What happened to Mr Invisable?

[Greg N'Ash]

panic buy really. I guess with milner gone they thought they had to do something but with the benefit of hindsight we could have saved the money and spent it this January. Looks totally out of sorts to me. Sell him and we'll lose a fortune, keep him, well is he gonna play a part in Villa's future? And he's on a fortune i bet. Sidwell MkII anyone?

[Dave]

panic buy really.

Which is very easy to say with the benefit of hindsight. Are you saying you wouldn't have paid £6m for one of the best attacking midfielders in the league of the last couple of years who seemingly has his best years ahead of him?

Or is a 'panic buy' just any signing that doesn't work out the way you want it to?

And he's quite obviously not "Sidwell MkII". If we put him on sale in January then we'd comfortably make back what we paid for him. We'd be lucky to get the cost of Sidwell's train ticket to Fulham.

[Greg N'Ash]

panic buy really.

Which is very easy to say with the benefit of hindsight. Are you saying you wouldn't have paid £6m for one of the best attacking midfielders in the league of the last couple of years who seemingly has his best years ahead of him?

Or is a 'panic buy' just any signing that doesn't work out the way you want it to?

And he's quite obviously not "Sidwell MkII". If we put him on sale in January then we'd comfortably make back what we paid for him. We'd be lucky to get the cost of Sidwell's train ticket to Fulham.

I already said it was with the benefit of hindsight. You just don't spend that much when you haven't got a manager in, but i understand why they did it. As for getting back what we paid for him, are you sure? Can't see many of the clubs who'd want him that could afford him or his wages unless you're suggesting Arsenal, Liverpool, tottenham are waiting in the wings to take him off our hands?

[Dave]

panic buy really.

Which is very easy to say with the benefit of hindsight. Are you saying you wouldn't have paid £6m for one of the best attacking midfielders in the league of the last couple of years who seemingly has his best years ahead of him?

Or is a 'panic buy' just any signing that doesn't work out the way you want it to?

And he's quite obviously not "Sidwell MkII". If we put him on sale in January then we'd comfortably make back what we paid for him. We'd be lucky to get the cost of Sidwell's train ticket to Fulham.

I already said it was with the benefit of hindsight. You just don't spend that much when you haven't got a manager in, but i understand why they did it. As for getting back what we paid for him, are you sure? Can't see many of the clubs who'd want him that could afford him or his wages unless you're suggesting Arsenal, Liverpool, tottenham are waiting in the wings to take him off our hands?

I would happily put money on the fact that a team would be willing to pay at least £6m for him either in January or the summer. If we choose to cut our losses. Which I don't think we should do.

Welcome back by the way.

[Greg N'Ash]

who? 14 clubs in the premiership couldn't afford his wages and probably the top 4 wouldn't want him

[Dave]

Everton, Sunderland, Newcastle and I'll throw a couple of curveballs in the way or Wolfsburg and QPR.

Edit - and Liverpool as well. He'll probably cost half of what Joe Cole is taking from them each week.

As I've said though, he's potentially one of the best attacking midfielders in the league. I'd much rather he started showing it for us rather than us losing out again.

[Greg N'Ash]

everton are skint, newcastle are skint, sunderland maybe. Wolfsburg wouldn't pay that sort of fee or wages. QPR have hardly done a Citeh... I hope he does come good but i'm not even sure if GH has him in his plans really. Managers like they're own players just like MON before him and lets face it, he's done little to convince the new manager otherwise

[pauliewalnuts]

I reckon Everton or Sunderland.

Although Moyes said today that he might have to sell Pienaar to raise transfer money, so that probably rules them out. I can't see Ireland going abroad, though, he's been unable to handle leaving City to move to a club 90 odd miles away, so he'd never manage playing abroad.

Sunderland it is, I reckon.

[Dave]

Wolfsburg wouldn't pay that sort of fee or wages

Wolfsburg spent £30m on Kjaer and Diego in the summer, each of whom will be earning comfortably more than Ireland is being paid at Villa.

If McClaren decides that he can turn Ireland into the player he was at Man City then Wolfsburg will have no problem paying him or us what we want.

[Greg N'Ash]

maybe but they got 20m back from sales. Possible but unlikely i'd say

[KevinGage]

I'd say a loan move to the likes of Stoke, Fulham or (as a possible outside bet) Blackburn in the short-term would be the most likely.

Pulis likes the odd bit of flair to supplement an otherwise agricultural approach to the game. He's meant to be pissed of with Tuncay and might not be able to keep hold of Pennant. Taking Ireland at the moment might be viewed as a gamble but clubs like Stoke need to gamble.

Fulham with the obvious Hughes connection, plus the fact that they've been heavily hit by injuries means Hughes is probably in a decent position get Al Fayed to cough up.

Blackburn might be the most unlikely of the three but: (a) The new owners were very clear when they took over that they viewed loan deals as the way to go rather than spending big money (b) Easy commute for Ireland from his pad in Manchester.

He could do better than all those clubs. At his best, he could probably do better than us. But he needs to play and if it's not for us it will have to be elsewhere. Could be just what he needs, some game time in a less pressurised environment before coming back to us in the summer.

[hawkeye]

I cant see any one paying decent money for Ireland, i can see a club taking him on loan with Villla paying most of his wages or on a free and pay as you play deal, If any one thinks that some club is going to hand over 6 mil and pay his wages you are seriously deluded. Ireland will leave and we will be writing off most of what we paid for him

[Nev]

Ireland is not being written off because he's considered a "nutter", for having a pink car, wearing Irish Jigs, inventing dead relatives or having an ostentatious lifestyle.

It's because his appearances have been notable for a marked lack of effort and application. Form can come and go but not trying is unforgiveable (for most anyway). Downing made a less than impressive start to his Villa career but it was not for the want of trying, which is why he appears to have been given more time.

Ireland has had chances, but hasn't taken them. He only has himself to blame.

[LeeB]

Ireland is not being written off because he's considered a "nutter", for having a pink car, wearing Irish Jigs, inventing dead relatives or having an ostentatious lifestyle.

It's because his appearances have been notable for a marked lack of effort and application. Form can come and go but not trying is unforgiveable (for most anyway). Downing made a less than impressive start to his Villa career but it was not for the want of trying, which is why he appears to have been given more time.

Ireland has had chances, but hasn't taken them. He only has himself to blame.

Spot on again Nev.