I thought it was about time we moved on from the Man city game and our somewhat disappointing end to the season and looked at better things.
So after getting Boubacar Kamara (on a free) in really early and Phillipe Coutinho (£17 million) even earlier, the club have just announced that we’ve now signed Diego Carlos from Sevilla for a rumoured £26 million.
Even better is the fact that AC Milan were also interested, but frankly couldn’t compete with what we’re supposed to have offered him in wages.
When you consider that Carlos’ supposed value on Transfermkrt is £40 million plus that looks excellent business on the face of it. The Spanish club have to comply with some FFP type rule by the end of June and we’ve obviously used it as something to beat the club down with and then offering the Brazilian defender no doubt sky high wages has obviously swung the deal. We all know how a player can sway a move if he really wants it.
It’s the same with Kamara. I’d love to know what we’re paying him, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s currently our highest paid player. £200K a week, or £40 million total, over a four year deal is pretty good business for example and hopefully he hasn’t even cost that much, which makes it an even better deal!
I’ve pretty much said all this in the replies section in the previous thread, so I kind of shot my foot in the foot there, but oh well, this is worth a new subject, I think.
I’m guessing we’ve probably committed to a £60 million spend for this season alone.
Are we spending the Grealish money, I wonder?
If so, we’ve bought an attacking mid, a defensive mid and now a defender. While I think I said previously that I thought we need 5-6 players in (or at least thought it), I think the most popular opinion from what I’d read was around four new players required.
Top players, I mean.
Squad players would be replacements for all those that will go.
So I’m guessing we are going to spend another £40 million on a striker or maybe another two cheaper players.
That’s without wages, by the way.
There’s lots of variables of course, as we could get good money for Ings, if he goes.
But whatever, it’s highly encouraging isn’t it?
We’re doing our business really quickly and even if we pause now, we’ll have players in that will do the whole pre-season. That can only be a good thing, although in all honesty, I don’t think it’s such a big deal. Almost everyone else does though, so I have to go with that, I guess.
What else is also impressing me is how this time, those that are usually totally speculating seem to be very on the ball.
I guess it makes a pleasant change from hearing the usual clickbaiters getting it totally wrong.
I’m also guessing that us paying wages that are blowing top clubs out of the water is hard to keep quiet.
I have previously voiced my concerns that we may be ending up with a “bomb squad mk11”, but I suppose what we’re doing is the right way to go if we really want to compete and get better.
You have to speculate to accumulate and I have to be appreciative of what our generous owners are doing.
UTV!
Comments
233 responses to “Transfer activity up to now.”
True Ardent Villian, Southgate has been lucky the day he walked into the Job, a player that missed a penaltyand shamed the nation and done it again today, he won’t be sacked until Wembleyhas a loss in seats.
The side Southgate put out today contains more egos than team players. Players who are stars at their clubs and used to having ‘domestiques’ – to borrow a phrase from the Tour – tidying up and feeding them. A national version of Manure 2022.
Plus total incompetents. I have said it for ages Ramsdale is a clown. The oddity is his run of good form for the Gunners – taking over from Pope as our #13 – you must be joking. Stones likewise, though he deserved his booking for the deliberate elbow – he often does it, the second card should be withdrawn and handed to the Hungary player for the fraud. Phillips and Saka = egos and sulky.
I spent the evening eating great fish and chips and drinking wine sitting in the sunshine by the water in the Lakes with a group of super friends.
England won the Test with a brand of cricket bordering on the ludicrous because the ECB finally woke up and appointed exciting, gifted people in the right places.
I had a brilliant day because I didn’t even think about English football once 🙂
Hitch that’s the future.
No one has the slightest interest in the English national side ( well none that I converse with)
too PC, too involved in politics and the ‘pièce de résistance” …
too fooking boring!
Well as I’ve said and totally agree to O.L.L. comments Southgate a clown and was in his playing days. He’s humiliated us again and no excuses fans should have to listen too. A Bloody Egotistical twat.
Listening to TalkShite on the way to work this afternoon and apparently the Wicked Witch Of The West (AKA Souhtgate) reckons this is the best England team for 50 years!
(God knows just how bad the worse one was)
at least nobody’s called them “The Golden Generation”…
Opening game – Bournemouth away – now there’s yet another claret & blue banana skin waiting to happen!
HITC
LEEDS INTERESTED IN RELEGATED £12M STAR COMPARED TO HARRY MAGUIRE, ASTON VILLA KEEN TOO…
(Nathan Collins)
And being compared to Old Block Head is a good thing???
Badger and friends
I must admit to being a bit confused with all the talk about us buying a new striker.
I think there are 3 routes open to us:
1: Promote from within. Archer keeps achieving at whatever he has been asked to do. 4 goals for the first team last season, a hit in the championship and standing out at England U2- level. Does he become the 3rd striker next season ready to play when injuries, suspensions or lack of form affect Wakins & Ings. Further, Barry and co have the route to the first team re-enforced. Plus £ms saved to strengthen elsewhere.
2: Buy in short term experienced player like Suarez. No resale value and hideously expensive wages. But experience for game management and helping youngsters breaking through can add value.
3: Buy a quality striker. Is there one out there we can afford? Would this result in up and coming youngsters like Archer being sold? Opportunity to help move us to the next level.
Personally I love one of our own. So option 1 for me. It means come the end of next season if Archer us a hit, then it would allow Villa to sell Ings and move Barry up to 3rd striker. It also means Villa would continue to move from buying multiple players at low prices (1st 2 seasons up) to last season some players at moderate prices to few players at expensive prices.
I look forward to your opinion.
Sid, yes – the Archer situation is a bit confusing and the same questions are being widely asked.
Gerrard has said that he wants to take a good look at Archer during pre season and it’s unlikely any final decision will be taken until the very end of the transfer window but it says a lot when so many Championship clubs want him on loan.
Gerrard may opt to keep him up to Christmas playing him in the Cup competitions and then decide whether to give him a half season on loan.
The side story to all this is, it seems, that Davis will be moving on.
I just saw that comments had been closed (it’s an auto setting after 3 weeks to stop spammers posting on old threads).
I can’t really think of much new to write and this thread seems to be working well for now, so I’ve temporarily removed the setting.
Comments are good to go again 🙂
Villa and Rangers have now agreed a fee of £350k plus add ons linked to EPL appearances for 16 year old striker Rory Wilson who scored 49 goals in all competitions last season.
Gerrard obviously knows him well and was, no doubt, influential in persuading young Wilson to sign for Villa. He will pen a contract on 1st July.
and to think my grandson scored 56 goals for his local team and got a cup presented by none other but Sid Cowens , I should have contacted Gerrard. 350k oh well its only money.
According to the Mail Archer has no less than 14 clubs after him!
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/john-mcginns-role-play-manchester-24268621
Carney Chukwumeka scored one and set up the second for England U19 against Austria. It’s on YouTube if anyone interested. Hope we manage to keep him
Carney was instrumental in that match. For me he gets unfair criticism sometimes probably because of the contract situation (which I understand to a degree) and the minimal game time to prove himself to us but we really need to keep hold of him and actually try playing him for 60 minutes plus a game and give him a run of games like we need to do for Archer. It’s mad to give the kids 10 minutes here and there as they will never be able to improve and showcase their talents in such a short amount of time. Look at Ramsey, started getting 90 minutes and has become one of the first names on the team sheet over the course of a season. I feel the same would happen for Carney, he’s so good on the ball and carrying the ball over a distance, quick feet, unselfish, he could work superbly with the likes of Buendia and Coutinho and still only 18 years old. If we let him go, it will come back to bite us big time, he is going places and I seriously hope it’s with us. A big shout to Aaron Ramsey too, unlucky not to score yesterday, always looked good whenever I’ve seen him play in pre-season and England youth, another rising star in my opinion.
It seems Trez is off to Turkey for £3m. Only a year left on his contract so probably fair enough.
Wish him well – he’s done the business for us when needed – particularly in our first season in the EPL
Yes no hard feelings towards Trez. Worked his socks off and scored some crucial goals for us which ultimately kept us in the league so he goes with my best wishes and i’m sure he will do great in Turkey. Plus it’s a few more million in the coffers.
Apparently Luiz agents are in Italy about to talk to Roma over a potential move. I did assume it would be Targett, Luiz, Traore and Ings that would be sold to fund our transfer business this summer. If we sell them all, I think Gerrard will have plenty of money to go buy who he wants.
McGinn’s on the way out too according to Football Insider.
Given this headline…
Premier League club are ‘willing’ to sell ‘whinging’ star.
The club appear exceptionally keen to offload the player asap and if there is any substance in the rumours that he was one of the main factors in Michael Beale’s departure? Then it’s hardly surprising.
Sid and Adam,
the problem I’ve always had with “one of our own” was the fact that our kids were just plain over-hyped and invariably just not good enough.
Hopefully, that has now changed and we’re producing proper top young players. The fact that so many are now playing for England seems to suggest we’re coaching the kids well and not just playing at it, like we have done before.
I do believe we have genuine quality kids coming through now and hence I can totally agree that Archer should now be looked at to see if he can indeed make that backup striker.
The good news is that I think that’s exactly what Gerrard is thinking too and if the lad shows he’s good enough, I’ve no doubt he will get more than just a few minutes.
Likewise, others need to get time too and again I do think Gerrard will be good in that sense.
The only fly in the ointment is that if we’re not having a very good season, it takes a lot of bottle to bring kids in.
And I’ve always had the thought that if they have a really bad game, it can prove bad for careers, in shot confidence etc.
Still, you have to play them at sometime and we know this is what the owners are aiming for; a train of youth coming through, that either play for the Villa or move on for very good money.
As for Luiz, I saw something earlier that said Mourinho was looking at someone else.
I’d like to see him stay, as I do rate him, but if he wants to go that much, at least we should get good money for him.
Having said that, I think we let Targett go too cheaply, so I hope something similar doesn’t happen with Luiz.
McGinn “whinging”?
Well, I did suggest we might see some of our top players leave and I even mentioned McGinn, but is that story just making 2+2=5 or is there something in it?
There was indeed the article that said it was McGinn that led to Beale leaving, but I’m just not convinced myself.
He certainly seems to know how to moan on the pitch, but he just doesn’t strike me as the sort who would do it behind the scenes in an unprofessional manner.
Same again for me. As much as I love him and think he’s currently the heart of the team, if his attitude is ruining it for the rest of the squad, he can leave too.
I’d be gutted, but noone is bigger than the team.
Could all be BS Badger, a personality clash but with McGinn being portrayed as the barrack room lawyer, the villain in the piece – in order to justify showing him the door and at the same time save face?
(That headline came from somewhere & how I do love a good conspiracy)
Oh yes, you can’t beat a good conspiracy 🙂
It’ll all come out in the wash.
Quoted as from a ‘Villa source’ so probably complete BS but then who knows in football.
Nothing from Ashley Preece and he’s supposed to have the inside track at Villa.
Every player has his price and £50m might well convince Gerrard and Purslow to sell but beware the Ides of Grealish. They better have a belter lined up to replace him – promoting Morgan Sanson won’t cut it 🙂
I’ve said this before – but I’d take the money and run with McGinn. He’s a great battler, and “sometimes” those driving runs and goals are awesome. But it doesn’t happen often enough for me. Perhaps that’s our fault for not using his best position, but I don’t see him being regular in that 8 with Coutinho and Buendia – so if we can get 35m+, I think there’s better out there. Maybe we already have better in one of the youngsters.
Why should we have to sell the likes of McGinn, Luiz or Chukwuemeka? Targett, Trezeguet and El Ghazi are gone / going. I would add to that Sanson, Wesley and Traore if we can get a few quid back for them. We are supposed to be bolstering our squad, not ripping it up and start again. We need a bigger squad of first team ‘ready’ players than we had last season. We nearly ran out of CB’s at the end so thankfully that has been addressed. We need cover at LB too with Digne looking a bit lightweight. Does Young sign another contract for a season? I think we should be adding better quality personally. As for McGinn, I think Gerrard rates him although he is still played in a position that isn’t his best. I would hope we do not have to sell to raise funds to buy. I hope our owners are prepared to spend big money on players if Gerrard wants them. The tough job is luring the better players to Villa Park if a top six or London club come knocking. Roll on July when the transfer window opens.
I agree with you on all of that.
As far as Young is concerned, SG might want him around for his (claimed) posiitive impact on the squad, his professionalism, etc., etc., – BUT at his age he’s NOT someone you want to have to rely on if your 1st choice LB is out for any lenght of time.
Ooh, this is an interesting question.
I don’t think we have to sell to buy as such, but I do think it’s a case of we have to raise say, £50 mill if we want to spend in excess of £100 mill.
IE, there will be a finite amount and any more will have to be raised.
There will also have to be an allowance for higher wages too, which is often forgotten.
So it’s a case of, yes, you shouldn’t have to sell your better players, but if you want to buy top notch, you are probably forced too.
It’s probably why I really don’t want to see McGinn go.
If Gerrard proves to be a disastrous judge of players at the top level, we’ll have gone backwards in two ways.
It all depends on how much faith you have in Gerrard.
And to be frank, I have none in him, as it stands, simply because he has no experience of signing top players. Just the same as anyone else at the club.
Top signings are fraught with massive risk, imo.
If our owners are happy to see us lose £100s of millions and go past it, fair enough.
But I doubt they will be.
Aaron Ramsey, Chukweumeka and Iroegbunam playing for England U19’s against Serbia this evening. K.O. 7pm watch live on BBC iPlayer.
Yes I’ve been watching tonight. Easy win really. Carney has got another assist and scored a cracking solo goal too, top drawer.
Never quite been sure about Chukweumeka but his performances in the U19 tournament (accepting its U19) are outstanding.
I’m convinced – get him to sign a new contract whatever it costs.
Serbia weren’t really any kind of stiff opposition so I wouldn’t be writing any blank cheques just yet.
RSS – accepting your point he did look a class act. Outstanding goal against any opposition. Do we really want our competitors to nick the best of our kids – surely that’s what we want to do 🙂
Oh – and a word for Ramsey who looked good when he came on and Iroegbunam also had a decent game.
Any of the below names mean anything to you Hitch?
Charlie Colkett
Brandon Barker
Alex Kiwomya
Ola Aina
Ashley Smith-Brown
Aaron Kuhl
Bryn Morris
Izzy Brown
Bradley Fewster
Probably not I’m guessing? Well they were all part of the U19 Euro Qualifiers 2014/15, all (at the time) dreaming of a golden future in front of them.
Without meaning to appear to be pedantic I wouldn’t get to carried away just yet, there’s a long way to go before he’s anywhere near to the finished article.
As I said, I accept your point but I’d rather the chance he develops with us rather than one of the top six because if he does, I can see him becoming a top player.
Jacob Ramsey is an example – many fans couldn’t see why he was so highly rated and played in the first team. I think we’d all agree that he’s starting to look like the real deal.
The past is littered with boy wonders – Carruthers – Crowley – Cooke -Moore(s)
And to be honest mate I really I don’t see it but hey ho I’m no scout.
OK mate – I accept defeat.
But on the basis of your arguments why do we bother with an academy – clearly it’s a waste of time 🙂
On the basis of what argument?
Whether Chumbawamba is good enough to hold the club to ransom?
Ha, I’ve been singing his praises for ages, but have now decided he should go if he can’t commit.
He’s a really good prospect, I reckon.
I hope he does sign.
Ron
I believe our academy has been a financial success and will only get better.
These players came through it:
Jack Grealish – £100m
Brian Little – a Villa great
Gabriel Agbonlahor – whole career at Villa
Ciaran Clark – undisclosed fee
Gary Cahill – why O’Neil why? Bolton £5m
Gareth Barry – a Villa legend Man City £12m
Thomas Hitzlsperger – free transfer
Darius Vassell – Man City £2-3m
Craig Gardner – £3m
Marc Albrighton – why oh why Lambert – Leicester undisclosed fee
Andre Green – released
Andreas Weimann – Derby £2.75m
Steven Davis – Fulham £4m
Jacob Ramsey – to be continued
Personally I am looking to see who makes it from:
Tim Iroegbunam
Carney Chukwuemeka
Ben Chrisene
Kerr Smith
Josh Feeney
Tommi O’Reilly
Kaine Kesler
Finn Azaz
Aaron Ramsey
Louie Barry
Cameron Archer
All of these players are being touted as potential first team players.
Sid, you can throw Gary Shaw into the mix to.
I don’t have any problems with the nurturing of young talent my friend but when players at such a tender age are trying to call the shots, then maybe you may question their attitude and commitment?
Me too. I would add Brad Young to that list from the FA Youth Cup winners, I don’t know what happened to him. My guess is Tim, Carney, Kaine, Finn and Cameron will make it as Premiership (or top European league) players. I fear Louie in his position isn’t going to be big enough, but he should make it in the Championship.
RSS – isn’t that what every player and his agent does – hold a club to ransom.
But then it’s not my call is it?
Agents mate, the scourge of modern game.
RSS
Totally agree with your comment about agents.
Kicking myself now. As you do rightly pointed out Gary Shaw. Which means I missed Gordon Cowans, Gary Williams and Colin Gibson. Then Nigel Spink, Nark Walters and Tony Daley! And there will be more I’ve missed.