Okay, so it’s just a quick one, basically so we can move on from the last post, where the subject has become a little out of date.
I said in the previous batch of comments that I’d take Grealish at £30-40 million, but he’d have to be willing to cut his wages to suit our wage structure. Although in fairness, you might expect that we’ll have to step the wages up to what would be commensurate for a Champion’s league club with aspirations of staying there. Still, it won’t be anything like the £250-300k a week he is supposed to be getting at Citeh.
It turns out that the rumours are that Greasy is going to Bayern anyway, so this probably won’t happen, but it’s a nice thought, because there’s no doubt that he’s a Villa fan, as much as many fans felt he’d let the club down. My stance is that quite simply, I don’t blame him for going for the money. He has his future to think about, after all. But now he’s ensured he’s banked millions, he could afford to look at more than the wages side of things, although I’m not sure I’d like to see my wages reduced, even at my lowly level unless there were big plusses to balance things.
Whatever, why would I take him?
Well, I believe he would give us options.
Many of you probably know I think fullbacks will always favour defence or attack. It’s exceptional to see someone who’s good at both, although Kyle Walker springs to mind, yet it’s his pace that helps him out.
I get where the doubters come from when they say that Pep has knocked the spontaneity out of his game. But I think that’s actually a plus, because now Jack can play to a plan, which we all know Unai very much believes in.
My thinking is that whereas we currently have Digne or Moreno marauding down to left to often good effect and producing dangerous crosses, so both in my opinion are poor defensively and it’s worse when they’re caught out of position.
Hence we could play Grealish on the left, in a forward position, which would allow us to bring in a better defensive left back who doesn’t get forward as much.
I think we’ve already got that sort of thing on the right, where we have Cash (albeit not quite good enough imo) linking up with Bailey or Diaby.
Taking Grealish would allow a similar thing and make us more balanced.
Plus then, we could get Grealish moving in from the left or just simply playing in the hole.
Options, as I said.
I won’t even mention his ability to win a free kick.
I know he has a checkered history outside the game, but I’d suggest that the press chasing him would reduce because of his lower profile and he’s likely to just grow out of his clubbing etc quite naturally anyway.
So there you go, those are my thoughts.
Feel free to tell me why I’m wrong.
We shouldn’t be selling Luiz at 26 years old, in my opinion. Two more years and we’d still get a very good price for him. He’s at his peak and the club have nurtured his talent for half a decade. Why cash in now when he’s about to repay all that work at the highest level of club football? If we’re being forced to sell, it’s tragic. If not, it’s foolish. Either way, I for one will be very sorry to see him leave VP.
Just how on earth are Chelsea able to offer £42m for Duran and yet we can’t do a bloody thing yet until we get some out the door.
I think I’d let that sale go through and quickly the pull the plug on dougie going out.
Quote from John Townley on X:
“The Premier League claim their financial rules “promote aspiration of clubs”, yet debt-free #AVFC are selling a key player following UCL qualification and after spending less than every ‘big six’ club over the last four years.
Douglas Luiz’s transfer proves the system is broken.”
Exactly. And if we lose Dougie because of it, I hope Villa take the PL to the cleaners and claim damages. P***ed off.
DON’T GO, DOUGIE!!! 🙁
Would hate Dougie to go one of my favorites,think his best years are ahead of him
We are creatures of habit. We often start off not liking a player and then love them and do t want them to move. Dougie would be a classic example of that.
We all agree that PSR rules are warped and protect the established elite. It we are going to gate crash the party and overcome all these pathetic obstacles in our way. I believe NSWE, Emery, Monchi and Heck are the real deal to deliver.
And now the transfer window is about to open. To me it all boils down to faith in Emery and Monchi to improve the team through key transfers.
Look what Emery has done. He has basically taken an inherited team and over the last 18 months improved every player. He has maximised the players resell values and taken this particular team as far as it can go.
This summer is the first evolution of his team. It is very likely Luiz, Duran, Coutinho, Cash, Dendokar, Chambers and Archer will all leave. Only Luiz was a nailed on starter. But he has had a new contract put in front of him sometime ago and not signed. Time to cash out. The perverse football punative financial structure means Villa cannot allow valuable players to run their contracts down. Luiz has to be sold. Cash was not trusted and Durán has real promise but his attitude is not right. Similarities to Chuckamaka – who he can join at Chelsea.
I can’t wait to see who comes in. The new improved Barkley for £5m is a great deal. Whose next? Will McKennie come to Villa – I’m not worried about his previous Premier experience, he was just returning after an ACL and playing for a relegation Leeds team. Iling- Junior looks a great prospect. I want go beyond these players, but Monchi and Emery will surprise us. And I bet that whoever they buy and the players coming back from long term injuries will leave us better as a team than the end of last season.
Thank you, Sid. You’ve somewhat calmed me with that very well reasoned analysis of the situation!
Just watched a 3 minute highlight reel of Adam Wharton. The first time I’ve seen him play. Stunning. His link up play and vision are unbelievable for his age. I’m gonna put the cat among the pigeons: if Palace keep that team together, they’ll challenge for top 4 next season…
And look no further for who should start alongside Rice for England. Although Trent would be a decent shout as well. Looking forward to Sunday’s game…