New Contracts?

[Smirker]

Unbelievable dithering to let Vlaar and Delph enter the final year of their contracts.

Depends how we do this season but I think Delph will stay, got a feeling Vlaar will leave on a free.

[manic-road]

Unbelievable dithering to let Vlaar and Delph enter the final year of their contracts.

Depends how we do this season but I think Delph will stay, got a feeling Vlaar will leave on a free.

You say unbelievable dithering by the club so I take it you know that Vlaar and Delph have not had contracts offered to them then?

[andrew08]

I don't think it's dithering as such.In the case of Vlaar up until his, let's be honest, surprisingly, outstanding World Cup he would have gone down in our recent history as part of one our worst defences ever and injury prone to boot.

Delph is slightly different, although injured for a chunk of his contract, he is our best current midfielder. He's not in the Young, Milner or even Downing category yet though so he can go if he wants, but I'd rather he stayed of course at our levels of affordability.

Grealish. Our latest next superstar. He's played one full game, which we lost against a lower league team. I can see his potential but I could see it in about half a dozen others. He's a Villa fan so he will play for free anyway won't he? Sign him up of course... We keep signing the next Gerard so why not Jack as well. Despite my sarcasm I do genuinely see him as a 'Good Un'

Gabby. He won't leave unless we offer him silly low money. So he'll be the next to Leicester then!

[OCD]

I can see us sorting out a new contract for Hutton too to complete a complete reversal of policy.

[Richard E]

I think Fox starts today

Well, this better be sorted by 9.00 a.m. tomorrow then!!!

[placeforparks]

can see vlaar going, it'll realistically be the last opportunity for a big move in his career.

think delph will stay and be given the armband.

grealish will stay.

gabby's not going to get any better. if he wants silly money, get rid.

[Dante Lavelli]

The trouble is, Vlaar & Delph can leave for nothing - how much will it cost to replace them - £15-20M? Plus wages....to me, why wasn't this sorted at the end of last season or last January?

Agreed, however I suspect we've offered them deals and they're understandably not prepared to commit themselves to the project when there is so much uncertainty.  Just because we 'want' it to happen does not mean it will unless we offered irresponsible amounts of money.

[john e]

How can it not be dithering about if Delph our best midfielder by a street can leave for nothing

[eamonn]

If we've offered him a new deal which puts him on a par with Benteke (which might not be a huge lot more than his current contract given the deals we were handing-out under O'Neill) I can't see what more we can do. I'm a big fan of Delph but unsustainable wages are what's caused a lot of this misery this decade. 

[silhillvilla]

I think Delph will leave but vlaar may stay.

[peter w]

So delph is now a current England international in the last year of his contract on something like £40k per week. This is where the problems begin because we'll need to be getting back into bigger wages if we really want to keep him.

[ozzjim]

Yep. His base value will be around 60k a week now for anyone signing him on a free next summer. Really can't see why we waited all summer. Just get it done.

[saunders_heroes]

Yep. His base value will be around 60k a week now for anyone signing him on a free next summer. Really can't see why we waited all summer. Just get it done.

Looks like Lerner is leaving the bigger contracts to be sorted by the new owner, if he ever sells up.

[ez]

I hoped Vlaar and Delph would have signed new contracts by now. Grealish will probably stay. Can't see Gabby being offered a new contract. Lambert might get a one year contract.

[OCD]

If we've offered him a new deal which puts him on a par with Benteke (which might not be a huge lot more than his current contract given the deals we were handing-out under O'Neill) I can't see what more we can do. I'm a big fan of Delph but unsustainable wages are what's caused a lot of this misery this decade. 

Our problem has come from paying high salaries to players whose performance on the pitch didn't justify their salary. To keep (or have a chance of keeping) the likes of Delph/Vlaar, we've got to be prepared to pay the higher salary. If we don't, we face a choice of paying a hefty transfer fee for someone on high wages or replacing them with lesser players and probably seeing our on-field performance suffer and our off-field performance suffer as a result.