Aston Villa Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

Peyton Manning

DSB wrote: »

I know what he has won. I just don't think that he was a major part in it, and that other players could have done what he did at a cheaper price. Either way, this isn't the thread for that discussion.

Ask any United fan and they will tell you that Carrick was instrumental in us finally finding our form again and winning the league in 06/07. Our midfield for the previous 3 seasons had consisted of the likes of Kleberson, Djemba Djemba, Miller, Smith, Fortune, O'Shea and Fletcher (who has really improved the last 2 years but was muck back then). We always had a good attack but had no link between defence and that attack, and thats what Michael Carrick provides. He is a criminally under rated player and should be starting for England every match imo. Even last season, granted he had a poor first half, but after Christmas with the exception of Ronaldo, he was our best player.

Neil3030

Great article by The Doc this morning on AVFCBlog. Has me feeling somewhat optimistic!

I've watched and read with growing interest as the debates over possible transfers have unfolded. The official site proudly claims over 130 players linked with Villa during the close season, which says a bit about the official site, a lot about sloppy journalism and very, very little about Villa's real squad strategy.

I use the word "strategy" because I believe there is one. Martin O'Neill has made certain short-term moves, loan or otherwise, in the transfer market for purely opportunistic reasons. But we shouldn't let that fool us: the strategy is clear. And it is a long-term strategy.

It seems to me that O'Neill and Lerner are only interested in investing serious money when the long term return on investment is crystal clear. Young, Reo-Coker and Davies are all examples of sparkling British talent who O'Neill has doggedly pursued - and perhaps even paid over the odds on - until he got them. Why? Because he believed they have the long-term talent and tenacity to drive a Villa squad forward for five to ten years.

The arguments that there is either a) no money or b) a reluctance to spend it strike me as wide of the mark. The one thing that is missing in those arguments is strategic context. I'll explain what I mean more simply: O'Neill and Lerner agree that the target for Villa is to challenge for a Champion's League qualifying place (ie 3rd or 4th) in 5 years.

They further agree that to do that they need to buy young talent and build a brand new team which will hit its peak around 2011. Hence Young, Davies, Reo-Coker, Sidwell etc and also the ruthless pruning of the young Villans: Gabby and Gardner in - Ridgewell, Cahill, Davis etc out.

Decisions were clearly taken on the basis of who could compete at Champions League level in 2011.

We may not agree with O'Neill. We may believe that Newcastle United and Manchester City, clubs with similar ambitions and stature, have got it right with their frantic "buy foreign" strategies. But results would suggest the opposite.

We may think that Alan Curbishley has it right at the Hammers, buying seasoned, experienced players at a discount. Until they spend all season injured, or in court.

Martin O'Neill, as any Clough protege would, sets a great deal of store by dressing room spirit. His preference for British, or at least English-speaking players might look an old-fashioned curiosity in today's Premier League - but I am all for it.

I don't think it any coincidence that Liverpool and Arsenal are finding it hard to break the Man U-Chelsea duopoly - because both those clubs have a dressing room with a beating British heart. Break the dressing room's language and culture bond, and you go half way to breaking its spirit.

No, for me O'Neill has it right. Be patient, but when the real British talent shows itself, fight for it and spend big. Let's have Milner. Let's wait for Hennessy. In 3 or 4 years time, I suspect the man will be vindicated. As long as he covers the bases in the meantime.

link

Neil3030

The Guardian, who I consider (perhaps naively) to be more reputable than the redtops, are reporting we're in for Luke Young. Decent player imo, better option than Finnan.

Raekwon

Neil3030 wrote: »

The Guardian, who I consider (perhaps naively) to be more reputable than the redtops, are reporting we're in for Luke Young. Decent player imo, better option than Finnan.

Déjà vu anyone?

Bounty Hunter

Id prefer Finnan, this isnt a few years ago.

a couple of days ago Mr Alan quoted a recent post by the general that has since become a full article.

Villa chief Krulak hits back at critics
By Lisa Smith - THE BRUM POST

General Charles C Krulak, who regularly responds to posts on a number of major fans’ websites, assured supporters that the issue (Barry) had not distracted Lerner, or manager Martin O’Neill, from the pressing need to bring in new players.

After insisting money was available to buy players, Krulak urged fans to be patient, assuring them that Lerner was not in the habit of saying ‘no’ to his manager’s player demands.

The Vietnam war veteran, said: “If Martin came to Randy and said “I need £30 million for player “X”...and this player would fit right into what we are trying to do and is the type of player that will take us where we want to go, then Randy would have his cheque out before Martin could get past the player’s name!

“Additionally, he will be equally ready to fund the other players that Martin says we need. I have said it before, Randy has never said no.”

Fans then vented their frustration that so far the squad has lost five players and gained only three, with some questioning Lerner’s motives and future vision.

Krulak said: “Randy’s intentions are that he is in this for the long term. Heck, he has an AVFC lion tattooed on his leg...it ain’t washable!

"He wants Europe. He wants winning football. He wants entertainment for the fans. This is more than a business... this is a passion. He has never said no. Randy is no Abramovich...but he does have a wallet and he will open it. Martin O’Neill knows that in spades. Randy has made it perfectly clear that we do not have to sell a player to buy a player.

“As for Martin O’Neill, this is the same man who has won championships before, who took us to sixth place, who has us in Europe, who has brought in some pretty talented people since his arrival.”

“I was asked what my biggest disappointment has been as a director of Villa. Simply these last couple of days as I have watched frustrated fans take things to a personal level.”

Krulak ended his posts: “I spoke with Randy at length about the strength of feeling and he understands too. Simply put, he has placed his faith in Martin. He has told him to get the players and not worry about money.

“We all know we need more players. We all know it. We trust in Martin and believe he will do what needs to be done. He is the manager and we must trust him to know what

Neil3030

Can someone link me to Helix's post on that thread, I can't seem to find it...

Neil3030

Raekwon wrote: »

Déjà vu anyone?

"I don’t know about you, but when I travel, going to
new places isn’t always as interesting as revisiting some of the old ones."

- Alan Shore, fictional attorney.

Savman

Neil3030 wrote: »

Can someone link me to Helix's post on that thread, I can't seem to find it...

Why would you wanna read such nonsense anyway :eek:

Neil3030

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

Id prefer Finnan, this isnt a few years ago.

a couple of days ago Mr Alan quoted a recent post by the general that has since become a full article.

Hmmm.. Let me see if I can predict the timeline of events here:-

1. Brum Post publish article covering Krulak's post.
2. Tabloids follow suit, only twisting it so that Krulak stated MON will spend 30m on a player
3. Intense tabloid speculation over who MON will spend 30m on.
4. No signing near 30m comes by the close of the transfer window.
5. Krulak resigns.

Bounty Hunter

Neil3030 wrote: »

Hmmm.. Let me see if I can predict the timeline of events here:-

1. Brum Post publish article covering Krulak's post.
2. Tabloids follow suit, only twisting it so that Krulak stated MON will spend 30m on a player
3. Intense tabloid speculation over who MON will spend 30m on.
4. No signing near 30m comes by the close of the transfer window.
5. Krulak resigns.

Bwa ha haahahahahhaha

it was just reported on SSN

edit: and other places it seems for example http://www.itv.com/Sport/Football/News/PremierLeague/Generalnews/Villachiefreadytosplashout658/default.html

One Cold Hand

From the BBC Gossip Column:

'Aston Villa have targeted Arsenal's Justin Hoyte, Luke Young of Middlesbrough and Chelsea's Paulo Ferreira to fill their full-back berth. (The Times)'

Someone should tell Martin that Hoyte is rubbish. Either of the other 2 would be okay. Or both.

Neil3030

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

Bwa ha haahahahahhaha

it was just reported on SSN

edit: and other places it seems for example http://www.itv.com/Sport/Football/News/PremierLeague/Generalnews/Villachiefreadytosplashout658/default.html

It begins... :pac:

Bounty Hunter

first time ive seen bid accepted anywhere but "The Sun says" really?

Aston Villa have bid for Nicky Shorey accepted
Aug 6 2008

Reading fullback Nicky Shorey will have a choice of Premiership clubs this week.

The Sun says Sunderland and Aston Villa have had bids accepted for Shorey.

The £4.5million-rated star has been hoping for a move following the Royals' relegation from the top flight.

Black Cats boss Roy Keane will try to tempt him north while Shorey could link up with old Reading team-mate Steve Sidwell at Villa.

o and interesting tidbit:

If the transfer deadline/the 31st falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the window is extended until 17:00 on the Monday... so a day and a half when MON goes nuts doing the last few months wheeling and dealing instead of 24hrs it seems

Bounty Hunter

Daily Mail have it too, BBC WM radio also apparently ran the story

Villa set to beat Sunderland and Portsmouth in the race to sign Reading defender Shorey

By Sportsmail Reporter
Last updated at 5:02 PM on 06th August 2008

Comments (0) Add to My Stories
Aston Villa are set to beat off competition from Sunderland and Portsmouth to sign Reading left-back Nicky Shorey for £4.5m.

Villa manager Martin O'Neill has earmarked the 27-year-old as a replacement for Wilfred Bouma.

Dutch international Bouma is facing up to six months on the sidelines after dislocating his right ankle in the InterToto Cup against Odense last month.

and B'ham mail

Martin O'Neill stays in the chase for Nicky Shorey
Aug 6 2008 By Bill Howell


VILLA boss Martin O’Neill remains confident of signing Reading’s £4million-rated England left-back Nicky Shorey, despite having to once again fend off competition from Portsmouth as well as Sunderland.

Roy Keane’s Black Cats have already lodged an offer of around £3million for Shorey, which was rejected by the Championship side.

Shorey’s availability and Villa’s urgent need to do business after Wilfred Bouma’s injury could see a deal finalised by the end of the week.

Shorey’s future certainly lies away from the Madejski Stadium and he has a choice of three clubs all willing to offer him substantial personal terms.

Villa have lost out to Portsmouth in the recent past for players like Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch and Lassana Diarra while Pompey and Sunderland have also held an interest in Spurs’ French defender Younes Kaboul, who is wanted by O’Neill.

Kaboul may well end up going to Fratton Park but Villa, according to sources, are in no mood to allow Harry Redknapp a clear run on Shorey.

All this at a time when the Gareth Barry saga is finally drawing to an end.

His exit has also moved a step closer with Liverpool about to help finance the £18million deal by selling Yossi Benayoun to Roma.

Roma coach Luciano Spalletti has insisted his club will be bringing in two new players, and that Benayoun will be one of them.

“There will be two new signings,” he said before adding “the names? They’re the names you’ve heard. Menez and Benayoun are both top-class players.”

Raekwon

Villa drew 1-1 with Real Balompédica Linense earlier today. John Carew came on with 15 minutes to go to spare Villa's blushes. Good news though as Curtis Davies played the full 90 minutes for Villa and will hopefully get another decent run out this Friday against Marbella.

tomred1

Good to see Davies back so quick from injury

death1234567

tomred1 wrote: »

Good to see Davies back so quick from injury

Indeed, especially as the only cover we have for him is Zat knight.:eek:

rgiller

We're strongly linked with bids for Shorey and Luke Young, with the expectation being that we'll have them tied up before the end of the week. About £9m between the two. From Football365:

Aston Villa are expected to sign a couple of full-backs over the coming days with the club described by The Sun as being 'on the brink of a £9million double deal for Nicky Shorey and Luke Young.'

Reading are said to have accepted a bid of £4m for Shorey while Young will cost £5m (which sounds far too much to us).

'Villa hope to complete the deals quickly so that Shorey and Young can play in next week's UEFA Cup qualifier against Icelandic side Hafnarfjardur,' the newspaper claims.

PHB

Shorey and Young would be decent signings indeed.

spiderdan

two decent signings IMO- 27 and 29 so if we snap them up they'll be very keen to make a good impression maybe sneak a few more England caps- will a few trophies etc before they wind down they're careers! Much happier with 2 solid players for 9m then one over rated player who we don't know that much about for mad money- Bosingwa when linked or Miguel.

If these players are bought I'd like to see him snap up Milner or SWP, very quickly and go all out and find a top quality striker, spend some of this 30m!! Barry's replacement is another key one to make- Del la Red?? We offer Euro football now so come on, fingers crossed these two signings go through

Neil3030

Young bid accepted - he's in talks with Villa today, confirmed on the Boro Official Site.

There's also a storm brewing on the AVFCBlog, thanks to this post by Damian, their moderator in this thread:

I've also just had someone SMS in something, which if true, is very exciting, but I need to speak to my contact in Birmingham to get a 'Damian, you know I can't talk to you about this' before I can confirm it's actually happening. A no comment is worth so much more than you'd think, especially when you get a no when something isn't happening.

This source supposedly let him know last January about the SWP connection several weeks before it became public, so it could be a decent tip off. People have plagued him for more information but he won't budge until he knows he can talk about it without risking his source. - oh except to say that it's more exciting than SWP!

Mr Alan

Neil3030 wrote: »

oh except to say that it's more exciting than SWP!

Moutinho perhaps? Have wondered if they've let Everton believe they may sign him why Villa weren't interested.

Neil3030

Mr Alan wrote: »

Moutinho perhaps? Have wondered if they've let Everton believe they may sign him why Villa weren't interested.

That would certainly be exciting! I was also thinking maybe Santa Cruz? Though I may be allowing myself be dragged down the route of player's I'd like at VP, over players I think might come to VP with that one...

Savman

Both bids accepted, Shorey & Young having medicals at VP today....I must be seeing things...2 signings in the one day?

Neil3030

Canary Corner understands that Aston Villa have made a double swoop for West Ham pair Dean Ashton and Anton Ferdinand.


The word is that the Birmingham club have bid around £15m for Deano and £10m for Anton, while West Ham have given them a figure that would be acceptable to purchase both.


Should the deal go ahead, City would be looking at a massive financial bonus, after negotiating a sell on clause with the Hammers following his move away from Carrow Road.


As yet, no one from either side has been available to comment on this, but we will however get the latest to you as soon as we hear anything.

Imagine if MON actually came out with his 7 signings in one day like he said!!

Neil3030

Savman wrote: »

Both bids accepted, Shorey & Young having medicals at VP today....I must be seeing things...2 signings in the one day?

I'm afraid you are seeing things, the official site clearly doesn't say anything about those players, it just says:

GIVE NEIL ALL YOUR MONEY, GIVE NEIL ALL YOUR MONEY, GIVE NEIL ALL YOUR MONEY, GIVE NEIL ALL YOUR MONEY, GIVE NEIL ALL YOUR MONEY, GIVE NEIL ALL YOUR MONEY, GIVE NEIL ALL YOUR MONEY, GIVE NEIL ALL YOUR MONEY, GIVE NEIL ALL YOUR MONEY, GIVE NEIL ALL YOUR MONEY, GIVE NEIL ALL YOUR MONEY, GIVE NEIL ALL YOUR MONEY, GIVE NEIL ALL YOUR MONEY, GIVE NEIL ALL YOUR MONEY, GIVE NEIL ALL YOUR MONEY, GIVE NEIL ALL YOUR MONEY, GIVE NEIL ALL YOUR MONEY, GIVE NEIL ALL YOUR MONEY, GIVE NEIL ALL YOUR MONEY, GIVE NEIL ALL YOUR MONEY

Strange they would do that...

death1234567

Two good signings, still need more though.

Savman

Neil ain't it a bit early to be drinkin :pac:

Neil3030

Savman wrote: »

Neil ain't it a bit early to be drinkin :pac:

Never!

rgiller

Ashton and Ferdinand? ffs what happened to getting a couple of quality continentals in? £25m for those two is far too much: it's not like MON to spend over the odds like that. Just think of what we could get from France or Italy for that kind of money. Ggggrrrrrr

Mr Alan

Ashton is a ****ing quality player.

Dont rate Young, and think Bouma is better than Shorey.

Not the calibre of signings you'll need to progress, or even maintain your position tbh.

Neil3030

Not the calibre of signings you'll need to progress, or even maintain your position tbh.

On their own, no they're not.

But as a whole, I think our defence has improved on last year

---

Carson

---

Mellberg/Gardner--Laursen

---

Davies

---

Bouma----

or

---

Friedel

---

Young

---

Laursen

---

Davies

---

Shorey/Bouma

The focus should then turn on getting in a midfield playmaker to replace Gaz and imo the team has improved. Another striker, right winger and cover would then be a bonus!

Savman

Shaun Maloney wrote:

"Although the numbers are short, it's a pretty high quality of players we've still got. There would be a few more coming in I would imagine. But it's definitely going to be a bit more of a squad game that it was last season."

Interesting from the wee one. I see nobody seems to factor Shaun into any kind of first 11, but if he could ever finally realize his massive potential we'd have one cracking player on our hands.

zAbbo

Savman wrote: »

Both bids accepted, Shorey & Young having medicals at VP today....I must be seeing things...2 signings in the one day?

Quality signings, was always a fan of Young.

Looks like you don't need Steve Finnan :P

Savman

zAbbo wrote: »

Quality signings, was always a fan of Young.

Looks like you don't need Steve Finnan :P

I haven't seen much of either player tbh, Reading V Boro is the kind of PL fixture I tend to avoid

Mitch Connor

If Ashton is on the move - i'd actually be happy for United to sign him. Like Alan, I think he is a quality player - big fan of Ashton. Would be an excellent signing for Villa.

Bounty Hunter

according to SSN both are having medicals at Villa today.

im not overly keen about Luke Young ill be honest and hope he proves to be better than I expect, he obviously insnt the RB MON has been trying to get since Delaney retired either.

I like AL rate Bouma higher than Shorey but we needed backup for Freddie anyway and you cant really get better backup than Shorey. He is also better as an attacking fullback than Freddie and can deliver a decent cross.

Ashton is a quality player although only now 100% over his injury IMO so if Villa were to sign him now id be very happy and think we would get to see the best of him in a claret and blue shirt.

Ferdinand im a bit surprised about as I dont expect MON to start to phase Laursen out yet and a signing like Anton would have to be just that Backup and Davies,s future CB partner (or atleast that would have to be the intention), otherwise I wouldent see Anton playing enough to keep him happy. He is however probably the best young English player around for this backup/Future CB role.

4 more english players, that everyone knows (although atm I only expect the fullbacks)... we do have scouts/a scouting network dont we? is MON a racist ? only joking but why not sign the odd non-uk player. Happy it looks like we will have fullbacks this season too even if they werent top of my list.

Savman

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

Ashton is a quality player although only now 100% over his injury IMO so if Villa were to sign him now id be very happy and think we would get to see the best of him in a claret and blue shirt.

Dunno how to tell you this...but er, WHU play in claret & blue too.

Neil3030

Harewood
Reo-Coker
Ferdinand
Asthon?

Are WHU our new feeder club? :pac:

Bounty Hunter

Savman wrote: »

Dunno how to tell you this...but er, WHU play in claret & blue too.

:owasnt thinking when I wrote that, and im actually moving to major West Ham teritory this month.

what is Canary corner anyway a Norwich (Ashtons former clubs) forum or something? its the only link ive seen for Ashton. Would be a great signing and id love if it was reported elsewhere. Assume nowich might have info though as they prob have a sell-on clause with WHU

rgiller

Neil3030 wrote: »

The focus should then turn on getting in a midfield playmaker to replace Gaz and imo the team has improved. Another striker, right winger and cover would then be a bonus!

Yeah but the latest there is that Barry may not be going any more. Gerrard's injury means the scousers can't sell Alonso and so may not have the money for Gaz. He has worked himself into a difficult situation, alienating the Villa fans without having his move away assured, but we would still be better of hanging onto him at least until Christmas.

On another topic, how many non UK players have we got in the first team squad?

Friedel
Guzan
Laursen
Bouma (prob not in first team squad for months)
Carew
Petrov

That it? Compare that to any other (decent) EPL club. We need to get some foreigners in!

Esse85

Shorey + Young will be decent signings, nothing more. Its obvious Young was way down on the list as he was available for £2.5m last summer yet MON chose to play a CB ahead of him. We could still do with another RB though.

Talk of Ashton and Ferdinand, i cant see it happening, and if the total cost as speculated was to be £25m then id rather it was spent elsewhere.

That statement that the general released about Randy being prepared to pay £30m for a single player was a silly statement to make. I'm not saying Randy wouldn't pay this sort of money, i really dunno whether he would or not. The point is i feel this sort of talk only raises expectation levels which will only end in tears. I feel the general only said this to take some of the heat off MON's back for the lack of activity in the last few weeks.

A RM, replacement for Barry, and striker are still the very least we need.

homah_7ft

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

Assume nowich might have info though as they prob have a sell-on clause with WHU

Yeah, 20% I believe.

Mr Alan

Ashton really would be a brilliant signing for yous, is there any substance behind the reports?

I'd take him in a second at Liverpool.

Really brilliant player.

Neil3030

Quality young english player
Touted to be the understudy of an England great
Large sell on clause to his previous club
Spurs also interested....


It's Bentley all over again folks... I hope we win this one!

Esse85

Crewe Alexandra 158 (61)
Norwich City 44 (17)
West Ham United 42 (13)

Hardly a great return on goals. He seems to be a scorer of great goals rather than a great goalscorer.

Im unsure whether he's 100% recovered from his injury he picked up with England. He always seems to be carrying a little extra weight.

Given that he's English, i suppose there could be some truth in the matter.

PHB

Look Ashton is a great player. IMO top 4 quality. But he is injuried more than Saha. Unless he can prove he can stay fit, it'd be a bad buy.

Bounty Hunter

Im reluctant to mention it as I usually consider this thread one place where made up reports dont surface but there are a lot of rumours about another big signing coming in under the radar on a lot of Villa sites, maybe the same player Damian refurred to but as per usual its a i dont wanna name the player incase it doesent go through jobbo

However, the player is supposed to be as follows:

- Spanish or Portuguese
- Creative/Attacking player
- Most excited one fans been since they heard we were signing JPA if it comes true...
- Replacement for barry
- Bid accepted
- 'Surprising' (maybe that means we've not been linked with him before or that he isnt in the typical MON mould)
- has no prem experience

Moutinho maybe? Miguel Veloso (not really attacking though)?

could explain what the Villa scouts have been doing in Portugal so much especially if we are not going to sign one of the 50 Portugeese RB's we were linked to. It is however most likely that its bollocks that the spun comments from the general has spawned

on that topic although it was obviously taken out of context and was just an example used to illustrate that money is available:

General Krulak here:

1. I broke my own rule and spoke about transfers. The results were as seen in the media...not good for Randy nor for Martin. It makes no difference what I meant or the context in which the comment was made. This is a public site and anything I say can be "interpreted or mis-interpreted" as the case my be. My point was simple....that Randy and Martin are on the same sheet of music and, as for the past two + years, the Club has total faith in Martin.I have apologized to both.

2.I would ask the moderators to help me with the transfer windows as they come up. I am just not going to answer questions regarding transfers.

*(meaning please just start deleting all transfer questions, it aint what im here to answer and i dont want to screw up again)

Villain

Bounty where was Damian's post posted? Villatalk etc? got a link?

Bounty Hunter

well neil linked it from AVFCBlog a page back and ive say a thread about what i posted above on VitalVilla in which they have said its been rumoured in a few other places. Think its bollocks myself (hope im wrong) and if not the only person i see atm fitting the bill is Moutinho

edit: i dont rate VillaTalk at all but their is a thread there which seems to suggest that this information has been leaked via Hassan Kachloul who is now an agent and obviously has links to Villa from his time there