Aston Villa Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

Bounty Hunter

Savman wrote: »

£2m bid accepted for Freidel (SSN) (edit: beaten by BH)

Good shtuff. We want more, we want more

that we do (and that you were:D)

as PHB said yesterday Sidwell & Freidel thats 2 from 2 for me also.

and even though nobody has seen much of him id say Guzan (MLS goalie of the season) is about as good as you can expect as a sub GK.

Savman

What must Stuart Taylor be thinking...

DSB

Savman wrote: »

Is it really hard to understand and accept that there will be some players MON just won't want for a plethora of reasons?

No its grand as long as he signs other players instead.

Helix

Blackburn have accepted an offer of £2million from Aston Villa for goalkeeper Brad Friedel.

The veteran American shot-stopper has been at Ewood Park for the past eight years but he told the club earlier this month that he wanted to move on.

Manchester City had also been linked with Friedel but Villa have now taken a big stride towards signing him.

Bringing in a new, experienced keeper has been a priority for Martin O'Neill this summer, with a deal having been agreed for Friedel's compatriot Brad Guzan.

Scott Carson was O'Neill's first choice between the posts last term but he returned to Liverpool at the end of his loan spell and has since joined West Bromwich Albion.

Villa will now be hoping to finalise the transfer of Friedel, who has been one of the most consistent keepers in the Premier League over the last decade.

Friedel's departure would leave a huge void at Blackburn and manager Paul Ince is likely to turn his attention to finding a replacement as quickly as possible.

back of the net

Helix

Savman wrote: »

Is it really hard to understand and accept that there will be some players MON just won't want for a plethora of reasons?

no that would be perfectly fine if we didnt go and sign dross

Savman

Helix wrote: »

no that would be perfectly fine if we didnt go and sign dross

Never heard of him, he spanish? :pac:

Neil3030

Get in the Fried!!

Neil3030

Might be a bit premature to be talking about this kind of carry on, but:

Barry = Friedel, Finnan, Wright-Phillips & Sidwell?

Oh I do believe so.

Helix

and guzan

Neil3030

Helix wrote: »

and guzan

Tru dat.

Savman

Blackburn Rovers official site wrote:

Friedel latest

Posted on: Wed 23 Jul 2008
BLACKBURN Rovers have accepted a bid from a Premier League club for goalkeeper Brad Friedel.
The transfer is conditional to Rovers having a bid for a goalkeeper at another club accepted.

Looks like it's in Spurs hands then eh

Neil3030

Hmmmm...

Nothing on our OS...
Blackburn OS not specifying which club...
Sky's history of the odd blunder...

Please don't take this away from me oh Football Gods...

One Cold Hand

Friedel would be an excellent signing. Hopefully he'll be signed in time to play saturday.

Good signings so far, but they're not happening quickly enough for me.

tomred1

I think Blackburn are bidding for Robinson.
Do people not think £2 mill is a bit much for a 37 year old? Would you pay £2 million for Van Dar Sar?

death1234567

tomred1 wrote: »

I think Blackburn are bidding for Robinson.
Do people not think £2 mill is a bit much for a 37 year old?

No way. Carson cost £2.5m for the loan last season and look how that worked out. Freidel is better than Van Der Sar and has been arguably the best keeper in the prem over the last few seasons. £2m is money well spent, he'll be first choice this season and then him and Guzan will fight it out for ther number 1 jersey next season.

tomred1

I do like Freidal but £2 million i think is a bit much.

One Cold Hand

tomred1 wrote: »

Would you pay £2 million for Van Dar Sar?

Yes.

Zat Knight cos 3.5mil, just to put things in perspective.

What do you think is a better price? 1mil? I don't think 1 million makes much difference.

rgiller

tomred1 wrote: »

Do people not think £2 mill is a bit much for a 37 year old?

Not in this case. First of all he's a keeper and they can keep going and going. Second, a large part of his job is going to involve him teaching Guzan everything he knows about being a keeper in the premiership. Even if we only get two seasons out of Friedel, how many could we potentially get out of a 23 year old with Friedel as his mentor? This could be our first decent goalkeeping arrangement in 10 years

Helix

tomred1 wrote: »

I do like Freidal but £2 million i think is a bit much.

£2m is bang on, hes got 4 years in him

tomred1

Helix wrote: »

£2m is bang on, hes got 4 years in him

Really 4 years i would say 2 and then he will be off to the USA. Why do we need him to "mentor" Guzan when that is the GK coach job.

rgiller

tomred1 wrote: »

Why do we need him to "mentor" Guzan when that is the GK coach job.

He could become the new GK coach and open up doors for cheap, decent US goalkeepers to come to Villa. Plus £2m for two year's worth of much reduced goalie blunders is cheap at the price. Enckelman, Sorenson and Carson: you wouldn't really bet on them not to flap at a cross or let a throw in roll under their feet

Helix

hes in great shape and hes one of the best keepers in the league, plus being a keeper he can play into his 40s once he keeps the weight off

Helix

season ticket arrived today!

booya!

Villain

Good interview with O'Neill:

Barry could stay on at Villa - O'Neill

Liverpool are yet to get back to Aston Villa with a new bid for Gareth Barry - and Martin O'Neill is making plans around his skipper staying.

O'Neill insists Villa cannot continue to be at the "behest" of the Merseysiders, who have failed to offer the £18million he is seeking for the England midfielder.

The former Celtic boss is aware he has to make his own plans for the new campaign and needs to know whether he will have the services of Barry.

Already O'Neill is considering using the 27-year-old in Saturday's home Intertoto Cup clash with Odense BK.

But that would not make Barry ineligible to play Champions League football if he eventually moved to Anfield.

O'Neill, who has rejected four bids for Barry from Reds counterpart Rafael Benitez, said: "It's been unfortunate. We don't know where we stand at this minute.

"Liverpool have not officially come back to us in any form of writing. It is a really awkward position here at this minute.

"At some stage or other there will have to be a timescale on it because we cannot just keep going on like this.

"We have got our own plans to make - and we shouldn't be at the behest of Liverpool Football Club.

"We have to pick up the pieces and I could go on for forever and a day talking about it. It doesn't really matter. We have to see what develops.

"As I say, we have not heard back from them in an official capacity."

O'Neill is ready to consider Barry on Saturday even though he was the target of abuse from Villa fans during Tuesday's friendly at Walsall.

He said: "If Gareth is in the right frame of mind then we will explore everything. He will be in contention for Saturday.

"I have never not been impressed with him in two years as to his attitude on the football pitch.

"In fairness the Intertoto gives us that chance to get into the UEFA Cup, which we set out to get into by one way or another, and Gareth was a major part of that last year."

O'Neill maintains he would still like Barry to remain at Villa but is frustrated at the lack of progress one way or the other.

He said: "Deep down we would all love him to stay at the football club. We haven't heard back from Liverpool for some time and we're not exactly sure where we all stand.

"When people say people are in limbo, I don't think that applies to anybody more than ourselves. We don't know whether to move forward or not with it.

"It's a long-running saga and I wouldn't mind it ending one way or another.

"My preference - and hopefully I'm speaking for a lot of Villa fans, if not all of them - is that we would like Gareth to stay at the football club.

"That would be great because it will be hard to replace him.

"But we're not sure where Liverpool stand now. It was never mentioned before about them needing to sell some players before they bought - that was never in the system at all. But seemingly it must be part of it.

"The point is that this has been long running and we're looking to see it end one way or another."

O'Neill, who is hoping to complete the signing of Blackburn goalkeeper Brad Friedel, is aware of the need to bring in new blood with the start of the Premier League campaign only three weeks away.

He said: "We've lost experienced players like Olof Mellberg and we have to replace them.

"While I am very, very pleased with some of the young players coming through the ranks at Villa, for us to be competing again we need to be competing immediately, as soon as the Premiership season kicks off.

"From day one, that is our aim."

O'Neill added: "We're in the throes of trying to improve our team and we need to. But I'd prefer to stay rather general on these points and not comment on all the reports and speculation.

"There are things that we want to do and we've got a couple of weeks to try and improve the team. Actually we've got to the end of August but ideally it would be great if the season was kicking-off and we had a number of players in position.

"We are working as hard as we possibly can do behind the scenes to improve our squad, which we need to, and that hard work will continue."

Bounty Hunter

good interview, like how he seems to say exactley what were thinking, We want it to be over & if Pool dont come back for him he is a Villa player and once his head is right he could be playing for Villa.

Kaboul has supposidly agreed terms with Spurs. Maybe the transfer market might now get the kickstart it needs as Spurs see 5 players leave WHL (the Sunderland 4 & A.Gardner)

One Cold Hand

Good article, but this last bit sounds like the same rubbish he's spouted in every other transfer window.


"There are things that we want to do and we've got a couple of weeks to try and improve the team. Actually we've got to the end of August but ideally it would be great if the season was kicking-off and we had a number of players in position.

"We are working as hard as we possibly can do behind the scenes to improve our squad, which we need to, and that hard work will continue."

Savman

Actually that looks like an amalgamation of 2 or 3 recent interviews into one lazy article to make it look like a full interview, I'm pretty sure the quotes about Barry were made a different day to the ones (un)relating to Friedel.

One Cold Hand

Savman wrote: »

Actually that looks like an amalgamation of 2 or 3 recent interviews into one lazy article to make it look like a full interview, I'm pretty sure the quotes about Barry were made a different day to the ones (un)relating to Friedel.

Savman smells a rat!

V1llianous

According to Sky Sports we are set to Hijack Sunderland's move for Kaboul.

http://www.skysports.com/football/transfer_clockwatch/0,23710,14896,00.html?reloaded

homah_7ft

Guzan's work permit hearing is on August first. Fingers crossed.

andrewie

Villa have been given permission to speak to Brad Friedel.

V1llianous

According to Sky Sports Villa are in discussions with several first team players about extending their contracts, believed to be Stilyian Petrov, John Carew, Ashley Young & Gabby.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11677_3864901,00.html

Helix

petrov?

wtf

Villain

Sky are also saying we have made a late bid for Kaboul

V1llianous

Villain wrote: »

Sky are also saying we have made a late bid for Kaboul

A second bid is it - look 5 posts up

rgiller

V1llianous wrote: »

A second bid is it - look 5 posts up

Guzan's work permit? I knew that was code for making a late bid on Kaboul. Sneaky MON

V1llianous

rgiller wrote: »

Guzan's work permit? I knew that was code for making a late bid on Kaboul. Sneaky MON

My link under the 08:20 time.

wynters

'Just got a text from a mate in Liverpool, and apparently Keane is signing today - 100%. It's all over their local news and radio. So that looks like they won't have the funds for Barry unless they can flog Alonso. Inter were rumoured to be interested but they've bought Sully Muntari for that vacant position instead.

It's looking increasingly like Barry is gonna have to stay put...!

Bounty Hunter

V1llianous wrote: »

A second bid is it - look 5 posts up

well according to SSN we have made a second bid and Kaboul has asked Spurs for more time to decide having already agreed terms with Sunderland.

jimmyboy

Can anyone tell me if it is true that Maloney signed for Hull.
Read it on wiki so it is probably just a load of bo*****s.
Said he signed today for 2mil

Bounty Hunter

as far as i know that is complet B0llocks

although here is what the Wiki says

Shaun Richard Maloney (born January 24, 1983 in Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia) is a Malaysian-born Scottish international footballer playing for Premiership club Hull City F.C. He plays as an Winger or striker and occasionally as a Attacking Midfielder, and is known for his set-piece accuracy and confidence when shooting from a distance

Helix

wynters wrote: »

'Just got a text from a mate in Liverpool, and apparently Keane is signing today - 100%. It's all over their local news and radio. So that looks like they won't have the funds for Barry unless they can flog Alonso. Inter were rumoured to be interested but they've bought Sully Muntari for that vacant position instead.

It's looking increasingly like Barry is gonna have to stay put...!

if he performs then thats all that matters

Bounty Hunter

Marlon is supposidly likely to be out of the Odense tie tommorow
http://www.teamtalk.com/football/preview/0,16374,1767_3865304,00.html

Barry is expected to be on the bench though

Helix

marlon out means fonzy in

Bounty Hunter

Robinson signs for Spurs... Friedel is ours

JPA

Friedel Completes Move

Brad Friedel has agreed to join Villa, putting pen-to-paper on a three-year deal.

www.avfc.co.uk revealed yesterday that Villa had been given permission to talk to the 37-year-old US international goalkeeper.

Those talks have now been successfully concluded making Friedel the latest addition to Martin O'Neill's squad.

Born in Randy Lerner's home state of Ohio, Friedel has been capped 82 times. He started his professional career with Newcastle in 1994 but was denied a work-permit.

A loan spell with Danish side Brøndby IF was followed by spells with Galatasaray and Columbus Crew before he returned to the Premier League with Liverpool in 1997.

Three years and 25 appearances later Friedel moved onto Blackburn and he has been a regular at Ewood Park ever since - making 287 appearances for Rovers.

Excellent.

andrewie

Breaking News on SSN

Brad Friedel has signed for Villa on a three year contract.

Edit;

Beaten to it!

PHB

That's some good business.

Who's next for Villa, if they keep up this rate, they'll have 5 good signings by the start of the season.

estebancambias

37? Wow.....Jesus Shay Given will be around for some time yet....2014 I'd say.

Im_No_Superman

A 3 year contract for a 37 year old goalkeeper, great deal for Friedel. He is an excellant keeper though no doubt about that.