Aston Villa Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

Villain

Helix wrote: »

mon with villa = almost 100m spent, won nothing, collapsed in quest for 4th place, surrendered the clubs first european adventure for years (when we had a great chance of winning the uefa), signs mediocre rubbish but gets the best out of them

So Ashley Young, John Carew, Brad Friedel and Curtis Davies are all "mediocre rubbish"

Gimme a break

Esse85

Tomthepost wrote: »

Maloney missed his mammy not o'neills fault. His goal per game ratio at villa was quite good.
Reo-Coker is still young enough to properly make it. Agree he is not a fullback but at times last season we had no choice but to put him in. He did keep Ronaldo in his pocket.
Knight-As explained before a life long villa fan. Sits on the bench and not a sh1t stirrer. Gives everthing when called upon
Harewood had a great attitude and was a stop gap signing. Would you prefer to sign prima-donnas or people with character like Harewood?
Salifou cost nothing and if it worked great. it hasn't but no big deal
Routledge looked great at Palace and lost his way. MON gave him a chance and realised he just aint quite top half of premier division quality. Again no big deal as cost nothing.
Sidwell as I said has showed an eye for goal when fit and I expect alot more from him this year
Shorey very poor start to villa career but showed positive signs towards the end of season.
Heskey didnt cost a whole lot am who am I to argue with Shearer, Owen and Rooney?

Will you stop with your excuses, its pathetic.

Tomthepost

Helix wrote: »

mon with villa = almost 100m spent, won nothing, collapsed in quest for 4th place, surrendered the clubs first european adventure for years (when we had a great chance of winning the uefa), signs mediocre rubbish but gets the best out of them

MON = gets svilla back to top half of the table, improves points tally year on year, gets us to europe for first time in over a decade and puts the frighteners on arsenal top 4 spot.
Problem - We lost Laursen and that more than anything else f-ucked us up.

Helix

Tomthepost wrote: »

Maloney missed his mammy not o'neills fault. His goal per game ratio at villa was quite good.

doesnt make him a good signing though does it

Tomthepost wrote: »

Reo-Coker is still young enough to properly make it. Agree he is not a fullback but at times last season we had no choice but to put him in. He did keep Ronaldo in his pocket.

doesnt matter. mon spent £8.6m on him and refuses to play him, therefore its a sh1t signing

Tomthepost wrote: »

Knight-As explained before a life long villa fan. Sits on the bench and not a sh1t stirrer. Gives everthing when called upon

deadly. he sits on the bench really well. what a player! sh1t signing because hes one of the worst defenders in the league, yet he embarrassingly finds himself as a regular in our first team squad

Tomthepost wrote: »

Harewood had a great attitude and was a stop gap signing. Would you prefer to sign prima-donnas or people with character like Harewood?

great attitude? savage. doesnt actually count for anything when hes nowhere near the standard required as a player though does it. would i rather primadonas or players with harewoods character? id rather good players

Tomthepost wrote: »

Salifou cost nothing and if it worked great. it hasn't but no big deal

we paid for salifou. not much, but we still paid for him

Tomthepost wrote: »

Routledge looked great at Palace and lost his way. MON gave him a chance and realised he just aint quite top half of premier division quality. Again no big deal as cost nothing.

didnt cost nothing

why are we signing these players? we should be signing players proven at doing the job, not outcasts who cant get their place in teams below us

Tomthepost wrote: »

Sidwell as I said has showed an eye for goal when fit and I expect alot more from him this year

scored 4 goals in the premiership for reading, so we sign him as a goalscoring midfielder. that makes loads of sense. anyway, sidwell might well come good, but right now hes not been a good signing

Tomthepost wrote: »

Shorey very poor start to villa career but showed positive signs towards the end of season.

before calling the manager a w@nker and storming off after a retarded "tactical" substitution

Tomthepost wrote: »

Heskey didnt cost a whole lot am who am I to argue with Shearer, Owen and Rooney?

you keep saying "didnt cost a whole lot" about players. maybe not individually, but add them up and they collectively cost quite a bit

cost of the players mentioned above: £28.1m

Esse85

Villain wrote: »

So Ashley Young, John Carew, Brad Friedel and Curtis Davies are all "mediocre rubbish"

Gimme a break

Davies has been average, certainly not a £10m player.
Friedal was ok last season, its worse he's gonna get though.

Helix

Tomthepost wrote: »

Problem - We lost Laursen and that more than anything else f-ucked us up.

no no

problem - we lost laursen in december and signed emile heskey instead of a replacement

Villain

Esse85 wrote: »

Davies has been average, certainly not a £10m player.
Friedal was ok last season, its worse he's gonna get though.

Young and Carew?

Helix

Villain wrote: »

So Ashley Young, John Carew, Brad Friedel and Curtis Davies are all "mediocre rubbish"

Gimme a break

and salifou, sidwell, shorey, harewood, knight etc are all top class players befitting of a place in the match day squad of a top 6 team?

Tomthepost

Esse85 wrote: »

Will you stop with your excuses, its pathetic.

if you cant justify what you are saying it might be best to say nothing. Do you let Helix fight all your battles for you:D

Esse85

Tomthepost wrote: »

MON = gets svilla back to top half of the table, improves points tally year on year, gets us to europe for first time in over a decade and puts the frighteners on arsenal top 4 spot.
Problem - We lost Laursen and that more than anything else f-ucked us up.

And if he did this on a budget then he'd be a wonderful manager, but the fact is he's spent loads to stumble here. For the amount he's spent, he should be doing better.

True, we did lose Laursen, but why wasnt a replacement brought in during the transfer window instead of that donkey Heskey??

Make another excuse for him...

Helix

Villain wrote: »

Young and Carew?

young - great signing
carew - we can thank lyon for that one, but great signing

however both were signed almost 3 years ago, just after his other great signing (eventually) in petrov

since then its hardly been a rip roaring success in the transfer market has it?

Esse85

Villain wrote: »

Young and Carew?

Thats 2 from closer to 22.

Tomthepost

Helix wrote: »

no no

problem - we lost laursen in december and signed emile heskey instead of a replacement

Was MON thinking Dion Dublin at the time:D
Who can we realistically get to replace Laursen? Its a huge problem for Villa!
Would Liverpool sell Carragher? I think we should tke the Honey Monster and hope for the best

Villain

Helix wrote: »

and salifou, sidwell, shorey, harewood, knight etc are all top class players befitting of a place in the match day squad of a top 6 team?

Nope squad players, you see its that thing about only looking at the negative side of things again.

PMA

Bounty Hunter

Jaysus do we really need to have this conversation every 2 days we get it man weve heard it all before, hell incase we forget the opinion weve always got your sig that clarifies things in which you say you think he should be given another 12months so give it to him instead of everyday moaning like a biatch. I realise some others agree with you but cmon all the anti-MON stuff gets boring. And no despite how the folk on other Villa sites talk and comments youve made yourself the people disagreeing with you dont think MON is infallable we just think hes a decent manager who we are going to support instead of constantly moaning about him.

Kinetic^

Tomthepost wrote: »

Knight-As explained before a life long villa fan. Sits on the bench and not a sh1t stirrer. Gives everthing when called upon

Great, he's a fan. At least now he gets a seat closer to the pitch but that's about as close as he should get to the pitch in our stadium with a villa shirt on.

The start of the season is very close and nothing worthwhile signed as of yet.

Time Magazine

MON has made fantastic signings in Ashley Young, John Carew and Stan Petrov.

He has made good signings in Luke Young, Davies and Cuellar (both probably going to turn good), Friedel, and Milner.

He has made dodgy signings as listed above. Sure, Harewood "only" cost us £4m and didn't do much harm. But Doyle could have been had for £6m and done a lot of good. Knight "only" cost £4m but Luke Young is miles better and cost £6m. The £3m + £65,000 per week Heskey cost could possibly have gotten Michael Owen for three years (on ~£90,000 per week). So it's not whether these signings didn't cost much or not, it's whether better could have been had for about the same price. And on that front, even when you account for the brilliant signings MON has made, he's been below average on the transfer front.

He surprised us all last year with a load of strong signings. Hopefully he will do it again.

Esse85

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

Jaysus do we really need to have this conversation every 2 days we get it man weve heard it all before, hell incase we forget the opinion weve always got your sig that clarifies things in which you say you think he should be given another 12months so give it to him instead of everyday moaning like a biatch. I realise some others agree with you but cmon all the anti-MON stuff gets boring. And no despite how the folk on other Villa sites talk and comments youve made yourself the people disagreeing with you dont think MON is infallable we just think hes a decent manager who we are going to support instead of constantly moaning about him.

FFS we have to talk about something, if signings were made the topic would change.

invincibleirish

Its been nearly 3 years and five transfer windows, Young & Carew were good signings no doubt but ever since its been decidedly ordinary, Yep Milner & L. Young are decent and Its been all good up to and about January 2009 but now minus two of the squads best and most experienced players its going to be enormously difficult to sustain a top 8 finish next time round.

Helix

Villain wrote: »

Nope squad players, you see its that thing about only looking at the negative side of things again.

you dont build a good squad by signing "squad" players who arent good enough for the first team. you build a squad by buying first team players, therefore relegating the current first teamers to the bench

buying players you wouldnt put into the team in the first place on the off chance you might have to put them into the team causes teams to go on disastrously bad runs

Villain

Helix wrote: »

you dont build a good squad by signing "squad" players who arent good enough for the first team. you build a squad by buying first team players, therefore relegating the current first teamers to the bench

buying players you wouldnt put into the team in the first place on the off chance you might have to put them into the team causes teams to go on disastrously bad runs

Yea because its sooooooo easy to find top 6 first team players that want to come to us without having a Dubai Oil Family to throw billions around

Helix

Villain wrote: »

Yea because its sooooooo easy to find top 6 first team players that want to come to us without having a Dubai Oil Family to throw billions around

other teams seem to manage it pretty well

Villain

Helix wrote: »

other teams seem to manage it pretty well

Really I haven't seen Everton signing amazing players?

Helix

Villain wrote: »

Really I haven't seen Everton signing amazing players?

hang on, where did i use the word amazing?

amazing players go to the top 4

mirwillbeback

I know I get lashed out if it when I say MON should go but...if you break it all down the facts are -

- we were in the **** when O Leary left and MON got us to sixth
- O Leary and Gregory both had us up as high at certain times of their reign
- MON spent an absolute fortune last summer and we should have improved
- Everton, Spurs and Man City both played well below expectations last year, not to mention Arsenal
- we play sh!te football a lot of the time
- we had a chance of making Champs League and all the money that brings, 8 ( EIGHT ) points clear in March and we f*cking blew it - MON didn't change anything, just carried on with Heskey playing sh!te - we will never be in as good shape again
- we have lost 2 key players since the end of May and replaced neither
- we have apparently a chairman who will make funds available where necessary, so why are they not being spent
- as a Villa fan, the whole excitement of 3 years ago seems a long way away and I do not believe MON is what we need to break the top 4

People on here seem to think I'm being disloyal for saying this. I'm anything but. I desperately want Villa to do well, I admire MON for his loyalty and his decision at Celtic to step down to help Geraldine was a most admirable thing to do in a game full of selfish people. I would dearly dearly love for Villa to have success with him, he deserves it for many reasons. But I cannot be blinkered and just toe the " In MON we trust " line when he has made mistakes a Leinster Senior League coach wouldn't ( ie Milner subbed at Man U ).

I genuinely hope I'm wrong and next season I want to be on here with embarrassment saying so. But it's more likely that most on here, including those with their " retard " comments will be the ones wanting him out when this season pans out.

Esse85

mirwillbeback wrote: »

I know I get lashed out if it when I say MON should go but...if you break it all down the facts are -

- we were in the **** when O Leary left and MON got us to sixth
- O Leary and Gregory both had us up as high at certain times of their reign
- MON spent an absolute fortune last summer and we should have improved
- Everton, Spurs and Man City both played well below expectations last year, not to mention Arsenal
- we play sh!te football a lot of the time
- we had a chance of making Champs League and all the money that brings, 8 ( EIGHT ) points clear in March and we f*cking blew it - MON didn't change anything, just carried on with Heskey playing sh!te - we will never be in as good shape again
- we have lost 2 key players since the end of May and replaced neither
- we have apparently a chairman who will make funds available where necessary, so why are they not being spent
- as a Villa fan, the whole excitement of 3 years ago seems a long way away and I do not believe MON is what we need to break the top 4

People on here seem to think I'm being disloyal for saying this. I'm anything but. I desperately want Villa to do well, I admire MON for his loyalty and his decision at Celtic to step down to help Geraldine was a most admirable thing to do in a game full of selfish people. I would dearly dearly love for Villa to have success with him, he deserves it for many reasons. But I cannot be blinkered and just toe the " In MON we trust " line when he has made mistakes a Leinster Senior League coach wouldn't ( ie Milner subbed at Man U ).

I genuinely hope I'm wrong and next season I want to be on here with embarrassment saying so. But it's more likely that most on here, including those with their " retard " comments will be the ones wanting him out when this season pans out.

Nice honest post there Mir.

I await the excuses coming your way from the "I wanna kiss MON's arse" brigade.

Villain

Helix wrote: »

hang on, where did i use the word amazing?

amazing players go to the top 4

Ok I haven't seen Everton sign top 6 first team players

Helix

Villain wrote: »

Ok I haven't seen Everton sign top 6 first team players

members of evertons squad who are good enough for our first team:

Tim Howard
Joleon Lescott
Phil Jagielka
Mikel Arteta
Tim Cahill
Steven Pienaar
Marouane Fellaini

did they magically just appear at goodison park one day?

Esse85

Helix wrote: »

members of evertons squad who are good enough for our first team:

Tim Howard
Joleon Lescott
Phil Jagielka
Mikel Arteta
Tim Cahill
Steven Pienaar
Marouane Fellaini

did they magically just appear at goodison park one day?

I would include Phil Neville in that list.

wynters

Helix wrote: »

you wont win anything signing players from relegated teams, championship teams and scotland

Everton have never bought 'a marquee name'. Arteta came from Scotland. Lescott, Cahill and Jagielka from the Championship. United signed Tevez from relegated West Ham, didn't do them any harm?

We can't afford or convince marquee names to join Villa so what do we do? It's difficult for a club in our current position. It's harder to sign the players required to take the step up to the top 4, so we basically have to go down the road of signing players with big potential (Naughton & Delph) or good players from the teams around us who are looking for a move (Bentley & Hangeland). To his credit, these are the options that O'Neill seems to be looking at...

But - this summer in particular - I just can't understand why O'Neill isn't chasing good experienced players who are looking for first team football to secure their place in their respective World Cup squads -Trezeguet/Metzelder/Eduardo/Ivanovic/Anderson/Vager Love/Elano/van der Vaart...??? All of whom could be got in a season preceeding a world cup, even on a season's loan!

Allardyce turned Bolton into a top 8 side making signings like that (Anelka, Dugarry and Djorkaeff to name but 3) If we could get one or two players like that aswell as the younger players with potential, we'll be doing alright, and it wouldn't break the bank.

Helix

wynters wrote: »

Everton have never bought 'a marquee name'. Arteta came from Scotland

arteta was signed from sociedad [/pedant]

wynters wrote: »

We can't afford or convince marquee names to join Villa so what do we do?

sign the best players we can. i dont believe for a second that the best players aston villa can attract are the zat knights and marlon harewoods of this world. its possible that thats the best the manger can do, or thinks the club can do though. either way i disagree

wynters wrote: »

It's difficult for a club in our current position. It's harder to sign the players required to take the step up to the top 4, so we basically have to go down the road of signing players with big potential (Naughton & Delph) or good players from the teams around us who are looking for a move (Bentley & Hangeland). To his credit, these are the options that O'Neill seems to be looking at...

if we sign them

wynters wrote: »

But - this summer in particular - I just can't understand why O'Neill isn't chasing good experienced players who are looking for first team football to secure their place in their respective World Cup squads -Trezeguet/Metzelder/Eduardo/Ivanovic/Anderson/Vager Love/Elano/van der Vaart...??? All of whom could be got in a season preceeding a world cup, even on a season's loan!

aye nor i, and its frustrating as hell. we're a top 6 club, theres no need to be scrimping around everyone elses leftovers

wynters wrote: »

Allardyce turned Bolton into a top 8 side making signings like that (Anelka, Dugarry and Djorkaeff to name but 3) If we could get one or two players like that aswell as the younger players with potential, we'll be doing alright, and it wouldn't break the bank.

spot on

Tomthepost

I think a happy dressing room is a priority for Martin O'Neill so he will never sign an Anelka which could rock the boat.
Bar Big John's trip to Hooters last season all Villa players seem to come across as model pros on and off the field.
Personally I prefer it that way.
Tevez would have been a great signing for us with that great work rate and desire of his unfortunately money talks.
Top 6 on a regular basis, a cup win every 5 years, a league title every 10 and Champions League football every 3 years and I would be very very happy.
By the way in case some comments about MON were attributed to me I would like to say that I have no reason to kiss MON's ass as I am not a brain-dead Celtic fan but I have yet to hear a better realistic option to manage us.

DSB

O'Neill has definitely done a good job undoing the damage that O'Leary did, theres no doubting that, and he deserves praise for that, and no matter what happens I'm sure memories of him would always be positive.

But he did very badly last season when it mattered most, changed a winning formation, signed a flop (who wasn't even needed) and shows no signs of fixing anything.

For ages I've hummed and hawed about it, but I can say safely enough now that its not a matter of hoping MON takes the finger out at this point, the man just doesn't have the ability to sign enough good players, to regularly have a good squad. In my opinion, he needs to go. Obviously, I know he won't go, so heres hoping that he sorts it out and proves me wrong.

Helix

Tomthepost wrote: »

I have yet to hear a better realistic option to manage us.

as i said earlier, the potentially soon to be unemployed mark hughes

wynters

I'd take O'Neill over Hughes any day of the week... Hughes is a d/ck.

In late December / early January when we were 3rd in the league and ahead of Chelsea and Arsenal - I didn't hear many complaints about O'Neill then...? Everything was rosey in the garden. The January window had closed by the time it became apparent that Laursen wouldn't be coming back at all...

Transfer strategy aside (and I do think it's a fckng disgrace that we haven't made a single signing so far considering the calibre of personnel we lost) I'm very happy with O'Neill being in charge.

Helix

wynters wrote: »

In late December / early January when we were 3rd in the league and ahead of Chelsea and Arsenal - I didn't hear many complaints about O'Neill then...?

you mustnt have been listening

my gripes with mon have been the same when we were in the bottom half as they were in the top 4, and you know why? coz hes still doing to same retarded things he always has

Raekwon

I should be posting this in the humor forum

Zat Knight believes he is the ideal candidate to fill the boots of Martin Laursen at Aston Villa.

The former Villans skipper was forced to retire at the end of last season, finally succumbing to a long-standing knee problem.

That has left a vacancy at the heart of Martin O'Neill's defence, with England international Knight keen to stake his claim.

He insists he is ready and raring to go after returning to pre-season training and is desperate to be awarded an opportunity to shine in the 2009/10 campaign.

"We will miss Martin. We missed him at the end of last season. We wish him all the best for the future - he deserves it," Knight told the club's official website.

"But it gives others an opportunity now and hopefully that can be me. I want to give myself a good pre-season and then be in the side when the new campaign starts.

"It's been good to have a break but it's nice to get back to reality too. It's back to business now."

Esse85

Thumbs up for his attitude though.

Thank god Bramble has signed a new contract with Wigan, it means MON wont be signing him.

Helix

bolton seem to think theyre close to signing knight

useless and all as he is, and by fecking christ is he useless, thatd be a bit of a disaster. itd leave us with 4 fit defenders at the club

Bounty Hunter

no quotes annoyingly but ive been waiting for atleast 1 piece like this since we have had so many linked ashley Young to Spurs (which makes no sense for Villa or Young)

the guardian wrote:

Martin O'Neill is determined Ashley Young will remain at Aston Villa this summer and will not countenance the possibility of the winger moving to Tottenham Hotspur, despite Harry Redknapp's interest in signing the England international. The Villa manager will not consider selling Young to a club that is competing at a similar level in the Premier League and he also has no intention of accepting a player-exchange deal for his most valuable asset.

That stance effectively closes the door on Spurs, who would not be in a position to fund the straight cash offer that could tempt Villa to think twice about allowing the 24-year-old to leave despite his significance to the team. It is thought it would take a bid in excess of £30m for that to happen, though even then O'Neill would be unlikely to see any sense in the move unless Young could be offered Champions League football.

Chelsea, who have monitored Young's progress at Villa Park since his £9.5m move from Watford two and a half years ago, tick that box but there has been no bid from Stamford Bridge. Furthermore, Chelsea's recruitment of English players is focused on identifying younger talent with a potentially significant sell-on value, much like Daniel Sturridge who was lured from Manchester City and will be given further time to develop.

Either way, O'Neill is keen to discourage any interest in Young and the Villa manager has the support of Randy Lerner, the chairman, who is also committed to keeping hold of the 24-year-old following an impressive season in which he won the PFA young player of the year award. Villa, however, will need to allay Young's concerns about the club's direction in the wake of the departures of Gareth Barry and Martin Laursen through the acquisition of high-profile replacements. As yet, O'Neill has failed to add to his squad, but he is hopeful that the situation will change over the next week, with the Leeds United teenager Fabian Delph, Portsmouth's Sylvain Distin and Middlesbrough's England winger Stewart Downing all targets.

It is understood that Downing is not seen as a potential replacement for Young and that O'Neill believes both players can be combined in the same team despite their preference to play on the left wing. Downing's Middlesbrough team-mate Tuncay has also been offered to Villa but O'Neill has asked to be kept informed of other interest in the Turkey international rather than make a move.

One player who looks certain to leave Villa Park is Zat Knight. The 29-year-old had hoped he might have an opportunity to establish himself following Laursen's retirement but O'Neill will allow the central defender to move on once he has strengthened in that department. Wolverhampton Wanderers and Birmingham City have both looked at the former Fulham player but he is expected to sign for Bolton Wanderers in a deal worth around £2.5m.

mirwillbeback

wynters wrote: »

In late December / early January when we were 3rd in the league and ahead of Chelsea and Arsenal - I didn't hear many complaints about O'Neill then...? Everything was rosey in the garden.

By the same token, when Ireland was in the Celtic Tiger, not many complained about FF. When the consequences of the actions became apparent so did the perception of the performance. It's all about the end result.

What's the point in being 3rd in January incidentally?

Also, I laid out all my points on why I think O'Neill should go, I havent heard an argument to the contrary. It seems the MON to stay brigade is based on blind loyalty, not facts.

death1234567

Downing £12m fee agreed - Subject to medical

Pricey but hopefully he'll be around for a few years.

Esse85

death1234567 wrote: »

Downing £12m fee agreed - Subject to medical

Pricey but hopefully he'll be around for a few years.

He'll improve the squad, was hopin Tuncay would be involved in the deal too.

death1234567

Esse85 wrote: »

was hopin Tuncay would be involved in the deal too.

Me too . He might follow next week, hopefully.

MementoMori

Esse85 wrote: »

He'll improve the squad, was hopin Tuncay would be involved in the deal too.

Anyone think the arrival of Downing increases the likelihood of Young being sold? Maybe not now due to Downing's injury, but down the road.
Both are 24, left-sided players with an interest in the being involved at the international level.

Will improve the squad but definately on the pricey side imo.

Also someone was on about Bouma possibly retiring? How reliable/likley is this?
Are his medical problems that bad?

Neil3030

mirwillbeback wrote: »

By the same token, when Ireland was in the Celtic Tiger, not many complained about FF. When the consequences of the actions became apparent so did the perception of the performance. It's all about the end result.

I don't know what kind of company you keep, but anyone with half a brain saw that the propsperity in the Celtic Tiger would not be sustainable, we were perilously overreliant on the property sector and FF were pissing away their shortlived surplus on needless govt spending. So DO NOT make that analogy mate, and suggest everyone was delighted with FF until times got bad, because it's complete rubbish.

glanman

Source: http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_5434358,00.html


Aston Villa assistant manager John Robertson has denied rumours that the club are interested in signing Sporting Lisbon midfielder Miguel Veloso.

Villa are yet to replace the void in the heart of their midfield created by Gareth Barry's departure to Manchester City at the start of the summer.

Robertson has been quick to reassure supporters that the club do have players in mind but the Portuguese international was not one of them.

The 23-year-old has been linked with a move to the Premier League for some time with Manchester United said to be interested in the past while Bolton nearly signed the player in the winter transfer window for a reported £12million.

"We are working on some players like any club but this player is not in our plans," Robertson told Portuguese newspaper Record.
No interest

Villa chief scout Ian Storey-Moore has backed up Robertson after he rejected claims that the club had sent scouts to Portugal on Saturday to watch Veloso in action against Nottingham Forest in a pre-season clash.

"Nobody was there for this match because Miguel Veloso does not interest our manager," he said.

Esse85

Maybe MON wants Darren Bent instead, I doubt we'll get both.

Esse85

Veloso is not the player we need to replace Barry, someone like Moutinho would be great.

Neil3030

death1234567 wrote: »

Downing £12m fee agreed - Subject to medical

Pricey but hopefully he'll be around for a few years.

Very unhappy with this signing, at that price. If the budget is supposedly tighter than last season, why waste 12m on a player who can't even play until Oct-Nov at the earliest, and even at that we all know the excuses will be lined up for when he inevitably tanks: "oh, well sure he'll take a while to gel with the team, he missed preseason etc etc."