Villa Signings and General Rumours Thread

Sundy

Raekwon wrote:

I think one of the worst players to ever put on the claret & blue shirt was Bosko Balaban. I cannot believe we shelled out nearly £6m for him and he only played in 8 games (0 goals). To rub salt into our wounds, he went on a free to Club Brugge and has bagged 40 odd goals in just over 80 appearances for them and couldn't hit a barn door for us

Well i think thats a bit harsh on bosko because he never really got a chance. It took JPA longer than 8 games to score didnt it? And the fact that hes banging them in means hes not that bad. Berson is another player who suffered the same at villa, signed as a quality player yet hardly got a game.

Raekwon

Sundy wrote:

Well i think thats a bit harsh on bosko because he never really got a chance. It took JPA longer than 8 games to score didnt it? And the fact that hes banging them in means hes not that bad. Berson is another player who suffered the same at villa, signed as a quality player yet hardly got a game.

Yeah it was abit harsh. I actually meant to say that he was probably the worst signing for Villa considering the size of his transfer fee, lack of goals then leaving for free. Berson was a strange one too. I remember that O'Leary tracked him for the whole summer in what seemed like an endless transfer saga but when he eventual arrived he hardly got a look it Very odd! The worst one though has to be David Unsworth. He signed for Villa from West Ham but then seven days later he had a change of heart and opted to move to Everton instead! Shocking stuff :mad:

As for the fixtures, these are the obvious highlights in the first few months. I'm defo going to try and get tickets for a couple of these games.

August
11 Liverpool (H)

September
1 Chelsea (H)

October
20 Man Utd (H)

& of course

November
10 Birmingham (A)

shoutman

Tommy Johnston was a great player gotta love the ginge...

Steve stone signed from Notts Forest if im not mistaken....

Bosko Balaban was such a great hope when he signed but as already said he wasnt given a chance, I think our worst signing was probably Stan "Where are ya now" Collymore! 8milliion and his head was like a bag of lego!

Raekwon

shoutman wrote:

Bosko Balaban was such a great hope when he signed but as already said he wasnt given a chance, I think our worst signing was probably Stan "Where are ya now" Collymore! 8milliion and his head was like a bag of lego!

It is a close call no doubt, but I still think Balaban was our worst ever signing simply because he did nothing what so ever for Villa. Collymore cost £1m more then Balaban (the actually fee was £7m) but at least he mangaed to score 15 goals during his time at Villa Park and that included a winning double in a 2-1 win over Liverpool, a hat-trick in the UEFA Cup and a who could forget his cracker against Atletico Mardrid in Villa's brilliant UEFA Cup run in 98?

Villain

I love that goal!

shoutman

Maybe if Balaban got a chance to play he might of scored some goals...... but yes savage goal.

Sundy

Nice clip, a few of our missing men featured there. What was the right back nelsons first name? Its been killing me for a few days now trying to think of it.

JPA

Sundy wrote:

Nice clip, a few of our missing men featured there. What was the right back nelsons first name? Its been killing me for a few days now trying to think of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtT7-E2LsoM

Sundy

JPA wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtT7-E2LsoM

Thanks JPA

Bounty Hunter

Villa are being linked to Royston Drenthe a 20 year old Left Back/Left wing forward. He has been apparently one of the most impressive players in the dutch squad at the U-21 tournie and is a fan favourite at Feyenord.

Ian Storey-Moore (Villa's head scout) is supposed to have been in Holland for the entire tournament too, so prehaps we might be trying to sign a number of young starlets. This would make sense because despite our new financial prowess we cant offer European football just yet but will want to build for when we can with more signings like Ashley Young who has also been in fine form recently in Holland.

Raekwon

Still all quiet on the transfer front, I wish something will happen soon but I guess when the European U-21 Championship ends we might see a bit of activity. I have to admit thorough, with a few players gone and no players signed I am becoming increasingly impatient.

Even the rumors have dried up. Apparent Villa transfer target Bruno Alves' agent says that the player wants to see out his contract at Porto and who can blame him really, he would win plenty of domestic silverware and play CL football ever year if he stayed in Portugal. And another target, striker David Guiza from Spanish side Getafe seems to want to stay in Spain. I heard the Royston Drenthe rumor too but according to Skysports News Feyenoord know that he is attracting interest and will do everything they can to hang on to him.

Also on the way out of Villa: Lee Hendrie is rumored to be heading to Derby County and Stuart Taylor is being linked with a move to Cardiff City.

Helix

apparently expect a flurry from villa in the next couple of weeks, its reckoned o'neill wants his major signings done and dusted before we're back training on the 4th

Bounty Hunter

I do expect a flurry from Villa as MON just like DOL before him has numerous times talked of how small the Villa squd is and how more/better players are needed yet we have only seen players leave. Thankfully these players all seem like the clubs deadwood.

and as for Bruno Alves, his agent said he has had no contact from Villa nor has the club, so why the hell is he even talking to the press about Villa. seems to me he just wants to create interest in his client and/or get him a better contract at Porto.

Bounty Hunter

not believing this till i see it, but if it happened many a jaw would drop.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article1954177.ece

the dutch links continue

Sundy

That would be some heist alright, do Villa have the pulling power at the moment though to attract big players from europe.

On the transfer front im gettin fed up of nothing happening, its just the same as the villa of old so far. With any luck its just MON taking his time and making sure he gets the players he wants.

GreenHorn

O'Neill is very shrewd in transfer market... always prepared to wait to get who/what he wants... so I'd relax for the minute anyway... In a few weeks we can panic if there's no newcomers!

Raekwon

The Wesley Snijder and Ryan Babel rumors have been around all summer and I would really hope that there is some truth behind them. If these persistent rumors are indeed true my main concern would be if we could tempt players of that caliber to come to Villa Park? On the plus side, we do have large transfer funds and the Premiership does seem to have pulling power and top players seem to want to play there.

Also, The Daily Mail has reported that Diego Forlan is apparently top of O'Neill's transfer wish. I don't know, he was abit hit & miss at Man Untied but then again he was joint European Golden Boot winner a few seasons ago. He could link up well with Carew too. I'm 50/50 on this especially considering his £15m price tag.

Helix

i dont think forlan has the right stuff to cut it in england, despite his obvious quality in spain

some players just arent cut out for the english game

regarding the babel/snjieder rumour, if we got both of them, we'd immediately become a hugely more attractive proposition for prospective signings

as it stands the carew signing probably jumped us up a step or 2 in the ladder in terms of the calibre of player who might consider the club, adding the 2 ajax lads would definitely do no harm in that respect

talk on friday that we're in for cudicini, which would be phenomenal

have to lol at sorensen as well, who maintains we're only shopping for cover, not for his replacement, and feels he had a great season last year. i think someones a bit delusional

Sundy

Raekwon wrote:

If these persistent rumors are indeed true my main concern would be if we could tempt players of that caliber to come to Villa Park? On the plus side, we do have large transfer funds and the Premiership does seem to have pulling power and top players seem to want to play there.

.

We also have new state of the art training facilities. Has to make a small bit of a difference over the old ones if a player comes to have a look around.

Villain

I don't think Forlan is worth buying he is a very very good player but didn't seem suited to the Premiership although it may have been he wasn't able for pressure of being at such a big club.

I think the biggest thing we have going for us is Martin O'Neill he is very well respected, but the wage limits need to sorted too that has been one of the biggest restrictions in the past years if you want quality players you have to pay the same wage as other clubs.

Raekwon

Helix wrote:

talk on friday that we're in for cudicini, which would be phenomenal

have to lol at sorensen as well, who maintains we're only shopping for cover, not for his replacement, and feels he had a great season last year. i think someones a bit delusional

Cudicini is a class keeper and I would love to see him at Villa next season. I agree that Sorensen is being abit delusional, he doesn't exactly breed confidence in the defense and he seems to be prone to the odd howler like another Scandinavian keeper that we had a few years ago (no not Schmeical, I mean this muppet!). Plus with the speculation linking us to the likes of Artur Boruc, Craig Gordon and Jussi Jaaskelainen, it looks like his days as the Villa #1 are numbered.

irish1 wrote:

I think the biggest thing we have going for us is Martin O'Neill he is very well respected, but the wage limits need to sorted too that has been one of the biggest restrictions in the past years if you want quality players you have to pay the same wage as other clubs.

Yeah I agree that O'Neill is a big plus for us when it comes to recruiting top class players. I also agree that our wage structure could be a stumbling block when we compete for players with bigger clubs (especially with the likes of Bayern Munich, did you see what they are paying there players??? :eek: ).

*As far as I know JPA was our top earner with around £40k per week but I read somewhere that Carew insisted on getting the same £55k per week salary that he was on at Lyon, so maybe we have actually loosened the purse strings alittle to accommodate top class signings?

*I'm not sure about the exact figures involved, does anybody know them?

JPA

Surely our wage structure is out the window with Randy in charge?
We're not going to go Chelsea crazy but I think we can compete with most now.
I imagine we will sign a lot of players and probably right up to the end of the window.Possibly 7 or 8. Hopefully 2 or 3 real stars or potential stars,

shoutman

Good news coming today, seems that now M ON is back from his holidays we should be seeing some new players at Villa park.

According to eurosport Reo-Coker is back on the radar and Villa have lined up a 5m+player swap for Jason Koumas, its being touted that Gary Cahill may be the player to leave.

Villain

Cahill?? Umm I rather see Ridgewell go Cahill looks promising.

Bounty Hunter

MON supposidly returned on Monday, ive heard that also about Koumas (tho heard it was Osbourne not Cahill which id prefer) but dont think that he is what we need, although at the same time i wouldent be dissapointed if he joined.

Honestly i dont think the media have a clue whats going on at VP considering the lack of stories recently yet everyone knows Villa need a good lot of players. MON+D'OL both talked of how the squad was too small yet we have released/sold a good few players (our deadwood IMO) and still want to get rid of more i.e Djemba Djemba

Raekwon

Yeah the Reo-Coker story is back in full swing again. Apparently the only stumbling block is with the transfer fee, West Ham want £10m while Villa are offering £7m. Hopefully they can agree a fee and the transfer can be tided up sooner rather then later.

I actually had too look twice when I read that Villa were planning a £5m + Gary Cahill bid for Jason Koumas. I couldn't believe it! :eek: IMO Koumas is a Championship level player and is no better then the likes of Gavin McCann or Eric Djemba-Djemba and there is no way that he is worth anywhere near £5m + an excellent prospect.

Anyway, hopefully there will be an avalanche of signings soon because all transfers so far have been going in the opposite direction and our famously squad is worryingly getting smaller

IN: Nobody

OUT: Gavin McCann, Juan Pablo Angel, JLloyd Samuel, Robert Olejnik, Lee Hendrie (plus Benfica have tabled a £700k bit for Djemba-Djemba).

Villain

The story I read about Koumas siad Cahill was only going on load as part of the deal.

Raekwon

irish1 wrote:

The story I read about Koumas siad Cahill was only going on load as part of the deal.

Yeah I heard it was a loan deal too, sorry if it sounded like I thought it was permanent But losing Cahill for (presumably) one season could be costly considering that Laursen is so injury prone, IMO he should be the last young player that Villa should loan out. I would prefer to see fringe players like Isaiah Osbourne, Sam Williams, Zoltan Stieber or future Irish international Stephen O'Halloran loaned out instead because they can pick up valuable experience, hopefully improve then come back to Villa and challenge for a first team place. That would make better sense I think.

Bounty Hunter

Raekwon wrote:

IN: Nobody

OUT: Gavin McCann, Juan Pablo Angel, JLloyd Samuel, Robert Olejnik, Lee Hendrie (plus Benfica have tabled a £700k bit for Djemba-Djemba).

you can add aaron hughes to that list now as he has officially signed for fulham. Villa have to have some signings lined up

Raekwon

Bounty Hunter wrote:

you can add aaron hughes to that list now as he has officially signed for fulham. Villa have to have some signings lined up

Christ, talk about an exodus! At least we got the £1m back that we paid Newcastle for him. Hopefully it's going to a busy few weeks for Villa in the transfer market!

Villain

Mass clearout is a good sign, Martin O'Neill is obviously not going to start with a smaller squad than we had last year so looks like Randy's Millions or Billions will be splashed in the coming weeks.

shoutman

Exciting times, all the offloaded players are deadwood in my eyes, I have a suspicion that the lack of transfer movement up to now is a ploy by the management. When Villa were being linked with loads of players clubs were upping their estimates of their players thinking that Villa would pay over the odds for them. Now that it looks like its quiet enough on the transfer front at villa park clubs might issue a more realistic price tag on their players.

Time Magazine

MON has stated that signings are coming.

shoutman

Linked with Geremi today, would be happy to see him at Villa park. Media reporting that the Reo-Coker deal is still at a stalemate over the transfer fee.
I really hope its sorted soon enough and I think that he would be a great addition to the team.

Average-Ro

I think Villa need a lot of good signings if they want to challenge for Europe. The team as a whole seem average to me.

Savman

Average-Ro wrote:

I think Villa need a lot of good signings if they want to challenge for Europe. The team as a whole seem average to me.

I would've thought that was obvious, hence the discussion of new signings

shoutman

Looks llike Villa have got their man

yahoo sport wrote:

Villa On Verge Of Reo-Coker Capture

Mon 02 Jul, 12:09 PM

Aston Villa are on the verge of finally signing West Ham midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker in an £8million deal.

The England Under-21 skipper is understood to have undergone a medical at Villa's Bodymoor Heath training complex over the weekend.

Villa are remaining tight-lipped over the possibility of Reo-Coker becoming Martin O'Neill's first summer signing.

But sources close to the midlands club are adamant the Reo-Coker deal could finally go through in the early part of this week despite late interest from Manchester City.

Villa have been pursuing Reo-Coker ever since he handed in a transfer request at the end of last season.

They tested out the Hammers with an initial £7million inquiry for Reo-Coker, who has been part of the under-21 side involved in this summer's European Championships.

West Ham are looking for a more sizeable fee and it is understood the two clubs are close to nailing down a figure in the region of £8million.

Reo-Coker, 23, cost West Ham just £500,000 when he moved from Wimbledon three and a half years ago.

O'Neill needs to strengthen his midfield with Gavin McCann having moved to Bolton and Steven Davis poised to join Fulham.

Villa owner Randy Lerner is flying into England this week to link up with O'Neill for what is expected to be the start of a spending spree,

Chelsea winger Shaun Wright-Phillips and Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe are also interesting O'Neill who has been promised "substantial funds" by Lerner.

Villa report back for pre-season training on Wednesday although players involved in Euro 2008 qualifiers and the under-21 tournament this summer have been given extra-time off by O'Neill.

Would love to see Wright-Philips and Defoe at Villa park too although I wouldnt be overley optomistic about getting them.

Savman

Seems to be something in the SWP thing, O Neill said publicly he tried for him in January and "might revisit that in the summer" IIRC.
Whether the wee nipper wants to leave Chelski is another matter but it'd be a good move for him and us.

Defoe...hmmm. It looks like his Spurs days are numbered, there's no way they can justify 4 strikers, none will be happy being left out. Very good striker though, wouldnt say no

Raekwon

So the revolving door at Villa keeps on spinning but as usual it all seems to be going in the wrong direction. Don't get me wrong, I am happy to see Nigel Reo-Coker finally sign for Villa but I am really upset to see the back of Steven Davis. I thought Davis had huge potential and even though he had a dip in form last season, he proved in the 05/06 that he is an excellent player and he even got voted Player of the Season that campaign. (Btw no fee has been mentioned yet but I am hoping it is around the £5m+ mark).

This news coupled with the news that Chris Sutton has retired with an eye injury means that Villa's current squad is pretty much thread bear and MON would really need to get his finger out and sign a load of players very soon. The trouble is, we are being linked to mainly £10m+ players (SWP, Bellemy, Defoe) so how many players do people realistically think we can get that are better then the players that have left and would not cost over our (eledgedly) £30m transfer budget?

---

Ins & Outs @ Villa Park so far:

In: Nigel Reo-Coker

Out: Gavin McCann, Juan Pablo Angel, JLloyd Samuel, Robert Olejnik, Lee Hendrie, Aaron Hughes, Steven Davis & Chris Sutton (Retired)

Villain

I am really happy at the signing of nigel reo coker I think he is a class player but I am a little dissapointed at Davis leaving he said he would stay if he thought he had a chance of first team football so obviously MON feels he doesn't.

I would love to think that we don't need Davis as we are now looking for proven quality players in the top division but I mean we have signed only 1 player either MON is very very confident at signing at least 6 top class players or he is making a big mistake letting some of our first team squad leave hopefully its not the later.

Raekwon

The Reo-Coker signing is undoubtedly a step in the right direction, but I would have him down as a replacement for McCann and not Davis. Infact, the whole Davis situation is really bizarre and unless MON has the likes of Wesley Snjider waiting in the wings, then IMO, selling him is a major backwards step for Villa. After all he was Villa's Player Of The Season, Young Player Of The Season & Fans Player Of The Season the season before last so I cannot really see him as being surplus to requirements at Villa Park after the slight dip in form & confidence last season.

I do have faith in MON though and hopefully he will justify Davis' sale by signing some quality replacement but I will be extremely pissed off if a lesser player like Jason Koumas signs for Villa for more money then Davis left for :mad:

DSB

I really don't think its too big a problem if O Neill doesn't buy in the same amount of players that he sold off. I think that was the main point of giving so many young players a shot at the end of the season. If we can bring in Reo Coker and 4 more topclass players I think we'll be in a pretty good position for next season. We've kept our best senior players from last season and the youth that we have coming through looks very promising. We won't have the biggest squad ever but I'd much prefer to have 16/17 really good players being complemented by youth to be honest.

Raekwon

Still eerily quiet in regards incoming transfers to Villa, I'm becoming very frustrated!

We realistically need to sign 5 or 6 quality players but the question is when will this avalanche of signings happen??? I see that a few of the players that we were linked to have signed for other clubs: Bellamy to West Ham, Koumas to Wigan (lucky for us!). Hopefully MON has the wheels in motion behind the scenes and has made contact with the likes of Defoe, SWP & a few other decent signings and hopefully this frustrating summer will end on a high.

:rant: Oh and another thing, why is it that Villa are the last team to unveil their new kit for next season? I hate waiting, but as a Villa fan I am well used to it by now :rolleyes: :/rant:

shoutman

Villa have been reported to have bid 8mil for Defoe today according to eurosport news.

Also is Nike the kit supplier for this year? So it should be a very different jersey.

Raekwon

This rumour was also reported in the Daily Star and the Daily Mail. It stated that we're going to bid £8m for Defoe but may face competition from Portsmouth & Sunderland. If this is true then expect another drawn out transfer saga like the one involving NRC because Spurs are probably going to try and hold out for something closer to £12m for Defoe.

About the kit for next season, yeah it will be manufactured by Nike but my gripe is with the fact that it is now being pre-ordered even though the public haven't even got a glimpse of it yet? Fulham signed a similar Nike deal and their new kit was shown to the public at the start of June.

Helix

nrc was in what i presume was the away kit when he signed up

shoutman

Oh and I forgot to mention, villa's opener against Liverpool is live on Setanta

Raekwon

Helix wrote:

nrc was in what i presume was the away kit when he signed up

That was just a training/warm-up top. Apparently the away jersey will be white with light blue pin-stripes. It just bugs me that Villa are excepting pre-orders from fans yet won't even reveal a few photos of the product. It just seems very odd.

Time Magazine

Raekwon wrote:

£8m for Defoe

Am I the only one thinking we could really spend that money better in defence? We have Gabby, Luke Moore, John Carew, Shawn Moloney and Ashley Young as established attacking players. Assuming we have Barry----Reo-Coker----Petrov----Young as the midfield, do we want to drop Gabby and have him, Moore and Moloney all on the bench? Gabby looked to be doing very well with Carew at the end of last season. Contrast that to defence where we have an injury-prone lot with a few youngsters and no strength in depth. We were loaning defenders in last year, now we've sold a few off (Samuel, Hughes), but buying another new striker?

The first team squad at the moment (excluding really peripheral players) is:

Goalkeepers
Sorenson
Taylor

Defenders
Delaney
Larusen
Mellberg
Bouma
Ridgewell
Cahill

Midfielders
Barry
Petrov
Reo-Coker
Berger
Gardner
Young
Moloney (~ish)

Forwards
Carew
Moore
Agbonlahor

I make that as 18 "real" players unless I'm leaving someone out? Many of these are constantly suffering from injuries (Moore, Larusen, Delaney). Very weak squad, but it's the forward line that's least at risk I think. Need a goalkeeper (French U-21 goalkeeper in for a trial at the moment), a right-back and a centre-back (imo neither Ridgewell or Cahill are quite good enough yet) before we go looking for Defoe.

eirebhoy

Ibid wrote:

Moloney (~ish)

You can remove the "ish". He's class.