Villa Signings and General Rumours Thread

Savman

£8m + up to £1.65m in add-ons
Still a lot...

eirebhoy

More than a lot. You could get top class players for £10m.

Raekwon

Yeah £9.65m is a hell of alot for an unproven prospect, no matter how popular he seems to be in this transfer window. But Villa desperately need some new blood in their squad so I would be happy to see him sign

Did anyone hear the rumor that Bothroyd was willing to let Young go to the highest bidder on condition that Watford could keep him onloan for the rest of the season? Cheeky f**ker! :rolleyes:

V1llianous

According to Sky Sports News - Ashley Young has now agreed terms and transfer is subject to a medical on Sunday. He should be training at Bodymoor Heath on Monday. A gentleman's agreement seems to have been reached so he won't line out for either team tomorrow.

Villain

Too much money imo for a prospect but we need to sign players and not many are available in this window and if Randy is as rich as people say he is 9million is not a lot of money to him.

shoutman

He looks almost dead cert now to sign, MO'N said after the match that he had verbally agreed to sign, I too think that 9m is enough to get a proven quality player but have full faith in Mr O'N, he has proven himself to be able to unearth raw talent and can get the most out of players.

Lets hope this youngster - excuse the pun, is going to be a diamond in a very expensive rough.

Helix

Savman wrote:

Our many average players suddenly looked half decent. For a while, Europe beckoned.

before today, we had 1 point more than this time last year, with one game more played, and had lost only one less

Helix

the fee for young is a bit nuts, but then when you look at some of the prices going around for other players, its probably in line

its not like itll bankrupt oul randy anyway lol

Savman

Helix wrote:

before today, we had 1 point more than this time last year, with one game more played, and had lost only one less

And....???

Helix

and we hear how o'leary was awful, and o'neill is brilliant, yet comparison shows theyre much of a muchness

id rate them both at the same level as managers myself, hence my opinion that o'neill has proved absolutely nothing in terms of showing what he can do for villa, and ill judge him at the end of the season, not on what he managed in a mickey mouse league in scotland, and in a couple of mid table finishing seasons with leicester

eirebhoy

He did more than that.

Savman

Helix wrote:

and we hear how o'leary was awful, and o'neill is brilliant, yet comparison shows theyre much of a muchness

How can you really compare? Judge O'Neill after he has had a couple of seasons and built his own squad. If we are still in relegation scraps then you could say both managers are "much of a muchness".

Helix wrote:

id rate them both at the same level as managers myself, hence my opinion that o'neill has proved absolutely nothing in terms of showing what he can do for villa, and ill judge him at the end of the season, not on what he managed in a mickey mouse league in scotland, and in a couple of mid table finishing seasons with leicester

Proved nothing?!?

he managed non-league Wycombe Wanderers, and took them into the Football League as Conference champions in 1993.

He joined Leicester City immediately after leaving Norwich. After a difficult start he achieved great success at the club, gaining promotion via the play-offs to the Premiership in the same season as joining the club. Leicester finished in the top half of the Premiership in every season O'Neill was manager. They also won the Football League Cup under O'Neill in 1997 and 2000, as well as reaching the 1999 final of the competition. They finished ninth in 1997, tenth in 1998 and 1999, and eighth in 2000. The two League Cup triumphs saw them qualify for the UEFA Cup each time, though both campaigns were short-lived.
During his time at Leicester, O'Neill held talks to become manager of Leeds United but declined the job after thousands of supporters held up placards saying "Don't go Martin!" in an effort to make him stay.

O'Neill did eventually leave Leicester on 1 June 2000, taking over from the team of John Barnes and Kenny Dalglish to become manager of Celtic O'Neill's first Old Firm game ended in a dramatic 6-2 victory for Celtic over Rangers and did much to overturn the psychological advantage previously held by Rangers. In that first season O'Neill's Celtic won the domestic treble. He was also the first Celtic manager to take the team into the revamped Champions League (a feat he managed three times). In the first season in the CL Celtic were eliminated in spite of having 9 points. Perhaps his greatest achievement was to guide Celtic to the 2003 UEFA Cup final held in Seville. Celtic lost to Porto 3-2 in extra time. In his five seasons there, he won three League titles, three Scottish Cups, and a League Cup. O'Neill also oversaw a record 7 consecutive victories in Old Firm derbies. Also in season 2003-04 Celtic created a British record of 25 consecutive victories.

Each time he has stepped up a level with much success. I use the term "success" lightly as it means different things to different clubs. A bit of optimism wouldn't kill ye

Helix

and at villa, as it stands, we have come no further under him

ill judge o neill by what he does at villa, and villa alone. its irrelevant to me what hes done elsewhere

we've seen it all before lads, new manager takes over, hailed by the media as being the next greatest thing to happen to the club, great start, team falls to bits, manager wastes millions, fast forward a couple of seasons, repeat

as it stands in his 6 short months at villa park, i see nothing to convince me this cycle will be broken

i hope it will, but i think itll just be another o'leary scenario. the problem with mon is, if he DOES manage to be successful, chances are he wont be at villa park too long anyway

in other news, lyon look like taking baros and giving us carew, which id be extremely pleased with

shoutman

Linky for that Carew swap news please.

What do you expect after six months? M O'N was the first one to state that the start villa had was never sustainable, we have one of the smallest squads in the league and any injury would cripple us, it did us no good when we had to get a Championship teams reserve keeper to fill in for us.

I think M O'N is a proven quality manager, which could not be said for David O'Leary, the Villa board will give M O'N time and I expect him to show us just what a quality manager he is. No one is expecting miracles but any improvement is a lot better then the days of yorn where Villa slowly turned from being a contender for a european spot to a relegation battler.

As for M O'N leaving if he succeeds, if you read further back in this thread I said the same thing, but I would go back on what I said, the only reason he took the Villa job was for geographical reasons, I dont think he would ever be one of these Mourinho types who steps into the roll of trying to buy dozens of world class players and try to gel them altogether.

Helix

carew/baros swap: http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=442974&CPID=8&clid=7&lid=&title=Lyon+hint+at+Carew-Baros+swap&channel=&

tbh, i had a feeling that deal was on the cards from the first second i heard they were still after baros

regarding improvement at villa park, there really hasnt been any if we can look at objectively. we're still playing the same special brand of muck we were last year

shoutman

That is only because we are lacking players, the formation at the start of the year was brilliant and if Luke Moore hadnt of gotten injured he probably would of kept with it.

Helix

there was nothing to stop him keeping it without moore anyway

we had the same injuries and small squad under o'leary, yet everyone wanted him sacked, but is more than willing to use it as o'neills excuse

i think its ridiculous the amount of rimming that goes on to mon in the media

shoutman

So you want M O'N to be sacked?

Savman

No pleasing some people :rolleyes:

Helix

shoutman wrote:

So you want M O'N to be sacked?

whered i say that?

i said hes proven nothing at villa, so until he has, i dont think hes deserving of any of the ridiculous praise hes getting, hes not done anything dol didnt do at the end of the day

at the end of the season, we'll judge him

Helix

Savman wrote:

No pleasing some people :rolleyes:

should i be dancing through hoops that we're 1 point better off than we were at this time last season?

is that your barometer of success at villa?

Villain

I was talking to another Villa fan over the weekend and I saying that imo our good run early in the season has been negative in some ways, some fans were led to believe we were much better than we actually are.

It obviously annoys me that Villa have been losing but I think in the long term its better if we finish where our team quality deserves and MON gets the resources he needs, Randy bought a club in decline with some promising young players, he didn't buy a top 6 team and if he really wants to get us back to being a top 6 club he needs to invest big time, we need to buy 5 to 7 quality players to compliment the promising young players thats why imo 9 million for Young is too much he's another promising player, we need proven experienced quality imo.

shoutman

irish1 wrote:

imo 9 million for Young is too much he's another promising player, we need proven experienced quality imo.

Agreed, I think some proven quality, even if they are getting on in years would do wonders for the squad, as most of our best players are very young.

Magic Pips

Any idea how much money we get for taking Carew off Lyon? I'd hope for at least 4m plus Carew for Baros.

Also Levante are after Ollie again... NO WAY Dont let him go

Raekwon

Reports today suggest that Baros will be a Lyon player in the next 72 hours. If that is the case then I expect Carew to sign for Villa, but it doesn't say what the deal will be.

I think £2m plus Carew would be a good deal, but in the past Villa never seem to make any profit from transfers (aside from Dwight Yorke to Man U.) so it could be just a straight swap (which Villa would be losing out on really).

As for Mellberg going to Levante..........it will never happen! They are a rubbish team who sign loads of foreign players to survive...........then never do. They belong in the Segunda Division Ollie is much better off at Villa Park!

shoutman

The following is taken from yahoo sports:

Stiliyan Petrov has told Aston Villa he wants to move back to Celtic, according to reports.

The Bulgarian midfielder started his Villa Park career promisingly, but his form has tailed off in recent weeks, and is currently sidelined with a hamstring strain.

According to the Bulgarian News.bg site, Petrov has informed Villa that he wants to return to the club that sold him for £6.5 million only five months ago.

However, the report states that Celtic will be unwilling to pay more than £3 million for the player, with Villa looking to recoup much of the original fee they paid for him.

Also, FIFA regulations state that a player cannot return to a club less than 12 months after leaving.

Say it aint so stan.

Chardee MacDennis

Baros has joined Lyon.

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_1864330,00.html

Savman

Baros out, Young In and Carew almost in.

Relax, the Petrov thing has been mentioned before but doesn't hold any water, anyway its a dubios source (Bulgarian newspaper) with no quotes or references.

Helix

carew deal done



3 1/2 year deal

kinaldo

ffs just in time to play against defenseless Newcastle

Helix

young just finishing his medical, due to be announced in a couple of hours that hes signed on a 4 1/2 year deal

wonder whos up next

Time Magazine

Jaysis lads what a day.

We now have a fairly sterling forward selection. Two of Britain's brightest young stars, Gabby and Mr. Young, along with decent Angel and potential twenty-per-season Carew, with old-reliable Sutton as back-up. This is all with Luke Moore out.

Looks like Angel is resigned to the bench! Surely it's back to 4-3-3 with Agbonlahore, Carew and Young up front? Or could we push Barry back to full-back and have Gabby on the wing, with Angel up front?

Vokes

Wow! Carew - great signing for Villa! Just stand up a lot of high balls for him and Bobs your uncle - goals (plus lots of assists too probably).

Definitely looks like 3 upfront with Young and Agbonlahor making runs either side of Carew.

Xavi6

Fantastic day for Villa fans (well apart from Petrov saying he wants out). Carew is a great player, made a fool of Cannavaro in the Champions League earlier this season (see link below)and is a real match winner on his day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp7AHTZwcN4

Helix

Ibid wrote:

Jaysis lads what a day.

We now have a fairly sterling forward selection. Two of Britain's brightest young stars, Gabby and Mr. Young, along with decent Angel and potential twenty-per-season Carew, with old-reliable Sutton as back-up. This is all with Luke Moore out.

Looks like Angel is resigned to the bench! Surely it's back to 4-3-3 with Agbonlahore, Carew and Young up front? Or could we push Barry back to full-back and have Gabby on the wing, with Angel up front?

unfortunately it looks like jpa is on the way out, ill be surprised if hes still at villa park in feb, and i for one will be bitterly sad to see him a go

agbonlahor is gonna be rested for a few games id imagine, with young coming in as a straight swap, but after that id absolutely love to see carew and aggy up front, with young out wide

Villain

I didn't want Baros to sign when he did but then I actually liked him last season he could score for sure, however he just didn't seem interested this season when he came on.

Carew looks good if he learns to pass the ball a bit more he could be a good signing, we just need a right winger and right back now.

V1llianous

Petrov has denied the quit rumours - also on Yahoo http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/22012007/4/petrov-denies-villa-quit-reports.html

Great performance by Carew vs Real. Real looks like he might cause quite a bit of concern for defences as he can run at them, barge through them and the obvious long balls - great bit of business.

Can't see anyone coming in for JPA during the transfer market - plus he hasn't done too bad so far this season, he will probably be expecting a bit part from now on but it may do him good as it could take the pressure off him, great combo of Sutton and him to come on with 20 mins to go should help us to close games out.

No news yet about Young, was panicking a bit earlier but Sky Sports News reported that Young was at Bodymoor Heath today for his medical, not yesterday as widely reported. MON was also away from BH and VP today as he was taking his UEFA coaching badges / courses today so expect him to sign and a press conference for tomorrow afternoon.

I would expect us to pick up at least 4 points from our next 3 games - Newcastle, West Ham & Reading. Great time for people to come in, as we will be looking to put more than 5 past the Geordies on Wednesday week as if the Bloose can do why can't we do it !!! What are odds on scoring debuts for Young & Carew ???:D

Savman

I think we're looking at a Agbonlahor/Carew pairing up front with Barry on the left, Youn on the Right and probably Petrov and McCann in the middle.

Moore and Davis will be fighting for spots which can only be a good thing. I think maybe rotatiing Gabby and Moore might get the best out of both of them, they're both very young so asking them to produce 50 games a season is expecting too much.

I can see MON going after an aggressive battler or holding midfielder so Smiler McCann may be surplus to requirements soon.

mike65

Facinating swap, I guess Ged reckons he can turn Baros into a CL winner again!

Mike.

V1llianous

Savman wrote:

I can see MON going after an aggressive battler or holding midfielder so Smiler McCann may be surplus to requirements soon.

I hope not, I think McCann has been one of the better budget signings for Villa over the last few years. He has been man of the match for a few games this year and that surely shows his worth as to be named man of the match for a holding / containing player with just good honest committed hard work is a very rare occurance.

Time Magazine

Now that I think about it I'd say a 4-4-2 / 4-2-4 formation with Gabby and Carew up front, McCann and Petrov in the middle, Young and Barry on the wings would probably be more than enough attacking prowess with strength in midfield. Although dropping Barry to left-back would allow Gabby/Young to go left-wing and bringing in Angel/Sutton up front wouldn't hurt.

---

Sorensen

---

----Mellberg

---

Ridgewell

---

Laursen---Barry

---

--Agbonlahore---McCann

---

Petrov---Young

---

---

Angel

---

Carew

---

Couple of dodgy ones there, particularly looking at the wing-backs, but that could work. Actually if we bought a good right wing-back and replaced Ridgewell with Olaf we'd have a fairly strong side there.

V1llianous

I would be inclined to go as follows as would provide for a more attacking side:

---

Sorensen

---

----Hughes

---

Mellberg

---

Laursen---Barry

---

---

McCann

---

--Agbonlahore

---

Young

---

---

Petrov

---

---

Angel

---

Carew

---

Both Barry and Huges would certainly be suited to overlapping with their respective wingers. Even if the diamond wasn't utilised McCann could still sit back and cover while Petrov makes runs forward.

shoutman

I like the above but would prefere Petrov in a deeper role pushing forward from the outset with instructions for Gabby and Young to demolish their opponent wing backs with sheer pace.

Chucky the tree

that villa team would get raped.

shoutman

Chucky the tree wrote:

that villa team would get raped.

They are quite attractive I suppose, but I dont think the likes of Mr Mellberg and Gavin McCann would put up with some forced bumlove, JP Angel on the other hand might be another story......

Savman

Hughes?! Gotta be joking. Angel and McCann would be further weak links there too.

Chucky the tree wrote:

that villa team would get raped.

So eloquently put, thank you for your helpful contribution. Repressed memories?

eirebhoy

I'm not a big fan of Carew tbh. Maybe the premiership will suit him though.

Nalz

I think it will suit him big time. I am a fan of Carew and I like Aston Villa club alot. Think its a great deal for player, club and the league in general.

Time Magazine

Savman wrote:

Hughes?!

At least I improvised .

Angel and McCann would be further weak links there too.

Angel's not bad, especially with two good wingers flying them into his head and maybe to get the odd knock-down from big John. I'd pick Juan over Luke Moore at the moment any day. McCann's our best defensive midfielder at the mo. Wouldn't cry if we replaced him with Makelele or anything, but at the moment he's the best we have.

Magic Pips

My villa team:

Sorenson - not great, but will do.

*Hughes - average at best
Ollie - great player
*Laursen - great player but with too many injuries
Bouma - Decent player, if he continues to adapt

Barry - Villa thru & thru, worth playing him in midfield if the emergence of Bouma continues

Petrov - potentially a prem star
*McCann - average
Gabby - good player

Angel - very good player, wasted on the style of play villa use.
Carew - i hope

Others:
Young - not sure what type of player he is - i wouldn't have spent 7m on him let alone 9+m
Moore - good potential
Davis - good potential

* denotes i'd rather we signed a new player for this position