Well it’s just all go isn’t it, lately?
The transfer activity is coming so thick and fast, I’m struggling to keep up, to be honest and it’s going to take me quite a while just to get all the new names sorted in my head.
I think we all knew we were going to have a bit of a clear out this summer, but not for one minute did I envisage that Tim Sherwood would be looking to totally change the team!
So what’s actually happened today?
Rudy Gestede and Jordan Veretout have both signed five-year deals, for, I believe, both undisclosed fees.
I really can’t say I know anything about Veretout apart from he’s a midfielder and frankly, don’t know much about Gestede; except that he was fairly prolific with twenty-two goals for Blackburn in the season just gone.
Perhaps I’m being slightly optimistic, but even with my lack of knowledge about pretty much any player we’ve signed, I suspect Sherwood has carried out some great business in this window.
Perhaps the big shock of the day is Nathan Baker signing a new five-year contract.
I know he’s Marmite to Villa fans, but whatever, that’s one in the eye for The Times, who were insistent that he was going to Burnley for a puny £2 million.
That said, the Times’ story did make a bit of sense where they suggested that Baker wanted to leave to play regularly. I wonder what Sherwood has said about that?
Another surprise was the story that the club bid for Joleon Lescott and seemingly had the bid accepted by West Bromwich Albion, but then overturned by manager Tony Pulis. I’d have loved to have been a fly on the wall watching that conversation between Pulis and Albion’s owner, Jeremy Pearce and it wouldn’t surprise me if Pulis had threatened to resign, as we all know he hates interference.
I’ve had a bit of mileage in that story, in winding a couple of Albion fans up, saying we’re going to get him.
The interesting point here, is that both the fans don’t want to lose Lescott. Serves them right for taking the proverbial and offering a stupidly low £2 million for Cieran Clark, in my opinion.
And finally, some of the papers would have us believe we’re still in for Denis Praet.
Like I said, it’s all go.
And I still don’t believe we’re finished yet.
Last point is that I read a blog in last night’s Birmingham Mail, where the writer voiced his concerns that with all these new players, the team might have a problem in gelling quickly enough.
He was ripped to pieces in the replies, but the truth is, I thought he made a very valid point.
We all know that some players can take a season at least to get used to the English game, after all.
I mean, Ligue 1 is a pretty decent league, but it isn’t the Premier league is it?
I’d personally expect a third of our signings to fail and the blunt truth is, it may be more, which does give me some cause for concern.
But then, I’d take the argument that wholesale change was desperately needed, as we were going nowhere with what we had.
I’m not going to let my slight concern put me off though and I’m still excited.
Oh, sorry, this is definitely the last thing.
Can someone tell me how many strikers we have now and if we sign another one, where do we think this leaves Gabby?
Comments
235 responses to “Gestede and Veretout in, Baker new contract and maybe Lescott and Praet?”
Let’s not forget the contribution Lambert has made to all of these new signings. If he never signed Benteke we would most likely still be shopping in pound-land instead of The Baguette Shop!
Fair point B6 – suppose even Lambert had to strike lucky eventually with all the dross he bought
I’m sure we all could of done better given the budget he had to adhere too.
B6 – I believed I was making a statement of fact – can’t see where I said I could have done any better.
H60, that’s the thing about written convos on the net, where things can get mis-read.
B6 isn’t suggesting you hinted you could do better. It was just a straightforward opinion.
It’s an interesting thing though.
Lambert bought some real rubbish, although buying Benteke, in fairness, has made up for a lot of it.
And the immediate thought is that most of probably think we could have done better.
But could we really?
I probably think as little of lambert as any of us, but we have to consider the restraints he was working under, in a stingy owner.
If only he hadn’t played such disgusting football, he might well have been recognised for having done a decent job when we look back.
Just a thought.
Thank you Badger, as you say things can easily get misinterpreted on the net.
No offence meant H60.
None taken B6 – I was being a little too sensitive! For a long period I defended Lambert because of the budget problems but at the end he had to go because he had lost any sense of direction, the fans and, I suspect, the dressing room. TS’s comments about a losing mentality are quite interesting because Lambert, eventually, adopted an approach of nit losing rather than trying to win – that’s desperate and is bound to fail. Onwards and upwards; more positive but until we see his this team actually performs, I’m going to try and keep my sensible head on.
I think we couldn’t do any worse. He should of signed 3-4 quality players instead of 8-9 dross players
The only thing he got right was benteke the rest of his signings were complete dross. Except maybe for Gill
Sanchez? Westwood? Bacuna? Okore? Guzan? Yep oohah, the rest of his signings are shit. YAWN! 🙂
Okore is injury prone so jury still out, Guzan a no brainer and the other 3 I don’t rate tbh. I think they are average at best.
To be fair their isn’t many players you do rate, you even labelled Benteke the new Heskey before he’d even kicked a ball for us!
True and I was wrong but very rarely am 🙂
Nice thought that Badger, but could he have said that he had the idea in buying eager younger men to do a mans job? Wow see that from Arsenal goal, back to our team, I think Lambert ,Faulkner, conned a owner in believing they could work a miracle that wasn’t able into today’s world. We now have a manager that has to use his skills ,and a owner trusting that man.?
Bill, some bright spark came up with the idea that you could do ok in the Prem, while spending peanuts.
I suspect it was Faulkner, but ultimately, Lerner must have agreed, even if it wasn’t him who decided on the stupid policy in the first place.
It’s just that I recall an interview with he who can’t be named, where he said he thought he did a good job at the Villa.
I suspect Lambert’s view is exactly the same and he’s also unrepentant.
If that’s the case, it’s obvious the manager’s remit was;
Keep us up, while spending next to nothing.
In that sense, I think anyone would have struggled, is my point.
Badger,I’ll name him? It was Oohah, bless his cotton socks.
Lerner shit all over Lambert IMO. We will never know whether he would have done better with the same funds as Sherwood has been given. In effect, we are now spending the cash that Lambert accrued from the Benteke sale. Lambert did NOT sign most of our big money/big salary players such as Bent, CNZ, Given. and Hutton Nor was he responsible for those underperforming players such as Gabby, Albrighton, Delph and Weimann! Lambert WAS responsible for the dire football that we played during his reign. Most of that was due to poor funding, resulting in poor cheap purchases in the main. Lambert also persuaded Benteke to stay which certainly helped our PL survival. I am NOT a Lambert fan but will always believe that he was never given a chance to manage the club in a fair and proper way!
Langford, I think I mostly agree with you (see my reply above).
Except that I think he knew exactly what the remit was, which means it was fair, albeit practically impossible.
It’s probably why he was given a new contract (was that after he’d offered to resign the first time?).
Fair point Langford never liked Lamberk he was too grey and dour and never promoted himself properly. But in all fairness he was dealt a bad hand by Lerner but having said that he should of bought quality over quantity. I’m not convinced about Sherwood I really don’t think he would have done much better if stuck with the same players. Yes he did well to start off with but that’s down to new manager syndrome it was never going to last and team reverted bk to type v saints and arsenal. But Sherwood has got an upbeat personality and is more marketable for us so I hope I’m wrong and he does well.
If Lambert was stuck on shit street and put there by Lerner, if he had an ounce of self respect or belief in bis own abilities, he should have walked VERY early on like MON had the balls to do. I have nothing but contempt for Lambert. You make your own bed…
“I am NOT a Lambert fan but will always believe that he was never given a chance to manage the club in a fair and proper way”
Spot on Langford……as always 😉
B6.. .. Not sure if your taking the piss or not!! 🙂
And BTW players such as Gil, Okore, Westwood and Bacuna (all Lambert signings) are now worth twice as much as what we purchased them for…..and all of them appear to be part of Sherwoods plans. With that in mind, given the circumstances, Lambert actually done ok! Moreover, the Benteke cash as transformed the playing staff. Lets see if Sherwood has put together a decent squad…..its not always that easy even with good funding….ask Steve Bruce, OLS and Brendan Rodgers!
Me………take the piss……….Ha ha. 😉
I do think Lambert was given a tough ride. Would like to see him at a club with decent money to spend. I think he’d do ok.
He must of been on a decent wack or certainly of been on a more than decent bonus to keep us up, why else would he of stayed given the restraints he was working under? ( that;s me being serious)
Toshay, me neither, B6? You really think Lambert was capable to understand what us fans wanted?. the times he played players out of comfort. zones, remember he would have took us down, Leaner hadn’t a clue about football and believed that man.sorry I blame him .
B6…. Spot on. Hope Lambert goes on to be a success somewhere. I’m still amaxed at the ‘easy ride’ Lerner as had during the last 4 years.
Badger, Lambert may have known the situation with funding but who knows whether the goalposts were moved at some point?
Lambert made a few good signings, but he was not a good manager. He would have 100% taken us down last season had he been left in charge.
On another note, given our recent influx of french players, i wonder if we should put in a cheeky bid for Debuchy? He seems to have slipped behind Bellerin and Chambers in the pecking order. Great RB.
What is interesting is if we hadn’t sold Benteke how much money would TS have been given. Our nett spend us circa £5m so going by past windows TS should have another £10m to spend. Hopefully on a rht bk and ch
That’s a good question Oohah.
I suspect Sherwood wouldn’t have come at all, if he had to work under the previous restraints.
Which raises the question about if we already knew Benteke was leaving????
It really wouldn’t surprise me.
Langford, the goalposts may well have moved.
Remember the money Lambert was supposedly promised in the winter window, but he had the rug pulled from under him?
Good. Point Badger
Agreed, Debuchy would be a great move for us!
Lambert played Albrighton in the centre of midfield.
Say no more.
He may or may not have scouted some good players. Was he the scout.
Tactically inept and totally uninspirational.
Another good point Steve.
I don’t have a clue who’s doing our scouting and haven’t for a while.
Who’s scouted our recent recruits, I wonder?
paddy riley (that could be Orielly) the guy that houlier got in, makoun, sylla, benteke was recomended to macliesh but got the bullet before he was signed leaving lambert to get the credit for someone he had never seen and giving the captains arm band to bent who he would destroy as a player. so lets not look at lambert with rose tinted glasses.
That’s what I’m saying, no idea of football , full stop.
PL brought in a few good players when he was in charge but some right dross as well.
Problem was he didn’t know what to do with them. He had a Plan A and if that didn’t work he’d try a Plan A and if that didn’t work another Plan A ad infinitum.
I hope he’ll make a good manager somewhere else but I blame him for not resigning sooner. Any manager with an ounce of self respect would have called it a day well before he was sacked. It wasn’t working and he knew it wasn’t working and he had no idea of how he could make it work.
So I can’t really take this idea of he was a good bloke and if only he had the money etc HE WAS BLOODY USELESS and let’s not forget that.
UTV
Mon exactly the same had plan A and not much else
I agree with you Pat, particularly about resigning. Lambert said he offered to resign but it wasn’t taken up. That is not the same as tabling your resignation. If he is a success somewhere it will have to be somewhere they understand the mumbling oaf. East Glasgow.
If I have a doubt about Sherwood so far it is the Spurs pedigree. Spurs are a club forever held back by the priorities they give to attack and defence. If they are losing by the odd goal every week they seek a forward who can score one more rather than a defender who can concede one less. I am really not sure why Baker has a new contract instead of a P45, and Guzan is still #1. We will see soon enough.
OLL…thats very personal, not to mention well below the belt. We are discussing a managers ability and NOT his background and accent. You should be ashamed by your comments IMO!
Langford, you are of course correct in a normal sense.
But we’re talking footy, where Lambert’s mumbling Glaswegian accent and the fact that we had too many Scots onboard were amongst our biggest criticisms at one stage.
I don’t believe OLL meant it personally for one minute, hence the comment stands.
If you think I’m wrong, tell me and I’ll have another look at it.
Made a comment above in response to B6 – my main gripe with Lambert was his negative attitude which affected not only the players but the whole club. TS does remind me of John Gregory who I always rated when he was manager – did he run out of ideas or did Deadly eventually wear him down?
I believe we now have the best and most successful senior managers (directors) in place that the club have seen in a very long time – it remains to be seen whether RL will provide the financial support that is also needed.
Langford, I am a Scot and I assert my right to criticise my countryman Lambert’s ineptitude in front of a microphone – and his slovenly parody of the Queen’s English. I couldn’t understand him myself, so who knows what the Sassenachs understood, let alone the foreign players.
I still think Dalglush was the worst could never understand him at all. Lambert just mumbled which made it harder to understand him. I think he was a broken man at the end tbh
You’re right Pat he was useless. Kept us up by having nowhere near as much as Sherwood has had and achieved it by buying “Dross”. That’s not useless, far from it, that’s the sign of a half decent manager.
As of right now I think our net spend this summer is about 0. So, will be interesting to see if we do bring in any more players now. To be honest though, I didnt think we would spend all of the money from the Benteke/Delph deals…so I’m not complaining!
In an ideal world, I think we still need a centre back and right back, but I would take one or the other! I am worried about Richards back there, I have a feeling we will concede a few goals this year.
Guzan is a strange one, as it seemed that Sherwood would definitely buy another keeper. He has hardly played any pre-season games and yet he will more than likely be in goal next week. I really thought we were going to buy Heaton from Burnley, then we were linked with Begovic…and in the end, we announced that Guzan was the #1. All very weird.
I think the goalie situation is a bit strange. No way would we have managed to bring Begovic to VP – he’s much happier ‘winning medals’ as 1st reserve ‘keeper on Chelsea’s bench – but it does seem that Guzan wasn’t expected to be first choice for Villa next season either.
So I guess that there’s still a chance we might see an import arrive this week, although I’ve no idea who it would be!
Not all that weird. Guzan was playing in the Gold Cup, an actual competition and not friendlies so is probably far more “ready” than Bunn is.
Only a friendly but a goal all the same……hes at it again….Benteke’s 1st goal…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdpbzBAFsco
He will bang in 25 plus this season if he stays fit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueRrQc4U-z0
Benteke has gone. He means nothing to me now.
Gestede will fill his boots.
who gives a bugger about the past now…..Can we all be positive for the future
http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/595590/Stiliyan-Petrov-Aston-Villa-Dimitar-Berbatov-talks
What’s going on with this Lambert love in?
Admittedly he had to work within tight financial restraints and he did purchase a few good uns but the football was diabolical, he’s man management skills none existent (the bomb squad?) and last but not least – he would have taken us down last season had he not gone.
Lest We Forget.
We don’t know if he would have took us down as he kept us up the 2 seasons before. Sherwood had new manager syndrome which any manager would give tbh. It’s not a love in I wanted Lamberk out after we lost 8.0 to Chelsea you could see then he was out of his depth. Still not convinced about TS but will give him till Xmas to judge
I think it was a given had not been given his P45 we’d have gone last season.
His head had exploded, his back room staff had gone (all sorts of rumours involving boardrooms and white powdery substances), he’d obviously lost the dressing room, in fact the wheels had come off in every department.
Yea your right Tiny Tim did have the benefit of NMS and who knows how this season will pan out? Personally I think we’re looking like a tidy outfit and could be the surprise package of the season but then hey ho what do I know?
Fact, we would of been relegated under lambert last season,fact he broke more unwanted records in VILLA history.fact he’s now history why bother even discussing him.
Hear, hear.
Because it creates debate, Giddy 😉
Badger I’m a strong believer in moving on,discussing possibly one of the worst managers in VILLA history is totally pointless maybe I shouldn’t of commented on the bloke in the first place.we’re beginning a new chapter time to move on from the previous nightmare.
Ps this is a form of psychological rehabilitation to get my positivity back if you can get my drift. 😉
There’s something in that, I reckon.
After Lambert’s reign, it isn’t hard to get positive.
Possibly that’s a debate on it’s own MATE, let’s see what this season brings if it’s any worse simply we’re relegated.SHITE I mentioned the R word.