So those of you who have been reading/contributing or whatever for a while will know that I’m not a fan of speculation because 95% of it is typically absolutely rubbish. But at the same time, I know some of you love it and given that I’ve just realised I haven’t written anything for over a fortnight and tomorrow is the start of the transfer window, it seems a good time to start this thread.
As per usual, we’re selling most of the team and buying a whole new premier league for our squad. Hmm.
It does seem though, that if you try and read in between the lines a couple of possible moves might prove to be reality. First is Douglas Luiz to leave at £50 million or whatever. While this is miles lower than the £80-100 million that has been talked about I think this might be a good deal for us.
I haven’t previously wanted him to go, but I now have a sneaky feeling that his agent and him have been trying to engineer a move. I know some have said his form dropped in the last couple of months, but I think it’s more than that. I think there’s been something very strange in his attitude and it was demonstrated by his sudden terrible disciplinary record. I’m going to go so far as to say that was some small form of a protest and demonstrative that he quite simply wants out.
I don’t think it’s a money thing. He wants a new challenge and his agent thinks Juventus is the place. Good. If you want to go that much, clear off. With my blessing. The club is bigger than you. I can’t say I’m particularly interested in Winston McKennie and the other lad coming our way, but we do need numbers in.
Second, is Jhon Duran to Chelsea for £50 million. That’s frankly laughable and half of that would be a good deal. I’m convinced the lad has a serious attitude problem, as much as I believe he actually has a somewhat valid reason for having it. The fact is Emery doesn’t yet deem him to be good enough to outdo Watkins and it’s as simple as that. And if he doesn’t have the patience to listen to the manager he can go. Particularly if he’s giving the manager a problem, which I think he is.
Having had another glance at the news, it appears Chelsea have agreed a £42 million fee. I’m inclined to think he could be a bargain signing for them, but if it isn’t working for him at the Villa, that’s a lovely amount of money in the pot to stave off this PSR rubbish.
Then, there’s Matty Cash. We’ve apparently slapped a £30 million price on his head. Where do these stories come from? I’d take half that if we have a replacement lined up.
And finally (although I’m sure there’s plenty of other stories) there’s Diegos Carlos, who cost us a fortune, given his age. I liked the look of him early on, but wouldn’t miss him now. That said, we need better defenders and I’m not convinced Mings is ever going to get back to where he was. Maybe we might do better keeping Carlos as a back up? No doubt he’s on big wages though, so I’ll trust the club’s judgement on that one.
Anyway, this is just a starting point. I’m sure many of you will be more interested in the speculation and chat about other rumours.
Me, I’m only interested in deals inked, whether in or out.
Southgate’s a lucky f*****
Yep – totally Holte.
I just can’t get excited about watching England these days!
We never go for the jugular do we?
Awful 4 games. Slovakia deserved that game. Southgate OUT!
Come on Georgia 🇬🇪…
Guys, what do we make of the two lads coming in from Juve? Anyone watched any YouTube compilations yet? I’m still waiting for Marcus Helenius to play like Pele for the Villa after watching his highlight real… 🤣
From what I’ve seen, the Argentine lad looks like a ‘spoiler’ – lots of tackling and cutting out attacks in front of the defence. So looks like Bouba’s replacement for the first few months. While Jr looks like a raw Bert Traore – leggy and tricky on the left wing with lots of crosses and the odd goal. They’re the right age. Let’s hope Unai gets them ticking…
Oh and Maarsen seems a fantastic coup. He was named in the CL team of the year at LB and has that critical CL experience going into the season. Hard to upgrade at LB but I think the club has done it…
UTV!
Random prediction: Jude Bellingham to be sent off before the end of England’s tournament. Just a hunch.
Random footnote: Portugal drew their 3 group games in 2016 and got out of the group in 3rd place, having played, well, shite. They went on to win it.
Ross Barkley confirmed! I have to say, I’m extremely impressed with the club’s efficiency in getting deals done. 👏👏👏
I’m now thinking Barkley doing Dougies number 8 role, which is ideally suited to his game, with Enzo next to him holding like Bouba does. So with gaps now plugged and the reshuffle complete, should we expect a couple of biggies before opening day?
We need a few big signings BFR. Now we are in another financial year with the Champions League funds, we need to bolster the squad with experienced top drawer signings. With Ramsey, Mings and Buendia coming back to fitness and Kamara for the second half of the season, we have more options. I still think we need a defensive midfielder an upgrade on Cash and competition for Ollie. The two newbies from Juventus I think are squad fillers. Emery might get a tune out of them but they are inexperienced and probably will get minutes in less important situations when we are winning comfortably or domestic cup games. Barkley probably comes in for Dougie and Maatsen for Digne who I still think will be off possibly to Saudi for a big payday. That leaves Moreno as backup. I get the feeling Olsen isn’t going anywhere so Gauci needs to be number 2 ASAP! I would welcome a better RCB to cover Konsa than Carlos if we could offload him.
It’s weird to think that we have our first preseason friendly in just over two weeks time. Proper football rather than Southgate’s shit show.
Hadn’t realised that Iling-Junior is still only 20. It seems clear that we are focusing on younger players with potential to improve both on the field and in terms of value; now I’m not suggesting this a new edition of ‘moneyball’ but Edens will be well versed on it from his American Sports teams.
Balancing it is Barkley who brings a wealth of experience to central midfield; if he can find his best form under Emery, £5m will be a steal.
Will we see a lot more outs and ins over the rest of the window?