window.

Shows a complete lack of mentality and the antithesis of what the club is trying to foster. 

And people still completely oblivious to the complexity of a transfer even though Dean Smith talked at length about it when manager. Too many have video game thinking rather than reality. 

[OutByEaster?]

1 hour ago, Enda said:

Season on loan at a mid-table Championship club?

As a DM?

Yes please.

[Villa Gaffa]

We obviously don't sell first team players (Luiz, Duran, Carlos) to other premier league clubs unless we get a premium price. Which is fair enough. You shouldn't give any advantages to direct competition.

The only problem with that is the premier league is where the bigger money is. We got a bit lucky with Saudi wanting Diaby and took the money on offer.

When it comes to unproven, promising players (Kellyman, Chuck) we are happy to sell within the league for the premium price. Not a bad theory to get good money based on the  potential of a young player.

This theory relies on their being interest from the bigger foreign clubs (with money) or Saudi to move on players like Cash, Duran, Carlos. 

I wouldn't have a problem selling Carlos to clubs that should finish below us. We need to be getting good money for these types of players while they still have good value.

 

 

[RicRic]

6 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

Yep, that would give us two of those with Konsa as well, and RB cover in Cash and Nedeljkovic - in terms of right back depth (and quality) it would be excellent.

Our problem becomes that, unless we keep Carlos, which seems unlikely if Torres were to, for example, get sent off against West Ham - we'd be going into the Arsenal game with Konsa at LCB, Geertruida at RCB, either Nedeljkovic or Cash at CB.and Dendoncker or Bogarde on the bench as CB cover - that would be us in our second game of the season, without a recognised senior CB on the bench and one of our two hybrid RB/RCB players playing on the left side of the middle two.

There's no way a Premier league team competing for European football should find itself in that position - if we sell Carlos, we need Geeertruida AND a senior centreback.

No Geertruida is the one that can play CB so he would be moved there and the RB spot would be for Cash/Kosta