Tim Sherwood has been quoted as saying that he thinks the takeover by a consortium that had been granted exclusivity, has failed.
We knew the period was six weeks and we knew it was up soon, but it seems it’s now passed without an outcome.
Why it’s failed, begs lots of questions, but I would guess that it’s probably because the consortium wouldn’t or couldn’t match certain assurances that I think Randy Lerner would have wanted.
While I’ve been quite critical about our owner, I totally believe that he does have the club’s interests at heart and he wouldn’t leave us in the hands of someone who might asset strip or fail to invest in the club.
So if I am on the right track with my thinking, I’m actually pretty pleased that we aren’t going to be taken over by a load of vultures who don’t give a flying proverbial about the club.
But then, we’re now in limbo again and that’s never good.
The obvious question is what’s Lerner’s thinking going to be with regards to our transfer budget?
If, as has been suggested, Gueye was bought on the assumption that Delph was leaving, meaning the spend was negligible, it would now mean that we’ve spent £9 million or so out of our budget.
And when you consider we’ve averaged a net spend of around £15 million a season (I think???) under Lerner, that doesn’t leave a lot left for this window.
Which, it would seem to me, leaves Lerner with a bit of a dilemma.
You would think Tim Sherwood was promised decent money to spend when he arrived, but I wonder if that promise might have been made on the assumption that the club was going to be sold?
So does Lerner risk upsetting the manager, by telling him the rug has practically been pulled from any further spending or does he temporarily go again?
After all, any investment now can easily be recovered by the extra Sky money that the club will receive at the end of this season.
But that would mean that Lerner is probably committed for yet another year, as I can’t see him laying out serious transfer money without increasing the supposed £150 million asking price for the club, which would only make us more difficult to sell.
The big fear now, is that Sherwood is only allowed to spend another £5 million or so and is expected to bring some of our kids through.
We all know that won’t be enough and we could be in for a torrid time again this season.
Of course, selling Benteke could be Lerner’s saving grace, in that he could probably spend a fair percentage of the fee on transfers and look good, even though he’ll have spent next to nothing in reality.
But this would be a retrograde step in my opinion, even though I know some don’t agree.
We should be looking to keep Benteke and buying better players and not using this situation as a reason for letting Benteke go.
No doubt the next few weeks will tell us all we need to know.
Hope Benteke chooses Manure over the dippers. Woukdnt mind buying Austin and Emenike with the proceeds. Eminike current on loan in the UAE (i think) from Fenerbache. But will Randy pay up?
If we’re getting Amavi for the reported price, then of course he will, it’s will Sherwood want Austin, some reports are claiming we don’t. Emenike is a great shout though, big fan of his.
Amavi, Austin and Eminiki and an in form Gil would be quite an upgrade from last season IMO……we can only hope. Hernandez would be a good alternative to Austin if we dont want him!
Agreed, We were supposedly looking to find a striker to compliment Benteke which Chicharito could do well, but we’d obviously need 2 if Benteke left. Still have a load of players to get rid of which Sherwood even said he’s having trouble doing.
Not surprised Andrew. People like Cole, Senderos and to a slightly lesser degree Richardson will be hard to ship! Can see Bennet and perhaps Tonev leaving for a nominal fee.
I think Bennett will be back up to Amavi, he’s reportedly still thought highly of by Sherwood, despite being injured.
Cole, Senderos, Richardson, Tonev, possibly Hutton though I doubt it, N’Zogbia, Cissokho. We still have 26 players 22 or older, so before we start bringing everyone in, we need a few to go.
Although a Sporting Director could definitely make his life easier on the offloading part.
I wonder if the smartarse who thought a 32.5 million pound release clause was a good idea had the intelligence to also put a condition demanding a “sell on fee of 10-20%” will be given to us should the player move for more than what the selling club brought him for.
What a stupid question! 😉
Fatty Faulkner got everything right! The fucking donut! Shame he left really as he enjoyed a bunn or two 🙂
BTW…..great news about all these new backroom staff, but any chance of buying some decent players to go with them?
Might start a bidding war… Would take £20M + Hernandez and Valencia. Spend £15M for Austin. £5M for Ben Davies. Easy!
RW..Ben Davies is deffo worth a punt IMO!
4 new players with only 1 leaving? That’s not how Football clubs work, especially with the massive amount of wages those 4 players would have compared to just Benteke. Football’s more than just transfer fees and it being “that easy”.
Jordan Amavi could leave OGC Nice in the next few days and join the club of Aston Villa.
Reportedly, the left side would ultimately convinced by the project Villans who have made an offer of nearly fifteen million (including bonus) for his transfer.
Lyon was also interested in the International Espoirs.
Google translate from Nice Matin. Don’t know if that’s from a local source or they have just picked up on other sites
I read somewhere this morning that Nice Martin was “a very reliable source” but buggered if I can remember where.
Didnt Lerner fall out with ‘nice Martin’? 🙂
I’m not sure, Maybe someone from the club should come out and tell us! 😉
Nice one Langford!
From Wikipedia – ‘Nice-Matin is a regional daily French newspaper. The paper covers Nice and the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, in south-eastern France’
Looks like a good source to me
UTV
It’s a very old and established paper. I remember learning about it in school. Will pick you up a copy when I get to the south of France next week! 🙂
If Sherwood can get the best out of Gil, Grealish and forward running Delph / gueye are we going to change our style of play to more passing through teams as opposed to a target man.
Maybe we will be looking for a different type of centre forward – poacher like – e.g. Austin.
In other words will we need Benteke.
Liverpool and villas style of play could be about to swap over.
Will or won’t? If yr correct maybe we should look at Darren Bent!…
Lets hope so Steve, I really have no qualms Benteke leaving as long as…… [a] he doesn’t join Liverpool as they are where we should be aiming, hence they are a competitor [b] we get a decent few replacements who I think Austin could be one of them… !
In some ways I’m surprised Austin hasn’t been snapped up. His goals tally last season was impressive, and though £15M is a big fee at least he has proven that he can score at that level. I guess the fee may be out of reach of most clubs, and those than can best afford it either don’t need him or can afford to buy better.
That puts him in the mid table team bracket. We will not be interested unless Benteke goes, and even then is Sherwood interested? I would be pleased to see him turn up at Villa though,
I think it won’t be long til benteke exits the door,there’s talk he could force the transfer so his reputation follows him.personally I don’t think we’d get the best out of him if he did stay,so the sooner the better imo & spend some decent money on a decent striker.
I’m sorry but I can’t get my head fully round this £32.5 million clause. Firstly, who was it that insisted on the clause in the first place, the club, the player (or more likely his agent), or both sides ? Next, if the amount is triggered does this mean that’s it, Benteke goes or does it mean that he just has permission to talk to other clubs ? I saw an interview with Sherwood on Sky where he said that it is out of his control should the £32.5 million fee be reached. This is surely a situation that is in no way beneficial to the club. For me, if a player has any feeling about even wanting to discuss terms with another club then we should get rid. I agree though at the right price. I previously posted that Delph should have killed any link with Man City following his “loyalty” speech a few months ago. The same should be done with Benteke. The club say he is not for sale but if someone bids £32.5 million for him, that stance means nothing. In the meantime, with the player wanting to go elsewhere but the club not selling because the clause has not been reached, then we have an unhappy player who will be criticised for not trying should he play badly. What a ridiculous state of affairs.This needs sorting and sorting as soon as possible. By the way, more worryingly was that during the Sky interview with Sherwood, he was asked about the possibility of signing Adebayor, him who would take up the full hold of a jumbo jet with the amount of baggage he carries. Sherwood did not at any stage say that he was not interested in him. All he said was that it is not an issue at the moment because we cannot afford him. Guarantee then that Adebayor or to give him his alternative name Balotelli the second, will be wearing the Macron manufactured Claret and Blue shirt by September 1st. Lord help us !!!
Reports now that Amavi has a 4 year deal with Villa and will have a medical tomorrow or latest Saturday. Really looking forward to this one.
One thing is for sure is that Benteke WONT be going to the bin dippers after that favoured tweet yesterday!
Looks like they are going to meet buyout clause now though. Brilliant ploy by Utd to feign interest in benteke which makes their rivals pay £8m more thus weakening their power to spend elsewhere to challenge them. It’s brilliant
Well, if that tweet was genuine yesterday then the bin dippers will be straight on his back if he has a bad start!
Sherwood saying Gil will be a Villa regular this coming season.