Hitchens60 has offered the following thoughts about incomings and outgoings at the club.
Cheers, Hitch.
Now that we’ve secured our immediate premiership future, thoughts turn to next season and the need to strengthen the squad; to bring in that bit of quality that we all recognise is missing.
Before looking at our playing squad, it’s also relevant to consider the management issues, particularly around our transfer strategy last summer – I’ll ignore the January dealings as it’s almost impossible to improve a squad at a sensible price during that window. We tried and, frankly, other than Reina we failed. Suso has gone and I reckon there will be few, if any, Villa supporters shedding tears; rather it’s good to see Purslow and the Villa owners recognising that he really didn’t contribute anything that couldn’t have been achieved by Smith.
Continuity has to be the new mantra at VP, so major changes should, if possible be avoided. Smith should stay and he’s earned that. Whether JT stays I suspect may be down to two factors – does Smith trust him or does he want to move on to management – time will answer those questions. I’ve no doubt we’ll appoint a new DoF but Smith should be directly involved in the choice and his (DoF’s) role needs to be clearly defined. Smith must have the major say in transfers.
Turning to the squad the challenge will be improving it without major surgery – so again continuity is the key. The squad is relatively small which should help in that regard. But, before thinking who should go it’s important that we keep our better players albeit large fees may be tempting for the owners. As I see it, we do need to keep Mings, Grealish, McGinn, Luiz and Konsa in particular.
Who should go – well Drinkwater and Reina are on loan and should return to their clubs (Baston has already departed). However, it would be interesting to get views on Reina returning next season as GK cover assuming we could get him on another loan.
From the current squad – who should go?
Goalkeepers – Nyland and Kalinic but that then leaves us with only two senior GK’s (Heaton and Steer) with uncertainty over the fitness of both – hence my question above regarding Reina or do we splash out on a new keeper – such as Ben Foster from Watford?
Defenders – recognising that we need squad players I am only advocating Engels as a definite. But what about Elmo, Hause, Targett and Taylor? Given that we don’t want to make wholesale changes will age become a deciding factor or should EPL experience be the driver? And what about the forgotten right back James Bree? Chester it seems has been released.
Midfielders – Jota and Lansbury are definite for me. Nakamba I think will be retained as a squad player. Then there’s El Ghazi and Trezeguet – both of whom seem to blow hot and cold. Trezeguet has 7 goals (as does Hourihane) and El Ghazi has 7 assists each of which is second only to Grealish (10 goals and 8 assists) in stats – I can see one of the two moving on particularly given Andre Green to come back from loan. Hourihane is the marmite midfielder but with 7 goals and 7 assists would you keep him?
Forwards seem a little more straightforward – Hogan and Samatta should move on although I could see the latter staying – even though he doesn’t look Premier quality – as I suspect he’s not on a big wage. I see Davis having real potential and would retain him – there was a significant improvement when he replaced Samatta on Sunday.
I started by saying continuity should be the way forward but how do we improve the squad and avoid major surgery? However one looks at it, we are going to need at least five or six new players – let’s hope the owners have deep pockets and we don’t have to fund transfers by selling any of our better players.
I’ll leave it to others with more knowledge than me, to suggest who our targets should be.
Watching Fulham reminds me of Villa – sideways and backwards passing. No forward drive and no one in the box.
No way can I watch another 30 minutes of that! Probably followed by penalties still at 0-0.
It’s actually a very interesting game to me Hitch.
Fulham have totally smothered Brentford, with Mitrovic having just come on.
I hope it goes to Pens, the missus loves that.
But Fulham will be unlucky to lose this and look way more like a Prem side to me.
From what I saw, I agree that Fulham deserved the win.
On last night’s showing Benrahma is not a player worth £30+m but it would be unwise to draw a conclusion on one game. We know from watching Grealish that he’s not always on his game. For me I would also prefer Abraham to Watkins but then that’s based on having seen far more of the former.
The two stand out players for me were Bryan and Reed; particularly the latter. Unlikely we could praise them away from Fulham but they would certainly add quality to our squad.
Agreed Badger. I thought Fulham were very impressive and controlled the game for the most part. Given Mitrovic and Knockaert had been out injured and weren’t fit enough to start it was even better.
Benrahma was poor last night and Watkins was isolated most of the game. I would take Watkins over Benrahma if it was either/or. He is a team player who works hard, has a good physique and eye for goal. I think he will become a very good striker. Benrahma has skills and can impact a game but seems a bit too selfish. I wouldn’t turn either away though! I’m sure they will both be in demand.
Fulham look as if they don’t need too much to be capable of staying up. Certainly they don’t need to buy in the same way as last time. A few quality additions would do it.
Got your wish Badger, silly goalkeepers error, thought Brenford gave it a go, but please no Benrharma at Villa..
Will villa now put in a bid for benrharma tomorrow not sure if he mentally in the game tonight. Maybe got his mind at villa park.
Didn’t we almost sign Brian but his agent change his mind while on way to bodymore to sign? greedy so and so.
Shame won’t be able to get mitrovic now.
Sad for Brentford though almost got promoted but lost those last two games,wonder if Frank will stay or maybe reunite with Smith.
Going to be one tough premier league season next year. Need to get signings in asap to be ready to hit the ground running.
Am I the only one thinking Ryan Fraser on a free would be great business?
No, I just saw that – apparently Palace have offered him a contract at £50k per week – we’ll according to the media that is,
I think we need to be more pro-active in the transfer market and less reactive.
Fraser would be a great move.
Great couple of Fulham goals…
What about getting Watkins and Benrharma for 50m they both know how to play Smith way and each other game with Jack it would be a very fluid front line. Also get lolley from Nottingham forest to add to the cover and different type of player,and still have money left over to try get Abraham.and another midfielder and defender.
We need extra quality cover because next season will have 5 substitutions available so need different types of player too call on during a match.
Get 40m bid in for the 2brentford players and same for Abraham.
Have front line of benrharma Abraham and Watkins with Jack in behind. Have Wesley tres Davis sammata on bench as different styles of player if needed to change things up during the match. as 5 subs now available.
Also get Lewis from Norwich and lolley from nott forest. That should give a good variety of player in the squad to choose from and all hard working players.
I just don’t get it!! Why oh why do we all want these championship players??????
Maybe one! Maybe Benrhama but really we need top flight proven quality.
Maybe it’s because at the moment these top quality player’s are hard to get and very expensive.
Maybe next year we could start getting these top quality player’s
Remember it takes time to build the sort of squad we would all like to see at villa park. Plus it’s a team we want not load of individual players.lets build a solid workman like team playing for each other.
Sorry if this upsets people.
I want a team like Saunders had.
Roy, you have nowt to apologise for! We all want the best for the club but nobody has all the answers…
I get Tom’s point but we have to operate in a market we can compete and afford. There’s a danger in buying ‘average‘ EPL players other clubs want to offload. Also there are some seriously good players in the Championship that could make the step up.
Having said that I would prefer we went after Abraham rather than Watkins – or Abraham and Watkins together because we need to add quality but also need to improve squad depth – particularly if the the more wealthy clubs push through the 5 substitutes rule which disadvantages clubs with smaller squads. For that reason I think there may be fewer outgoings than expected.
Joe Lolley would be a good addition and I think Benrahma would also be an excellent addition – at the right price – and that’s the real issue.
I’m reading there’s no buy out clause for Watkins. Whatever happens, we need better quality in the final third. I would be happy with Benrahma, Watkins, Abraham and Lolley for £100m combined. Offload Jota, Samatta, Hogan and El Ghazi for approximately £20m.
I’m sure there will be much more speculation before we hear something concrete.
I don’t understand why Benrahma getting the thumbs up , on that performance he’s no better than what we have, some saying its a one off, others over the last 4 games, we want work horses in our midfield and players like Reed, watkins , and if Lolley was ours we’re on the mend, it still leaves our right back and centre back . I’m pretty sure we won’t be like this next season ,in fact we should be mid table, as for Grealish he’s not going mark my words.
Being reported Brentford want a combined fee of £50m for Benrahma and Watkins – tbh that doesn’t sound unreasonable given some of the prices being banded about. Same report suggests both are on Smith’s wish list.
Bill, I understand your point on Benrahma but it’s always dodgy making a decision on one game – whether positive or negative. Tbf he does seem to get very positive reports.
I get the Benrahma hype a lot more than Lolley, not sure why everybody keeps going on about him to be honest.
I have a funny feeling we may not end up bidding for Benrahma, and going for Watkins…and maybe Henry instead.
I like the idea of Watkins as he can play anywhere across the front 3. You have to think Wesley will still be our main striker (at least to start with) but it would be nice to have the option of a more pacy striker too.
Also be interesting to see if we go for Eze E. Doesnt sound like QPR are asking for extortionate money either.
It’s reported Wesley won’t be back until Xmas so I’d be hoping we are going to sign two strikers, if you can get Watkins for 18 million then it’s a no brainer.
I’d like Abraham or Edouard too, and Fraser on a free who would be low(ish) wages and is versatile and can also play wing back, he also has bags of PL experience, again a no brainer.
Three quality players for under £60 million.
Guest – media reporting Fraser has been offered £50k per week by Palace ‘doubling his previous contract’.
Wages are also going to be a problem for Villa – I think Grealish is currently the highest paid player on £60k a week (although reported they are going to offer him a new contract at £100k)
Unfortunately we are still a bit of a dinosaur when it comes to wages and transfer fees.
To put it into perspective, our transfer record is £22 million on Wesley. Watford paid £40 million for Sarr, Bournemouth paid £25 million for Lerma, heck, Wilson is on 100k a week there. Everton paid £40 million for Sigurdsson.
We are supposedly bigger than all three yet we are as tight as they come and try to do everything on the cheap.
This is historical by the way, i’m aware we spent nearly £140 million last season however the point remains.
I thought he was poor at the villa but Josh Onama looked a really a handful last night.
i watched the fulham and brentford game like every villa fan, doing my own scouting for us ,but like most i think that josh Onama was the most effective player on the field. took lots of flak from us, he looks like he matured into a decent player,last night played as a second striker, but he floated around like grealish. totally different players but he came from deep to find the spaces in the bees box and was unlucky a few times.
anyways how did i rate Benrahma and Watkins, well it was a tough game for both fulham having been beaten twice by the bees. where out for revenge. they controlled um and long periods had them chasing shadows. watkins was the better of the two, but he was isolated and struggled to impact the game. Benraham he also struggled to affect the game, but had more ball only he dwelled and misplaced his final balls
seen loads slating Benrahma, but i seen enough of him to say that was way below his best and even way short of his normal game. in fact that was the worst i seen him and i have watched him a lot over the last two years. not every game but when they were on box i watched um.
last season we were desperately short in the striking position and the two wide boys. so them are the most important positions we need recruiting. the wide boys do not need to be out and out wingers as thats not our game. watkins and benramhama can play all three of them and that gives us more options than last season. sign um up and get the business done quickly
Benrahma and Watkins were poor against Fulham, mostly because they were starved of service which was credit to Fulham for packing their midfield. I’ve seen enough of Brentford though to see that those two players are too good for the championship. Benrahma is streets ahead of El Ghazi, Trezeguet and Jota. Watkins is better than the strikers we have too IMO.
I don’t think we will be signing Edouardo from Celtic. £40m for a player who admittedly has scored a lot of goals, however it’s the Scottish league and he’s playing for by far the best team in the league against mainly teams who wouldn’t succeed in our championship.
I would like Abraham but I don’t think he will be leaving Chelsea unless he isn’t playing enough.
I’m expecting a lot more paper talk while most players are on holiday.
People said the same about Larsson and Dembele but look how they turned out.
You do not score 40 goals in 48 games without knowing where the goal is, this lad is a talent and has it all, good with both feet, good in the air and a footballing brain.
He’s ex PSG and will go on to bigger and better things, rather him than Origi all day long.
I have to say Eduardo looks the real deal. I would love him at Villa.
I like this blog as loads of stuff on here re villa and some very good points suggested.
Definitely think the two Brentford players should be signed they would give us a chance to change during a match we must use this 5sub thing to our advantage during a match.
Definitely get rid Jota and elghazi, Lansbury, Bree, green. Wait to see re sammata, nakamba.
2 months left in the window, plus an extra 10 days or so after that for domestic transfers. There’s going to be speculation all the way through. I saw some press stuff about Man Utd waiting until late in the window to move for Grealish. That’s the last thing we need. If he’s going to leave get it done early and get his replacement(s) early as well.
I would be surprised and disappointed if our owners were naive enough to allow Grealish to leave without first finding a replacement. More likely this is media claptrap which allows them to peddle the Grealish to Manure story for weeks!
Alfredo Morelos from rangers anybody? He definitely knows where the goal is and seems to be ready to leave. Only problem with him maybe is his temperament as he’s had a few red cards for rangers. Which one is better him or the Celtic striker? Though I’d rather Abraham and Watkins myself.
Grealish is going nowhere but Villa. Stands to reason he would spend time on bench but we can match money, ok I know honours might be the calling card. But a happy chappie in his work place is better for the lad. We are going to build our team around Grealish i can feel the vibe, he’s Villa born and Villa till he dies just like Steve Bull, Gerrard, and many more players in the past. Grealish is Villa.
I’m pretty much in agreement with you Bill – he’s also young enough to give Villa another couple of years and then look for a move to a club playing in Europe if Villa don’t show the improvement we (and our owners) want to see.
I’m sure the owners will offer him a new 5 year contract at £100k plus bonuses
Man City excludes it looks like nobody is spending. The fact sky sports transfer centre had a break down of Paul Mersons career and Nathan Ake reported every 3 seconds tells me COVID and a potential for anything next season is playing on minds
5 sub rule has been voted against, which I think is the right decision.