A new manager and potentially new owners create the perfect recipe for an extensive summer clear out. It was bound to happen, Paul Lambert had signed a lot of players and Tim Sherwood will be looking in the summer to revamp the squad and create a Villa that is more representative of what Sherwood wants to do at the club. As a result, I expect that Aston Villa will look to sell, a lot of players! Here is a small list of who I think will be shown the door come the Summer transfer window:
1. Andreas Weimann
I think it’s time to let Weimann go. Weimann has made very few appearances under Sherwood and looks to be below the pecking order of both Agbonlahor and Benteke, maybe even Bent should Sherwood offer the forward a new contract. Weimann has scored only 4 goals and his development has halted, especially after his break through season in 2012 where he ended up scoring 12 goals. He is still young, and can improve but hard work and running can only get you so far. I think it would be best for Villa and Weimann to part company this summer.
2. Carles Gil
The mystery that keeps Villa fans questioning Sherwood’s selection, why isn’t Gil given a chance? At the age of 21, he has a lot of room for improvement and looks like a very talented player. Under Lambert he managed to score Villa’s goal of the season against Bournemouth and assist Okore’s goal in Villa’s 2-1 defeat against Chelsea. Yet, he has only started once under Sherwood. Now I don’t think that Gil will be sold, but rather allowed to go out on loan. Selling Gil would prove to be a mistake since he is a very talented player.
3. Matthew Lowton
When Sherwood arrived at the club I thought that Lowton would be given a chance. He did start a few games at left-back and I though he played rather well. Unfortunately that was short lived, because Lowton hasn’t made many appearances as of late, and Sherwood clearly prefers either Bacuna and Hutton and right-back. I still think he is a decent player and will certainly find a club in the Premier League.
4. Antonio Luna
He started his Premier League career in a blast, scoring the last goal in Villa’s 3-1 win over Arsenal last season. But it has gone badly down hill for Luna since, lost his place to Bennett towards mid-season and later forgotten with the arrival of Bertrand. But it has gotten worse, Luna went out on loan to Serie A club Verona but barely made any appearances, now he is playing for Serie B club Spezia. Sherwood will have to decide what to do with the left-backs, because currently he has 4 under contract. Luna will certainly be leaving.
5. Yacuba Sylla
Promising player, but like most of Lambert’s experiments, I don’t think he will pass the test of time. Aston Villa have a solid number of midfielders now and I highly doubt that Sylla can impress Sherwood. Plus Sherwood will give the likes of Gary Gardner a chance next season.
6. Alexander Tonev
I thought that Tonev might be a success at Villa, nope! In his first season at the club, Tonev had good runs and challenged defenders but his shooting was unbelievably poor. This season he’s had to face a racial accusation whilst on loan at Celtic. I think it’s best if Tonev left the UK and tried to revive his football career elsewhere.
7. Nicklas Helenius:
I still think he could make an impact in the club but I don’t think he will stay after a disastrous first season. His addiction to pain killers following an injury in 2013-14 did affect his career, and he hasn’t really set the Danish league on fire like he did in 2011-12. He would be competing with Callum Robinson if he did stay, and I think we know who would win that battle!
8. Philippe Senderos
This is a tricky one, I do think there is a place in the team for the experienced Swiss defenders. But the development of Okore, Baker and Clark has certainly made that extremely difficult. If Vlaar did move on then there is a chance that Senderos could stay on. But as things stand, Senderos’s Villa career will be short lived. He did have an excellent first few games in the Premier League campaign. But I’d rather watch the development of Clark, Baker and Okore because those 3 defenders are something special.
I’d like to see us sign Ben Davies from Tottenham. Underated and underused player. Still only 22 and can play left back or centre half. Better than all our other options, in my opinion.
Good shout, was better than Shaw last season, hasn’t developed at all this season, playing 2nd fiddle to Rose.
Hmm, I’m not sure the criticism of Guzan is fair.
I think we forget he’s been our MOTM loads of times over the last season or two.
But agreed, he has been poor at times, more so lately, which makes me think we’re just not allowing him a poor run of form.
I’d assume that’s why Parkes was bought in and I think Guzan will be given a chance and won’t be going anywhere in the summer.
As for the article, can’t see much wrong with your assessment Adam, although I’d be a bit sad for Weimann. Play him in the middle and he’d get goals.
But I don’t see that happening.
Fair argument, just seems odd since Howard retired from International football, Guzan’s gone down hill. Like he doesn’t need to try anymore.
Weimann will get goals, averages a goal or assist every 3.3 games. He’s creative, has quality and can play off the striker really well. Unfortunately he won’t get that. Needs a move for his career.
I don’t think that Guzan’s getting a lot of stick; and as mentioned earlier, agree that he’s one of the main reasons why we’re still in the division.
I just believe that he’s already as good as he’s likely to be, and possibly that’s not a level which the team would need if they were to be competitive higher up the table.
Mind you, I suppose that along with Weimann and a few others, he’s suffered from the one glaring problem at Villa [IMO] since Houllier left – abysmal coaching, if any real coaching at all – possibly why several players just don’t appear to have developed as they were expected to do?
Agree that Weiman has been ruined by Lambert and crew. A lot of players seemed to go backwards over the last couple of seasons.
McLeish, Lambert – neither seem to have paid much attention to hands-on coaching themselves, nor had the sort of assistants who might have done some serious work with the players. ‘Training’ isn’t the same thing as ‘coaching’.
It seemed to me that once a player ‘made it’ as a first-team squad regular, and so passed out of the hands of Kevin McDonald and Sid Cowans, their progress stopped. Then when you add what looks to have been a completely ‘dead’ backroom atmosphere under Lambert, it’s hardly surprising that some regressed.
Three reported parties have bid for Villa according to the Telegraph. That Smith guy and now two unnamed for obvious reasons reportedly.
Always thought Benny Siegrist would go on and be our No.1 keeper one day, heard such good things about him but he never seems to be able to make the breakthrough. Just hope we don’t get rid and he goes on to be world class at another club!
Broke his leg in training and is out of contract. Hope we sign him up for another year or two still.
Andrew are you an insomniac????
Unless he isn’t from the UK? I post at seemingly ridiculous times sometimes cause im Aussie.
Good thinking that never crossed my mind.
Well I am from the U.S., but yes I also am actually an insomniac so it’s a yes.
ESPN reports Villa to be in advanced talks with Luongo
http://www.espnfc.com/story/2445841/aston-villa-confident-over-massimo-luongo-deal-sources
I would be gutted if he doesnt give Gil a chance. Would love to see him playing where Nzogbia is right now, see how he did with Grealish and Benteke around him.
The others probably all need to move on. Helenius is a weird one, but the others never really cut it at the top level. I’m disappointed with Weimann as when he first came onto the scene, he looked like he would develop into a top striker, but he seems to have gotten worse over the last 2 years! Having said that he has been played out of position a lot.
Lowton is too slow, Luna cant defend, Sylla and Tonev are championship players at best. More money wasted by Lamberk.
£200,000 fine for so called pitch invasion. The FA is a fucking disgrace. We should appeal this outrageous fine IMO
Don’t think you’ll get any change out of the FA on this one.
They’re taking pitch-incursions very seriously: since the incident at VP there’s been the abandonment at Blackpool, and another incident where an opposition player was allegedly assaulted by home fans at the end of a game, just a week or two back.
I think the view is that especially in the Prem, clubs are getting a fortune in income; police attendance at games is being cut back due to government spending cuts, so clubs will have no choice but to spend much more on stewarding to keep fans away from the pitch at all times. Wouldn’t be very surprised if in the summer there wasn’t some announcement of points-deductions for any incidents next season.
Fair points, but it was hardly a ‘serious invasion’ where people were under any threat. I dont think the punishment fits the crime on this occasion…there have been far worse ones since the VP one!…..the reason why the fine is so big is because it was hyped up so much by the BBC! Thats my opinion anyway!
I don’t disagree with you overall.
However, ‘hyped-up’ is one way of looking at it – the other is that this was a high-profile game shown live on national TV, and as far as I’m aware it was the first large-scale pitch incident at a Premier League ground in a long time [I don’t include the two idiots doing their ‘publicity stunt’ at White Heart Lane in the EUFA game!]. Personally I’m just glad that the ref didn’t abandon our game even at that late stage…
In general I just feel that ‘football crowd’ issues are too much in the news again for the FA to ignore: we’re just about coming up to the 30th anniversary of the Heysel disaster; Bradford fire back in the news, Hillsborough enquiries rumble-on. All different, but all just remind the FA, and probably the regulators, that football crowds can cause/suffer massive injuries.
Up until a few months ago there seemed to be some progress towards bringing-back standing areas at games in the UK, even if on a trial basis somewhere, and Villa were one of the bigger clubs backing those proposals. Haven’t heard any mention of that in recent months, and I suspect that it’s probably been dropped again – for a long time. The incident at VP didn’t exactly help that cause…