Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: kippaxvilla2 on September 01, 2025, 09:24:54 PM
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Do your worst.
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We haven't brought in the quality of players anyone involved around the club would have wanted... but we have improved areas of the squad and at least have some experience, premier league tested players. 4/10
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I think its been a very poor window i am afraid. Elliot saves monchi for now but the rwst if the signings good grief
I genuinely feel this teams worse than the team two years ago with diaby and luiz.
I think not improving the defence and yet another window of no right back is really really bad. Stuck with bloody cash all season again is a bit depressing.
The one thing that is going to be interesting is how emi gets on as he has alot of apologising to do.
One final point not sure who is ollies backup as we havent replaced duran. Assuming it's Guessand
3/10 for me. Very poor monchi
But will bacl the players have no choice but i see us struggling to finish top 7
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Assuming Elliott and Sancho have signed, 5/10. Which is about 3/10 higher than I expected yesterday.
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Like Elliot, not sure on Sancho, Guesand looks handy, the new Longlet likely to be like the old one and I don't give 2 fucks about Emi either way.
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Very poor. The execution of the apparent plan and lack of plan B filtered through to the dressing room and ultimately on to the pitch. Monchi should go.
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1/10
Shit.
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We’ve kept Martinez although it’s obvious he expected to go. Bizot for Olsen seems a good upgrade.
Disappointed we’ve not upgraded at right back or right centre half. Lindelof looks sensible 4th choice and can probably cover across the back 4 at a push.
Maybe Garcia will get some more minutes - if there were no takers for Cash it’s probably why we’ve not upgraded there.
In terms of the players out Bailey you can understand and I think the Ramsey deal was about right given his injury record, if we’ve replaced him with Elliot, reduced the wage bill and made a small cash profit that’s very good business.
Sancho could go either way, many thought Rashford was a mistake and he worked out.
It really is down to Emery to work his magic, again in Jan if we are in the hunt we may push the boat out again.
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A few squad players have gone. No big names gone. Ramsey was a big loss, but him being injured in his first game hints at maybe not such a huge loss as feared. Nobody in but a couple of squad fillers and loans. Elliott as a replacement for Ramsey may turn out to be an upgrade. Overall, me. Just win the europa league ffs
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I think the squad is weaker, wage bill is better.
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I think the squad is weaker, wage bill is better.
By the sounds of it, if that is the case, the transfer team have done their job. Now Emery has to preform a minor miracle and rally the troops.
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Having been forced to reduce wages then it stands to reason we aren’t as strong. Best players cost a lot and couldn’t do that. I’m just glad we didn’t sell any key starting players. They all now need to play better.
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Really hard to tell to be honest, if you accept we were heavily restricted.
We’ll see what the players do, but at least we have 4 senior centre halves now and some attacking options, with some width.
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Disappointing and confusing window all round. The Emi farce needs to be sorted ASAP, absolutely ridiculous. And I thought the point was to get rid of the wages of Donk/Moreno etc, and yet we get more potential deadwood of Lindehof on a reported £112k a week and Sancho on considerably more. Baffling. Elliot and Guessand all good there tbh. 2 players surplus at Man Utd and one at Liverpool suggests not much global scouting going on?
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I feel better today than I did last night, thinking it was Lindelof in and Emi out.
Elliot I feel will be good business, don’t know a lot about him other than player of the tournament for the U21’s. But my Scouse mate reckons he’ll be brilliant for us and we have a cracking player on our hands, I’ll take it.
Sancho could be great or a disaster, let’s see what Unai can instil in him.
5/10 I guess.
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Obviously, I'm sad to see Ramsey go and I'd have loved to bring in more players. But we are limited by the rules that bind us, and being overly critical feels like slagging off Nelson Mandela for not running any marathons between 1962 and 1991.
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Having been forced to reduce wages then it stands to reason we aren’t as strong. Best players cost a lot and couldn’t do that. I’m just glad we didn’t sell any key starting players. They all now need to play better.
Have we though those 200k wages on sancho are a killer
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A muddled window, didnt look like we had much of a plan but we have no idea what was going on in the background with the potential for players to be told that they might be leaving. Sancho, Elliot and Guessand are half decent signings but time will tell. At least Elliot and Sancho are ‘premier league’ fit and can slot straight in. Lindelof was pants for Madchester, I hope he becomes a rugged battler for us when called upon.
Keeping Kamara, Digne, Youri was good. Not losing Martinez is also good but the copybook is certainly blotted. Emery now needs to settle them all back down and start focussing on being hard to play against.
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Disappointing and confusing window all round. The Emi farce needs to be sorted ASAP, absolutely ridiculous. And I thought the point was to get rid of the wages of Donk/Moreno etc, and yet we get more potential deadwood of Lindehof on a reported £112k a week and Sancho on considerably more. Baffling. Elliot and Guessand all good there tbh. 2 players surplus at Man Utd and one at Liverpool suggests not much global scouting going on?
Agree with a lot of that BUT, Lindehof will cost us £12m over the 2 years, we wouldn't have been able to get an up and coming kid in for that kind of package so, whilst it isn't anything to get the juices flowing, its alright as a deal for a back up. Sancho, less so.
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The lack of a right back is baffling. My only assumption is that he rates Garcia and he’ll get game time when he is fit.
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Remember when we used to bitch about how many Chelsea would have out on loan, we have sent 18 out.
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And I thought the point was to get rid of the wages of Donk/Moreno etc, and yet we get more potential deadwood of Lindehof on a reported £112k a week and Sancho on considerably more.
Indeed.
3/10 for the window as a whole, and that's prob being generous.
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2.5/10. Very few positives and my love for the game has taken a hit too
Our squads weaker, and more unsettled then at end of last season, and everyone of our "peers" bar Newcastle has significantly strengthened Dont really see any player as an upgrade on what we had before, bar Bizot.
Elliot and Guessard may turn out to be great signings (pretty excited by Elliot), and combined with Sancho they give Unai something to work with.
But equally, we have lost Bailey and Ramsey, who are both proven at this level (if inconsitent) and sent back the Chelsea CB, Asceniso and Rashford. Similarly we didnt really generate enough money to "sort" anything for the long term. I thought we would flog Bailey for some serious money to Saudi, and then one of Ramsay or Emi too.
I hope the club have spent what little money we could wisely. We need some players to really step up - and if anyone can support them than Uani can.
It feels like we have well and truley been put back in our place, but I am still over the moon with the setup we have, and dont think the club could have done much else. We've been put in an artifical "desperate to sell" situationm and this is what will happen.
So in short - fuck modern football and UTV
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Could have been better but it could also have been a lot lot worse.
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Elliot will be our best signing since Rogers.
Sancho will be better than Bailey was last season.
Lindelof is ok backup
Bizot is ok backup
Guessand will need time to settle, possibly impact from the bench
Window, 4 out of 10. Still no real competition up front or at right back, and we've got a large slab of Argentine beef that needs taming.
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I'm happier than I was a few days ago and would give a 6 out of 10. Against the backdrop of us fucking up the SCR compliance which led to the UEFA sanctions we're now under, I'd suspect the club hierarchy is reasonably happy with how its turned out as they have shifted some deadwood (Coutinho etc). I think there will probably be a debrief and some words will be had with Sawiris/Edens but hopefully that will settle down quickly.
I think the biggest issue for Monchi/Vidagnay and to an extent Emery in the immediate term is relations with the playing squad. McGinn and Mings as our longest serving and most senior players have raised a few doubts about how this has been approached and Watkins and Rogers haven't looked happy either. The forced sale of Ramsey and then Martinez being a fucking idiot has really shown some cracks in squad unity. I'm sure that can be sorted out but it needs to be quick once everyone's back from international duty, one of those clear the air team meetings where all the frustrations and annoyance can come out and be put to bed.
The squad looks ok but not as good as it did on February the 1st.
GK: Martinez, Bizot (Bizot>Olsen)
RB: Cash, Garcia
RCB: Konsa, Lindelof (Disasi=Lindelof)
LCB: Torres, Mings
LB: Digne, Maatsen
CM: Onana, Kamara, McGinn, Tielemans, Barkley, Bogarde
AM: Sancho, Rogers, Buendia, Elliott (Sancho=Bailey, Elliott<Asensio, Buendia<ramsey)
ST: Watkins, Malen, Guessand (Guessand<Rashford)
1 upgrade, 2 like for likes and 4 downgrades at this stage.
23 players for the UEFA A List, I assume we can put them all on there.
Unai, do your thing.
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Assuming Elliott and Sancho have signed, 5/10. Which is about 3/10 higher than I expected yesterday.
Exactly where I'm at. I couldn't possibly give it more than 5. Hopefully Sancho can prove us all wrong.
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It could have been worse. We haven't had our squad cherry-picked by clubs in the Champions League, we haven't lost any of our big stars, we've signed some cover and a potential name. Given the situation I don't know how much more we could have done.
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It will drop again if Martinez continues to act the twat and doesn’t play. Which, I'd say, is unlikely. But you can't entirely rule it out based on his mad personality.
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I think we’ve probably done as well as we could have expected given the circumstances.
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It could have been worse. We haven't had our squad cherry-picked by clubs in the Champions League, we haven't lost any of our big stars, we've signed some cover and a potential name. Given the situation I don't know how much more we could have done.
The last sentence made everything massively complex. It started at Old Trafford. The limp way in which we played and then the salt of the disallowed goal blew up all our summer plans. It made it impossible to really push on. The window has been ok but could be a lot better. What’s affected how we feel about the window is how we’ve started the season. That’s shaken all of us.
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Where has it come from that Lindelof is on £120k a week? He was without a club and as far as I can tell not a huge amount of competition for his signature. I’d be surprised if he is on much more than half that, especially given that one of our first choice CBs has just agreed to a pay cut.
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I'm glad it's over and hopeful Unai can work his magic with what he's got now.
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No chance we're paying Lindelof close to what he was on at ManU imo. My guess would be a million signing on fee and 50k a week.
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Under the prevailing circumstances this is a good window. We ned to consolidate and push on forward.
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I feel better today than I did last night, thinking it was Lindelof in and Emi out.
Elliot I feel will be good business, don’t know a lot about him other than player of the tournament for the U21’s. But my Scouse mate reckons he’ll be brilliant for us and we have a cracking player on our hands, I’ll take it.
Sancho could be great or a disaster, let’s see what Unai can instil in him.
5/10 I guess.
That's how I feel too. The financial restrictions were probably tighter than we realised, and the necessary sales didn't happen as quickly as they would have liked, even if we did get rid of some dead wood. Just glad it's over.
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Did we actually sign Fletcher Boyd in the end? Be mad if we signed a 17-year-old and haven't immediately loaned him out.
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A mate of mine just told me that as the window closes, Unai's net spend since he joined us is just £40m - which is frankly incredible across six transfer windows. Obviously we're doing what we can within the financial restrictions we're stuck with, but I think if someone had told me when he joined he'd spend £60m net over six windows, I wouldn't have expected a squad of this quality. It's pretty incredible all things considered.
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Did we actually sign Fletcher Boyd in the end? Be mad if we signed a 17-year-old and haven't immediately loaned him out.
Yes, pretty sure I got a notification about it.
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Ta.
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Not sure where to stick this so I’ll plonk it here:
https://archive.is/2025.09.01-215420/https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-15055389/Aston-Villa-transfer-news-Emiliano-Martinez.html
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Elliot will be our best signing since Rogers.
Sancho will be better than Bailey was last season.
Lindelof is ok backup
Bizot is ok backup
Guessand will need time to settle, possibly impact from the bench
Window, 4 out of 10. Still no real competition up front or at right back, and we've got a large slab of Argentine beef that needs taming.
I love Argentine beef, best in the world. Other than that, as usual, spot on, Ozz. We've kept the band together despite the ridiculous financial limitations. 6/10 from me. Obviously I'm ignoring all those players we signed who'll never get to play for us. Why?
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Glad it's over and the dust can settle. Time for a reset and the game at Everton will hopefully feel like the first game of the season.
Feels like very much a short-term fix rather than part of a longer-term plan though and that the can has been kicked down the road for another season. We've seen one of the problems that strategy brings though with having to try and replace Rashford, Asensio and Disasi in this window.
As for who has come in today, Lindelof is an experienced back-up who should fine in the Europa League, Elliott should bring a bit of energy and goodness knows what we can expect from Sancho. It's not an inspiring cohort to be perfectly honest and I think expectations will have to be adjusted accordingly. The fact that we have emerged from another transfer window not addressing the glaring issue at RB is astounding really though.
So it's over to Unai Emery to do what he can with what he now has. As I say, I think expectations have to be adjusted given the way the summer has gone and the Europa League has taken on added importance now.
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I’m a 6.5. Mainly because we did it with with one hand tied behind our back. We came out of it ok in the end. The Martinez thing is worrying me though. If he’s been agitating for a move or even just acting the big bollocks around the place you can see why things might have tense. And why harmony in the square might be impacted and especially in defence. Everyone can see he hasn’t been at his sharpest. That needs to change fast if we are to get back on track.
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Nobody knows exactly what the score was with Martinez. The one thing for sure is that Manchester United will be painted in the best possible light and we'll be the bad/incompetent guys.*
*That's two things.
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GzxRpB_bAAAZ24B?format=jpg&name=4096x4096)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GzxRqkXa4AE9d3x?format=jpg&name=4096x4096)
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Our low net spend is a bit of a red herring. We loaned in two top-class* players in January and have done the same today. Three of them on higher wages than most players transferred to PL clubs this summer.
*on paper
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So, if we are in profit there's no reason why our new players can't be included in the UEFA squad.
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Most other clubs loan players. We also loaned them in January in part because we couldn’t go and buy players.
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So, if we are in profit there's no reason why our new players can't be included in the UEFA squad.
Oh I’m sure UEFA will find a way to make sure that’s not the case. Watch that poor fucker Malen miss out.
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I’m trying to be balanced but am certainly not as generous as some have been.
Clubs that finished on a high last season have had problems with recruitment: Tottenham, Palace and Newcastle. All clubs trying to improve. So we’ve not been alone in some of the problems that we’ve been facing.
But this summer is definitely the first time we’ve been reactive rather proactive; trimming the fat and waiting on what some of our players may or may not do in terms of moving seems to be the modus operandi. I don’t think that has helped with morale at all and it also means that we’re in that position of buying, clubs know what we have because we’re selling first.
Obviously the financial rules are the main restriction but what I don’t understand is the club not drawing a line in the sand at a certain point and saying ,’if after X date a move hasn’t materialized, then you’re staying put’. Let’s not forget, the bulk of the squad is one which has got us to, and then almost got us champions league football two seasons in a row but it is an ageing, largely one paced side as well which we’ve not started to alter.
To me it seems clear that the biggest problem is that since signing Kamara, we have failed to strategically sign a player that has improved the first 11 as a defacto starter. I’m factoring Tielemans in as being Dougie’s replacement and Rodgers being a signing who’s major rise surprised everyone and that he wasn’t a strategic signing for the first 11; he just quickly emerged to become a starter. The previous missteps are coming back to haunt us now.
It’s clear that once you hit a certain point in your progress, the type of signing to take you to the next level can become difficult and that’s definitely a contributing factor. But the real problem, is that with the financial restrictions being what they are, we have been quite wasteful.
We simply cannot afford to being spending £50m on Onana and him not instantly improving our first 11. To be just an option for certain games or one for the future once he’s learnt Emery’s system, is failed recruitment for our current needs. Same with Maatsen, Malen. Sancho could well fall into that camp. Even as a loanee he is very expensive and it’s bizarre we’re doing Man Utd a favour at 80% of his wages right near the end of the window. Elliott I’ve no idea on. Lindelof is the type of signing that no matter what, we should have moved away from now and reeks of desperation. Bizot is a smart pickup and improvement on Olsen.
1/10.
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Sancho did apparently turn down other clubs and we were desperate for an attacking option so I can see why Yanited drove a hard bargain.
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I’m trying to be balanced but am certainly not as generous as some have been.
Clubs that finished on a high last season have had problems with recruitment: Tottenham, Palace and Newcastle. All clubs trying to improve. So we’ve not been alone in some of the problems that we’ve been facing.
But this summer is definitely the first time we’ve been reactive rather proactive; trimming the fat and waiting on what some of our players may or may not do in terms of moving seems to be the modus operandi. I don’t think that has helped with morale at all and it also means that we’re in that position of buying, clubs know what we have because we’re selling first.
Obviously the financial rules are the main restriction but what I don’t understand is the club not drawing a line in the sand at a certain point and saying ,’if after X date a move hasn’t materialized, then you’re staying put’. Let’s not forget, the bulk of the squad is one which has got us to, and then almost got us champions league football two seasons in a row but it is an ageing, largely one paced side as well which we’ve not started to alter.
To me it seems clear that the biggest problem is that since signing Kamara, we have failed to strategically sign a player that has improved the first 11 as a defacto starter. I’m factoring Tielemans in as being Dougie’s replacement and Rodgers being a signing who’s major rise surprised everyone and that he wasn’t a strategic signing for the first 11; he just quickly emerged to become a starter. The previous missteps are coming back to haunt us now.
It’s clear that once you hit a certain point in your progress, the type of signing to take you to the next level can become difficult and that’s definitely a contributing factor. But the real problem, is that with the financial restrictions being what they are, we have been quite wasteful.
We simply cannot afford to being spending £50m on Onana and him not instantly improving our first 11. To be just an option for certain games or one for the future once he’s learnt Emery’s system, is failed recruitment for our current needs. Same with Maatsen, Malen. Sancho could well fall into that camp. Even as a loanee he is very expensive and it’s bizarre we’re doing Man Utd a favour at 80% of his wages right near the end of the window. Elliott I’ve no idea on. Lindelof is the type of signing that no matter what, we should have moved away from now and reeks of desperation. Bizot is a smart pickup and improvement on Olsen.
1/10.
Agreewith a lot of this. We all know about the tight financial situation, but that means when you spend a significant amount of money when you are in that situation, you need those players to really make an impact. The likes of Onana and Malen just haven't done that.
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GzxRpB_bAAAZ24B?format=jpg&name=4096x4096)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GzxRqkXa4AE9d3x?format=jpg&name=4096x4096)
Chelsea with the sorcery. Impressive transfer operation, although I'm still not sure they have the defensive signings to challenge for the title.
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I'm happier than I was a few days ago and would give a 6 out of 10. Against the backdrop of us fucking up the SCR compliance which led to the UEFA sanctions we're now under, I'd suspect the club hierarchy is reasonably happy with how its turned out as they have shifted some deadwood (Coutinho etc). I think there will probably be a debrief and some words will be had with Sawiris/Edens but hopefully that will settle down quickly.
I think the biggest issue for Monchi/Vidagnay and to an extent Emery in the immediate term is relations with the playing squad. McGinn and Mings as our longest serving and most senior players have raised a few doubts about how this has been approached and Watkins and Rogers haven't looked happy either. The forced sale of Ramsey and then Martinez being a fucking idiot has really shown some cracks in squad unity. I'm sure that can be sorted out but it needs to be quick once everyone's back from international duty, one of those clear the air team meetings where all the frustrations and annoyance can come out and be put to bed.
The squad looks ok but not as good as it did on February the 1st.
GK: Martinez, Bizot (Bizot>Olsen)
RB: Cash, Garcia
RCB: Konsa, Lindelof (Disasi=Lindelof)
LCB: Torres, Mings
LB: Digne, Maatsen
CM: Onana, Kamara, McGinn, Tielemans, Barkley, Bogarde
AM: Sancho, Rogers, Buendia, Elliott (Sancho=Bailey, Elliott<Asensio, Buendia<ramsey)
ST: Watkins, Malen, Guessand (Guessand<Rashford)
1 upgrade, 2 like for likes and 4 downgrades at this stage.
23 players for the UEFA A List, I assume we can put them all on there.
Unai, do your thing.
23 for the A List? Who are the two homegrowns?
Edit: I see Bogarde in your list now. I assume he counts as one. Who am I missing?
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I think if you value keeping most of the squad together, like Emery said he did at the end of last season, you have to start with the question ‘what’s the best you can do with the money from Ramsey, KKH, and a few loan fees?’
I choose optimism in life as well as Villa, and I’m not a student of other teams’ players. I didn’t like Sancho because that twat Southgate seemed to prefer him to Joe, and to me when I saw him play for England he wasn’t in the same class. But today I’ll choose to note the positive stuff Matt Law has written about him. I’ll also choose to note what Liverpool fans say about Elliot. I’ll choose to think that you don’t last eight years and make 280 appearances for one of the biggest clubs in the world like Lindelof did (no matter how bad that club has been in that time) if you’re useless. And I actually do believe off my own bat that we’ve improved on Olsen and saved money.
So given all that and the restrictions we were under, I’ll give it an 8.5.
I’d have gone for more churn personally. We could have spent shitloads if we’d have sold shitloads, like Chelsea did, but I suppose that’s a bit riskier. Ideally for me we’d have at least sold Cash and got a better RB, but who knows if there was a willing buyer?
The £87m spent on Onana and Maatsen could and should have strengthened us more but that was another window.
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A continuation of a failed transfer strategy, as LeonW points out we are paying the price for poor investments in previous windows, under this regime we have failed to improve the first X1 and got ourselves into breaching Financial governance rules whilst doing so. That is failure.
It’s almost negligent that we will continue the season with Cash as first choice right back. Judging this window in isolation on the basis we have removed a lot of deadwood and got a few in and in view ofthe restrictions 4/10.
But overall 3/10 failed.
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A continuation of a failed transfer strategy, as LeonW points out we are paying the price for poor investments in previous windows, under this regime we have failed to improve the first X1 and got ourselves into breaching Financial governance rules whilst doing so. That is failure.
It’s almost negligent that we will continue the season with Cash as first choice right back. Judging this window in isolation on the basis we have removed a lot of deadwood and got a few in and in view ofthe restrictions 4/10.
But overall 3/10 failed.
A transfer strategy can only be deemed to have truly failed by results. Could it be better? Of course, we could have got better results. But not much better, if we’re being reasonable.
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I think if you value keeping most of the squad together, like Emery said he did at the end of last season, you have to start with the question ‘what’s the best you can do with the money from Ramsey, KKH, and a few loan fees?’
I choose optimism in life as well as Villa, and I’m not a student of other teams’ players. I didn’t like Sancho because that twat Southgate seemed to prefer him to Joe, and to me when I saw him play for England he wasn’t in the same class. But today I’ll choose to note the positive stuff Matt Law has written about him. I’ll also choose to note what Liverpool fans say about Elliot. I’ll choose to think that you don’t last eight years and make 280 appearances for one of the biggest clubs in the world like Lindelof did (no matter how bad that club has been in that time) if you’re useless. And I actually do believe off my own bat that we’ve improved on Olsen and saved money.
So given all that and the restrictions we were under, I’ll give it an 8.5.
I’d have gone for more churn personally. We could have spent shitloads if we’d have sold shitloads, like Chelsea did, but I suppose that’s a bit riskier. Ideally for me we’d have at least sold Cash and got a better RB, but who knows if there was a willing buyer?
The £87m spent on Onana and Maatsen could and should have strengthened us more but that was another window.
I admire your optimism Percy, and I know you have given caveats, but 8.5 still feels incredibly generous.
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I was happy that we have managed to keep the likes of Kamara, Watkins, Konsa and Tielemans as I was expecting one of our better players being sold. JJ scored one league goal last season, I expect Elliot to at least produce more than that.
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I was happy that we have managed to keep the likes of Kamara, Watkins, Konsa and Tielemans as I was expecting one of our better players being sold. JJ scored one league goal last season, I expect Elliot to at least produce more than that.
Add emi to that as i expected him to go. If we have another bad season and our FFP is a mess i think one will be sold in the summer of 2026.
Cant see how we would be thiugh we have spent virtually nothing
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Now there’s a lot of hope in this I acknowledge, but we now at least have attacking options to change things - which is very much how we won at lot of games after Asensio and Rashford arrived. Clearly just having options doesn’t mean they will work, but it’s a step forward from having bugger all options to mix it up.
Hopefully 3 new players into the squad just reinvigorates Unai as well.
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It was shaping up to be a disaster, but now at least we have some hope.
We were hoping for progression based on the last 3 years, but PSR etc. has put us back into transition.
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Elliot is better than JJ. Tielemans is better than Dougie. Rogers was better than the nobody doing his bit.
Diaby improved the first XI, he just so happened to be transformative for Bailey for the season he was here. So as with Maatsen with Digne, who found another level.
7th, 4th and a semi-final, 6th a Quarter Final and a semi final- yet we have a rotten transfer strategy. I dont find the argument persuasive in the least.
The amount of flack Onana cops from people on here borders the obsessive.
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23 for the A List? Who are the two homegrowns?
Edit: I see Bogarde in your list now. I assume he counts as one. Who am I missing?
Bogarde (I think) is still fine for the B list, born four days after the cut-off. Unless UEFA haven't updated their website.
So I'm pretty sure we'll have a European squad of 21 plus da yoot. So I think one other player on that list above doesn't need to worry about digging out their passport.
Scenes if Malen misses out again.
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Onana is great, a lot of potential and drives us forward when on song and fit. I just can’t believe we’ve got two very good deep lying midfielders who are injured so often. It’s bloody frustrating.
What’s more frustrating is my phone changing Onana to Obama ffs!
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I have to ask, ignore the football quality, how has this window performed from an accountancy perspective?
Was this a ‘step back’ so we can take ‘two steps forward’ in the future? Has anyone managed to crunch the numbers from the data available?
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Given the restrictions I think we have done as well as could reasonably be expected. For those giving a low mark out of 10 I do wonder in our current circumstances how they think we might have achieved more?
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We were told at the start of the summer that it would be a tough summer with finances, the UEFA message was that we had to make a profit….it was and we have.
Obviously sacrificing JJ was far far from ideal & it’s never good selling a home grown player you don’t want to sell. If he stays fit (& I won’t miss the panic everytime he goes down holding that foot!) and gets a run up there he will likely be around the England squad at some point.
Guessand as the only cash outlay will essentially be the one we judge the window by.
I personally wouldn’t have gone near Lindelof but financially the deal make sense when you consider how much we paid out on Disasi last year to be a back up. It gives back up to Konsa which was needed….not sure it helps the right back woes though.
Sancho is another punt…get the Dortmund Sancho out of him then he is an asset….not sure any other club has got anything of that form out of him so it’s a big one for Unai to achieve.
Elliott from nowhere was a pleasant surprise and turned a very poor window into one we could work with.
Again, very personal opinion but I am glad we didn’t go back for Asensio - sure him and Duran will bite us on the arse in the Europa game but I think we had the real value out of him in that short, sharp loan period…be interesting to see how he goes in Turkey but I suspect he’ll move about a few times in next 2/3 years gradually down the level of clubs.
Having said the output from Guessand will be where the window is judged it will actually be the next 2/3 weeks and how the club & player deal with the Martinez fall out…explain what happened, get all the players back on the same page until at least January and we go again…if he isn’t reintegrated quickly it will overshadow everything so needs to be done
For me;
Sunday 5.45pm - window was D
Monday 7pm - window was C+
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Given the restrictions I think we have done as well as could reasonably be expected. For those giving a low mark out of 10 I do wonder in our current circumstances how they think we might have achieved more?
Agreed. If we are in a deeper financial hole after this window then the low scores are justified, however if we have created headroom for the future and this squad can scrape into Europe (possible) then I feel 5s and 6s feel more reasonable.
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23 for the A List? Who are the two homegrowns?
Edit: I see Bogarde in your list now. I assume he counts as one. Who am I missing?
Bogarde (I think) is still fine for the B list, born four days after the cut-off. Unless UEFA haven't updated their website.
So I'm pretty sure we'll have a European squad of 21 plus da yoot. So I think one other player on that list above doesn't need to worry about digging out their passport.
Scenes if Malen misses out again.
It will be Garcia I think.
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I'm sure I'm not the only one, but it would make so much more sense for the window to shut before the start of the season. I'm sure that will be the message from Unai - get the new players on board and the season starts on September 13th - I include EMi in that too.
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In the circumstances that we find ourselves in, I’d say it was a relatively positive window. I think the club did as much as they realistically could to keep us competitive within the parameters that have been imposed on us.
It will be unfortunate if Martinez doesn’t knuckle down and get on with it, but that is down to the player rather than the club.
I would have preferred a more direct replacement for Bailey as a touchline-hugging winger, but I don’t know how that might have been, and whether they would have been gettable within our financial constraints.
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2/10 if we hadn't brought in Lindelof and Sancho it would have been 3.5. Dead wages for me, Lindelof will hardly play and Sancho doesn't want to be here.
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Not a great window, but keeping Martinez (or at the very least not ending up with Bizot as number one and unnamed kids vying for number two) plus the signing of Harvey Elliot has definitely leavened the bread a bit. Lindelof and Sancho is pretty fucking desperate and about as imaginative as a bowl of Ready Brek, but there we are, let's hope Unai can do Unai things with them.
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I think if you value keeping most of the squad together, like Emery said he did at the end of last season, you have to start with the question ‘what’s the best you can do with the money from Ramsey, KKH, and a few loan fees?’
I choose optimism in life as well as Villa, and I’m not a student of other teams’ players. I didn’t like Sancho because that twat Southgate seemed to prefer him to Joe, and to me when I saw him play for England he wasn’t in the same class. But today I’ll choose to note the positive stuff Matt Law has written about him. I’ll also choose to note what Liverpool fans say about Elliot. I’ll choose to think that you don’t last eight years and make 280 appearances for one of the biggest clubs in the world like Lindelof did (no matter how bad that club has been in that time) if you’re useless. And I actually do believe off my own bat that we’ve improved on Olsen and saved money.
So given all that and the restrictions we were under, I’ll give it an 8.5.
I’d have gone for more churn personally. We could have spent shitloads if we’d have sold shitloads, like Chelsea did, but I suppose that’s a bit riskier. Ideally for me we’d have at least sold Cash and got a better RB, but who knows if there was a willing buyer?
The £87m spent on Onana and Maatsen could and should have strengthened us more but that was another window.
I admire your optimism Percy, and I know you have given caveats, but 8.5 still feels incredibly generous.
I might be repeating my caveats here, but how much better could we have done under the direction - ‘right, you’ve got about £40m, you need change from that. Oh, and cut the wage bill while you’re at it’?
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I'm sure I'm not the only one, but it would make so much more sense for the window to shut before the start of the season. I'm sure that will be the message from Unai - get the new players on board and the season starts on September 13th - I include EMi in that too.
Totally agree, it seems ludicrous to start the season with players who have half an eye on a move. I suppose all the European leagues kicking off on different dates doesn’t help mind
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23 for the A List? Who are the two homegrowns?
Edit: I see Bogarde in your list now. I assume he counts as one. Who am I missing?
Bogarde (I think) is still fine for the B list, born four days after the cut-off. Unless UEFA haven't updated their website.
So I'm pretty sure we'll have a European squad of 21 plus da yoot. So I think one other player on that list above doesn't need to worry about digging out their passport.
Scenes if Malen misses out again.
It will be Garcia I think.
Yeah, he's probably the obvious candidate.
Although it seems a bit wild that with two players for every position, it looks like the one where we're going to say "nah, he's fine all on his own, make him the only specialist for that role and make sure there is cover everywhere else instead" is Matty Cash
Adding Elliot and Sancho probably makes Buendia the only realistic alternative.
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Elliot is better than JJ. Tielemans is better than Dougie. Rogers was better than the nobody doing his bit.
Diaby improved the first XI, he just so happened to be transformative for Bailey for the season he was here. So as with Maatsen with Digne, who found another level.
7th, 4th and a semi-final, 6th a Quarter Final and a semi final- yet we have a rotten transfer strategy. I dont find the argument persuasive in the least.
The amount of flack Onana cops from people on here borders the obsessive.
I'm much, much less impressed with Monchi than you (let's not forget Rogers was an Unai call, not a Monchi call), and I include in that overpricing Onana by about £20m, but I agree that the level of livid rage he gets from some is borderline embarrassing.
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I might be repeating my caveats here, but how much better could we have done under the direction - ‘right, you’ve got about £40m, you need change from that. Oh, and cut the wage bill while you’re at it’?
That’s a very succinct summing up.
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23 for the A List? Who are the two homegrowns?
Edit: I see Bogarde in your list now. I assume he counts as one. Who am I missing?
Bogarde (I think) is still fine for the B list, born four days after the cut-off. Unless UEFA haven't updated their website.
So I'm pretty sure we'll have a European squad of 21 plus da yoot. So I think one other player on that list above doesn't need to worry about digging out their passport.
Scenes if Malen misses out again.
It will be Garcia I think.
Yeah, he's probably the obvious candidate.
Although it seems a bit wild that with two players for every position, it looks like the one where we're going to say "nah, he's fine all on his own, make him the only specialist for that role and make sure there is cover everywhere else instead" is Matty Cash
Adding Elliot and Sancho probably makes Buendia the only realistic alternative.
We have Garcia to come back. He must be expecting him to be a first teamer.
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23 for the A List? Who are the two homegrowns?
Edit: I see Bogarde in your list now. I assume he counts as one. Who am I missing?
Bogarde (I think) is still fine for the B list, born four days after the cut-off. Unless UEFA haven't updated their website.
So I'm pretty sure we'll have a European squad of 21 plus da yoot. So I think one other player on that list above doesn't need to worry about digging out their passport.
Scenes if Malen misses out again.
It will be Garcia I think.
Yeah, he's probably the obvious candidate.
Although it seems a bit wild that with two players for every position, it looks like the one where we're going to say "nah, he's fine all on his own, make him the only specialist for that role and make sure there is cover everywhere else instead" is Matty Cash
Adding Elliot and Sancho probably makes Buendia the only realistic alternative.
We have Garcia to come back. He must be expecting him to be a first teamer.
Then which other player from:
GK: Martinez, Bizot
RB: Cash, Garcia
RCB: Konsa, Lindelof
LCB: Torres, Mings
LB: Digne, Maatsen
CM: Onana, Kamara, McGinn, Tielemans, Barkley
AM: Sancho, Rogers, Buendia, Elliott
ST: Watkins, Malen, Guessand
Is being left out of the European squad, if not him?
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Think it’ll be Garcia, Buendia or Barkley. Most likely Garcia.
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It's amazing how much difference 24 hours can make, but I think we've done alright this window - as long as you look at in in context.
The plan was obviously to get Martinez (and Bailey, Buendia etc) out as early as possible, and then use that money to add to the squad, but that didn't happen. One of the (many) drawbacks of the current rules is that it's much harder for clubs in our situation to get value for the players we sell. That's just how markets work. I'm sure we could have sold Martinez for a smaller fee earlier on in the window, but we held our ground. I don't mind that. Obviously that situation ended up blowing up, but he'll either go to Turkey/Saudi, or he'll come back and play. Every party involved has too much to lose for it not to work out, so I'm not too worried if he ends up playing for us again. He looks a bit of an idiot, but we all knew what he was like. (And I do think it was a bit funny how it all turned out).
I think I prefer Elliot to Asensio. Watching our game on Sunday, and the impact that Buendia made, it was clear that we really lack energy, which I think he'll provide. He's much younger, has won an awful lot in his short career, and seems keen to push on. It's a relatively low risk, high potential signing - exactly the type we should be making in our position.
As for Sancho - I have the benefit of ignorance here. I don't know much about him at all, other than he was great at Dortmund and not great at Man United. From the highlights I've seen of him, even at Chelsea last year, he looks to offer something we don't have - width, the ability to beat a man, and a will to smash the ball into the box for someone to finish. His wages may be too high, but I don't have the energy to worry about something that I don't fully understand. I have no idea how close we are to the restrictions we're under, or what restrictions we're under, for that matter, so I'm going to hope everything will be fine there.
The big thing now is to press a massive reset button on what's happened this summer, and start again. I think we'll know pretty quickly what sort of season we're going to have, and it all depends on the mentality of the squad. We have all seen those players play much better than they have done so far this season, and now there is a bit more quality in around them, I expect a drastic improvement. Everton away is a tricky game to come back to, but it's also a great opportunity to prove that what we have seen so far is nothing more than a minor blip.
I'm willing to give the lot of them a pass for the summer. I don't agree with the rules, but we are where we are. No excuses from here. The season starts now.
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Considering how things were shaping up towards the end of last week, I’m pretty content. I never thought Lindelof was any great shakes at Man Utd, but then haven’t thought anyone there is. Is he that much of a downgrade on Disasi or Lenglet as defensive cover, no his not. Its also good having another older head in their for dressing room harmony, he spoke well in his interview.
I haven’t followed Sancho’s career, on the odd time I’ve seen him, haven’t been impressed. But Unai has form for improving players and managing players with reputations for being difficult (Duran), so we need to give the left the benefit of the doubt.
I’m excited about the Elliot signing, he’s young though so will need supporter patience.
And then Emi…he’s fucked us over, Man U have fucked him over. Its really whether his relationship with Unai and is repairable. I doubt Martinez just wants to go anywhere for the sake of going, unless there is complete relationship breakdown. If there is he’ll be off to Turkey no doubt in coming days. I’d say ge’s miles better than anyone else we’ve got, so hopefully swallowing of pride and pragmatism take over until next summer of January at least.
Its a shame we have Everton away next, a home game and noisy Villa Park would of been perfect. A couple of goals and score draw/win, will set us away on the start of another Unai run of results. I choose optimism too.
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The only one I’m mildly excited about is Elliott
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Marks out of 10 for a theory test. We should do the same after they have actually played under Emery, that will be the real test.
Even so, I’m excited by Elliot, Guessand and Bisot are unknown at this stage. Lindelof, experienced back up nothing more. Sancho? I’ve never got Sancho. Dave tried to persuade me by his stats at Dortmund but since he’s been in the Prem’ he hasn’t pulled up any trees. Given he had a stint at Chelsea and they didn’t take up the option to buy him costing them £5 million is telling. He’ll probably get more starts with us so I’m hoping for something better than Bailey last season. If we see more of little emi then he’ll be either a flop or injured.
5/10
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Think it’ll be Garcia, Buendia or Barkley. Most likely Garcia.
Barkley for me as we have plenty of cover there.
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I think somehow, against all odds … we’ve not done that badly.
Kept most of the squad together. Only loses have been an unproductive Bailey and Ramsey who’s a genuine shame, but seems injury prone so perhaps not a terrible one to move on.
We’ve strengthened mildly. I like Elliot, he’s a good player. Sancho - jury is out. I’d be worried if he was our biggest name signing, but I don’t think he is now and there’s a small part of me that thinks he could thrive under Emery. Lindelöf, not one to set the pulses racing but probably works out cheaper than loaning a Disasi type player again. Feels a bit like we’ve at least attempted to address the lack of cover there anyway.
If paul_e was right and this is enough for us to exit the UEFA sanctions at the end of this season, it’ll be worth it IMO - as before, we’ve probably not got any worse and so that’s a good base to build from in 2026.
Time to reintegrate Big Emi and get on with the season.
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Elliot is similar to Roger’s and Buendia, so I dont think he’ll make much impact, or it’ll be at the expense of players we already have. Weirdly I’m more excited by Sancho as the squad is lacking genuine width and pace so I think he could be a bigger player than most are anticipating.
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Think it’ll be Garcia, Buendia or Barkley. Most likely Garcia.
Barkley for me as we have plenty of cover there.
Agree, that and his availability issues.
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I went to be bed a lot happier last night than I did on Sunday, the walk to and from the match felt like I was wearing lead boots but I'm now engaged for our next game which is quite the turnaround.
I don't think it will be a stellar season but we should be competitive and my view is still the one I had on Sunday. Finish as high as we can but go all out for the EL to get back into the CL via that route. FA Cup would be wonderful, LC would be ace.
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The only one I’m mildly excited about is Elliott
Straws grasping....Sancho might be useful against teams with a low block. Like Grealish he is quicker with the ball than without it and he can be quite skilful. We have been utterly clueless so far trying to break teams down.
But if Sancho was ever anything approaching the answer we would have got him in weeks ago.
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I think somehow, against all odds … we’ve not done that badly.
Kept most of the squad together. Only loses have been an unproductive Bailey and Ramsey who’s a genuine shame, but seems injury prone so perhaps not a terrible one to move on.
We’ve strengthened mildly. I like Elliot, he’s a good player. Sancho - jury is out. I’d be worried if he was our biggest name signing, but I don’t think he is now and there’s a small part of me that thinks he could thrive under Emery. Lindelöf, not one to set the pulses racing but probably works out cheaper than loaning a Disasi type player again. Feels a bit like we’ve at least attempted to address the lack of cover there anyway.
If paul_e was right and this is enough for us to exit the UEFA sanctions at the end of this season, it’ll be worth it IMO - as before, we’ve probably not got any worse and so that’s a good base to build from in 2026.
Time to reintegrate Big Emi and get on with the season.
I really hope I am.
With loan fees accounted for I think we're looking at about £20-25m in profit on transfers and with all the ins and outs I think we're looking at something like £25m off the annual wage bill as well, but there is a bit of guesswork in that because the numbers are hard to get for a lot of players.
The last published accounts for 23/24 had £252m for wages but over 13 months so £232m is a more accurate starting point. last season we were on to make a decent saving but most of that got eaten up by the loans. Even so I wouldn't be surprised if our projected wage bill for this season now sits at something like £200m, meaning we need revenue of £300m+ for this season, which seems likely even if we have a big drop off from last year by missing out on on the champions league.
So, with my napkin maths and a lot of estimates I think the position is:
PSR - no concerns
SCR - no concerns
UEFA Punishment - 3rd year target has been met already
If that's all correct and Martinez doesn't leave to Turkey/Saudi then:
Olsen - Bizot
Disasi - Lindelof
Asensio - Buendia
Rashford - Guessand
Bailey - Sancho
Ramsey - Elliott
I'll take that given how many balls we had to keep in the air whilst doing it. With the likes of Jimoh, Burrowes, Hemmings, Rowe and Patterson all seemingly heavily involved as well I think we're in a decent place.
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Verdict: It is as good as it was going to be.
What we need now is to knuckle down as it was shocking how we let this window dictate our on pitch performance. We need some goals scored and points on the board ASAP and potentially write this season off as a 'stay within the rules' whilst having a go at the cups. Whatever has happened off the field with PSR/SCR should now consolidate us rather than making us look like we are spitting out our dummies out.
Make what we have solid and crack on from there.
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My biggest hope is that this is the last summer we have to do this, and what we've done allows us to strengthen properly in future.
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Think it’ll be Garcia, Buendia or Barkley. Most likely Garcia.
Barkley for me as we have plenty of cover there.
I'm with you.
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I feel comfortable with what we have.
Elliott is a great addition who will give us drive and creativity, Sancho is unpredictable and better than Bailey, Lindelof adds experience and knows why he's here, Bizot is better than Olsen. Guessand is going to take a little time but he has good stats and works hard.
The downer is having to sell Ramsey. And it was proven right by the last minute fiasco with Martinez. We couldn't rely on him going so Ramsey was the one. We had to sell a player for good profit. Martinez, Watkins, Kamara and Rogers were the other 4 who could have given us the room. I think we let the right one go, gutted though I am that we had to.
Martinez will go at some point, and I can't see him not trying his best when he's on the pitch, he's far too proud for that. I certainly won't be singing World's No. 1, (until he saves a penalty in the FA Cup Final.)
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As I said my poor score isnt based on the club - I think everyone did the best job they could and then some. Just think we're weaker and its caused us to drop points already this season.
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Aston Villa’s transfer window: Martinez’s ‘move’, Emery’s financial frustration, final-day impetus
@J_Tanswell
This summer was expected to be challenging for Unai Emery and his closest aides — it turned out to be tumultuous.
Missing out on qualifying for the Champions League on goal difference on the final day of last season left a bitter taste, with senior figures realising a painful summer would ensue.
Emery returned to Valencia but kept in touch with Damian Vidagany, director of football operations and sporting director Monchi. They, along with other recruitment staff, mostly stayed working at the training ground as others went on holiday, only fitting in small breaks away.
Villa accepted that outgoings would be the priority even following the end of loans for Axel Disasi, Marco Asensio and Marcus Rashford.
Financially and practically, it was unfeasible to keep the same size of squad but players and coaches acknowledged Emery’s side needed freshness. By the final throes of the window, players told close friends and family about the squad’s need for help.
The mood at Bodymoor was fraught during the final week, amplified by Amadou Onana’s hamstring injury. Villa were attempting to be busy but few outside of the ‘triangle of power’ knew what they would entail. Emery, Monchi and Vidagany tightened their circle even closer and kept transfer targets closely guarded.
Emery’s request was simple: to bring players in for the here and now but the lack of finance available made that increasingly difficult. Emery is the overarching decision-maker, with other senior figures such as Monchi facilitating his wishes. It is a manager-led recruitment process, with several players brought to him and dismissed.
He pushed for West Ham United’s Lucas Paqueta. He is fond of the attacking midfielder, yet an agreement was always going to prove complex. There were three days left and West Ham did not want to sell.
Villa never made a formal offer for Paqueta and by the following day accepted that the 28-year-old’s signing was not going to happen.
Brief encouragement about Paqueta was indicative of a volatile and unpredictable environment, with the club left knowing they needed a lift, affirmed after the 3-0 home defeat to Crystal Palace on Sunday evening.
To make matters worse, Asensio remained a player of interest, yet he was about to fly to complete a move to Fenerbahce.
Villa were underpowered and under-equipped, with the circus surrounding Emiliano Martinez back. The mood within the dressing room was described by close observers — who, like others in this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity — as “really flat.”
While free agent Victor Lindelof had undergone his medical before signing and they were now exploring terms of an agreement for Jadon Sancho, there was an acceptance that Villa did not know what the final day would hold. Sancho duly arrived with Harvey Elliott soon following.
UEFA sanctions, comprising the Squad Cost Rule (SCR) and the football earnings rule, were highly restrictive.
Being edged out of a Champions League place meant an immediate deficit of £50million, so keeping players who could cover multiple positions was seen as a partial solution.
But the reality was that Villa needed to sell an important player, supplemented by outgoings of fringe players to ensure compliance.
At the end of May, Villa’s club turnover being spent on player wages was over 80 per cent and had to be lowered to 70 per cent or below.
To exacerbate matters, Villa had to adhere to UEFA’s version of Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) — the football earnings rule. The situation was so complex that many staff did not know or understand the full picture of the spending troubles.
As this was to be Villa’s third successive season participating in European competition, UEFA rules state clubs can lose no more than €60m (£51.6m; $70.1m) over that period, plus a possible €10m per year if European football’s governing body deems them to be in a ‘good’ financial state.
The football earnings rule is a tighter version than the Premier League’s PSR, which permits losses of up to £105m ($142m) across three years. This squeezed Villa further as UEFA restrictions were always deemed to be the bigger issue, despite them selling their women’s team to V Sports, the holding company that owns the club, to solve this year’s PSR issue.
Jacob Ramsey was the player who had to make way. A homegrown product, Ramsey was well-liked in the dressing room and someone whose roots in the Midlands were entrenched.
Ten months of contact talks were yet to be resolved between his representatives and Villa but Ramsey was not keen on leaving. Yet, in truth, the desire to keep him was not as strong as it was in other players, like Morgan Rogers.
Players in the dressing room knew how hard it was for Ramsey to go and his departure was described by sources as “needs must” in the bid to comply with UEFA sanctions.
The 24-year-old met Emery and his staff on the morning of August 13 to decide on his next steps. An offer from Newcastle United had been received but there was no agreement over fee or personal terms. Villa’s asking price lowered after a senior source suggested £50m earlier in the summer, with a deal struck for £39m plus £5m in difficult-to-achieve add-ons at lunchtime the day after Ramsey spoke to Emery.
The assumption that the club would now have money to spend after Ramsey’s sale was not true — more exits were needed.
A factor was the impact of player sales with UEFA. Domestic PSR and the football earnings rule include all of the profit booked on any departures. For Ramsey, all of his £39m fee would be pure bookable profit for the Premier League’s accounting books, but the prorating method used for SCR meant only one-third of sales profits were included in that.
Villa’s £39m sale only contributed £13m of their squad cost denominator in the 2025 calculation with UEFA, with the next two instalments of £13m accounted for the next two seasons, provided Emery’s side are still in Europe.
There were lengthy attempts to sign Sverre Nypan. They had scope in the budget for the 18-year-old, who would have cost around £12-£14m.
Villa had been confident of an agreement with the player and Rosenborg for several months, seeming ahead of other interested parties, including Arsenal. Villa had laid the groundwork, with Monchi making trips to Norway to meet his family. The wider recruitment team created presentations and Villa thought a deal was verbally agreed.
But there was no signature and Villa grew disheartened. Paperwork that should only have taken a week was still not completed more than a month later. A futile offer was made to allow Nypan to stay at Rosenborg for a season on loan, with a sense that an auction around was being created and Manchester City, his eventual destination, at the table.
Villa liked Real Betis’ Jesus Rodriguez but Como were always ahead in that race.
June rolled into July and Villa were stuck in a holding pattern. They had expected departures to materialise, with those players returning for pre-season. This was illustrated in the case of Leon Bailey. A wide player was wanted but could not happen without Bailey leaving.
Villa knew they were short of firepower without Rashford and Asensio. Even if Rashford’s time at Villa was encouraging rather than spectacular, he had impressed staff. He was described as “incredible in training” by sources, staying behind after sessions to do individual work. He even came to Bodymoor Heath following the conclusion of the campaign to complete rehabilitation for an injury.
The sticking point, though, was that he and Asensio were financially prohibitive. Rashford’s salary was nearly twice as much as Villa’s best-paid player, Emiliano Martinez. They looked at other attacking players like Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo, but were quoted £60m before significant add-ons.
Senior figures travelled to Madrid in June to explain the financial situation to Asensio’s representatives and why they could not afford the required package at the time. They explained that should funds be available towards the end of the window, circumstances may change. As it transpired, they nearly did, even though a deal was always described as “difficult” by observers close to the situation, owing to PSG wanting a fee and having to take on his high salary permanently.
An offer for Toulouse defender Jaydee Canvot was rejected. Toulouse wanted more than the offer that fell below €20m. Initially, Villa sought a young defender to understudy Ezri Konsa, and a higher fee would be difficult to reach. It was a figure that Crystal Palace achieved, causing Villa to pivot to Lindelof.
One moment of relief was Evann Guessand’s arrival from Nice. He was a player Villa had the funds to do, though they were reaching their limits, paying €30m plus a further €5m in add-ons. The 24-year-old’s versatility in playing across the frontline was key. Villa always felt they had room for Guessand, who had been tracked last season.
Emery was an admirer of Alejandro Garnacho, though Villa’s preference for a loan and the player wanting Chelsea made any hope of a move ambitious. Tyler Dibling was of interest but he left Southampton for Everton in a £35m deal.
Lucas Digne had been on Atletico Madrid’s shortlist before they decided to go elsewhere. His representatives visited Bodymoor in July to agree a two-year extension on top of the final 12 months existing, with the France international agreeing a cut in salary.
Speculation around Douglas Luiz returning on loan from Juventus was misplaced — sources insisted they were not interested in signing a midfielder then — so too were links to Porto forward Samu Aghehowa.
There were several players whose futures were profoundly uncertain.
Despite signing a lucrative, long-term contract six months earlier, it was an open secret around the training ground that Martinez wanted to leave. He had been telling team-mates and staff alike he was moving, yet it was unclear as to where, considering he did not want to go to Saudi Arabia and potential destinations, such as Atletico Madrid, had a goalkeeper.
His representatives had been in talks with Manchester United since the start of the year. Villa sources state Ruben Amorim and his international team-mate Lisandro Martinez had spoken to the goalkeeper about the possibility of joining United as early as July. Amorim outlined his plans, insisting Martinez would be a key player.
Those conversations continued throughout the summer and the goalkeeper was enamoured by what he heard. Any deal would have cost in excess of £30m and meant United took on his high salary, as Villa’s highest earner.
Had Martinez left earlier in the window, Espanyol’s Joan Garcia was seen as a perfect choice due to his £21.4m release clause. There was a belief that Lille’s Lucas Chevalier would cost €60m, which made further enquiries improbable.
Villa had done heavy due diligence on both keepers, who ended up joining Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, as well as Antwerp’s Senne Lammens, having been flagged within their data this summer.
At first, Martinez was seen to have settled back into the group and was accompanied by Villa’s first summer signing, Marco Bizot from Brest, who planned to serve as his deputy. The 34-year-old joined Villa for a fee in the low millions, which was internally regarded as a significant upgrade on Robin Olsen.
Martinez and United did not go away. It felt a taxing situation to come to terms with, given Emery had told journalists three days before the window shut that he did not expect any of his big players to leave, especially as he tends to leave the door ajar on most players’ futures. If Martinez left, Villa had to replace him, which only added to the list of tasks left to do in a short space of time — despite the interest, United had still not made a new proposal until the final day, when they were deciding between him and Lammens.
Emery and Monchi remain close with agent Jorge Mendes, similarly to many clubs and sporting directors, who have a representative they are closer to. In that respect, and with Mendes’ company Gestifute representing Emery, it is not unusual.
Mendes, however, had the capacity to be involved in several dealings. Reports of him being drafted in to assist Martinez with his transfer came early in the summer, while he represented Asensio and Porto’s goalkeeper, Diogo Costa. He was a player some staff thought would prove to be Martinez’s replacement.
Lammens, though, was viewed more favourably from a data perspective. Last season was difficult for Costa — viewed to have undergone a noticeable dip — with Lammens, only 23, regarded as the more consistent. He was discussed before Martinez revived his desire to move.
In the end, United decided on Lammens. Martinez was at Bodymoor on Monday, confidently waiting for United and Amorim to ask him to get to Manchester to complete a move. Much to his disappointment, the call never came. United never made a formal offer — just a phone call in July enquiring about a loan, which could have been regarded as a token gesture.
Rogers received interest from several Premier League clubs, including Arsenal and Chelsea. Villa were aware of suitors and knew he would be heavily relied upon this season as the chief source of creativity. They outlined their wish to arrange a new contract, intending to satisfy his status as an integral player.
At the end of July, Villa rejected a formal offer from Everton for captain John McGinn, despite news of a bid only surfacing in August. By that stage, Villa had made it clear that McGinn was staying and explained they, like with Rogers, hoped to agree a new contract with the Scotland international after the window.
Matty Cash held discussions over extending his stay but was the subject of interest from his former club, Nottingham Forest. Villa did not receive a formal approach as Forest decided to pursue other targets in the end.
Ollie Watkins’ situation was more opaque. Having grown frustrated at the end of last season when he was overlooked for both legs of the Champions League quarter-final against PSG, there was a feeling this summer was the time to part ways.
There were frank exchanges of opinion, but the 29-year-old is well-liked by staff, who describe him as a “gentleman” in his professional approach.
It was hard to see Villa finding an upgrade for a striker who has hit the 15 league goal threshold in each of the last three campaigns, especially under their restrictions. They had dismissed a £40m offer from Arsenal in January — a package that was to be paid in six separate instalments — while United identified Watkins as a candidate.
If Watkins had left, Villa had a list of potential replacements. RB Leipzig’s Lois Openda was admired and so too was Nicolas Jackson, who Emery worked with at Villarreal.
Gradually, the sands started to shift, albeit too slowly to consider meaningful recruits. Villa moved on peripheral figures, like Enzo Barrenechea, who signed for Benfica on loan with an obligation. Yasin Ozcan arrived at the start of July only to leave for Anderlecht on an initial loan with an option.
A resolution was found for high earner Philippe Coutinho after Villa had to wait for the final amortisation payment to Barcelona before releasing him with a year left on his contract.
Real Betis contacted Alex Moreno before opting for Leeds United’s Junior Firpo. Moreno eventually agreed to move to Girona, with Villa allowing the 32-year-old to leave for free in efforts to reduce the wage bill further, but with a 40 per cent sell-on clause.
Leander Dendoncker left for Oviedo for free and Bailey, having been in discussions with Turkish and Saudi Pro League clubs, settled for Roma. Talks had centred on a loan with obligation, yet ended with a loan plus an option. Roma are paying a fee, covering the entirety of his salary and this season’s amortisation.
With four days left of the window, Emery was still pushing for two to three players, showing he possessed a level of authority rarely seen among modern-day managers. Villa, in the meantime, had been offered players. RB Leipzig were keen to drive value in Lutsharel Geertruida, offering the defender to several clubs, including Villa, who were interested in him last summer and held preliminary talks again. Marseille’s Adrien Rabiot’s name was discussed among representatives.
Lindelof’s deal accelerated late on Sunday, with Villa beating Everton for his signature. At this stage, his former United team-mate Sancho was becoming an increasingly attractive proposition, separate from Martinez’s future.
Villa’s yearning for renewed impetus started to arrive. Villa struck terms for a season-long loan for Sancho, agreeing to cover 80 per cent of his sizeable salary. Emery’s desire for a creative midfielder was then found through Liverpool’s Elliott.
Staff had rated Elliott but were unsure if his acquisition could be pulled off, due to finances and RB Leipzig’s interest. Crucially, Villa received encouragement that Liverpool were open to structuring a favourable deal to aid compliance with UEFA restrictions. Elliott joined on a loan comprising an obligation to buy which is dependent on him making 10 appearances this season. Liverpool sources indicated that the package was worth around £35m, while Villa say it is a lower figure.
Villa had rejected an initial offer of a loan with an option to buy from Stuttgart for Emiliano Buendia earlier in the week and headed into the final day with his future uncertain. Buendia pushed to stay having been encouraged by the minutes he had received in recent matches.
Talks were held with Newcastle over the signing of forward William Osula, having opened lines of communication after Ramsey’s move. But any transfer proved increasingly unlikely as time on deadline day passed and was halted by Villa’s UEFA’s financial restrictions
All in all, three came through the door on the final day, adding to the two that had arrived. They had achieved Emery’s goal of adding quality and attempted to lift the gloom. Just.
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I think somehow, against all odds … we’ve not done that badly.
Kept most of the squad together. Only loses have been an unproductive Bailey and Ramsey who’s a genuine shame, but seems injury prone so perhaps not a terrible one to move on.
We’ve strengthened mildly. I like Elliot, he’s a good player. Sancho - jury is out. I’d be worried if he was our biggest name signing, but I don’t think he is now and there’s a small part of me that thinks he could thrive under Emery. Lindelöf, not one to set the pulses racing but probably works out cheaper than loaning a Disasi type player again. Feels a bit like we’ve at least attempted to address the lack of cover there anyway.
If paul_e was right and this is enough for us to exit the UEFA sanctions at the end of this season, it’ll be worth it IMO - as before, we’ve probably not got any worse and so that’s a good base to build from in 2026.
Time to reintegrate Big Emi and get on with the season.
I really hope I am.
With loan fees accounted for I think we're looking at about £20-25m in profit on transfers and with all the ins and outs I think we're looking at something like £25m off the annual wage bill as well, but there is a bit of guesswork in that because the numbers are hard to get for a lot of players.
The last published accounts for 23/24 had £252m for wages but over 13 months so £232m is a more accurate starting point. last season we were on to make a decent saving but most of that got eaten up by the loans. Even so I wouldn't be surprised if our projected wage bill for this season now sits at something like £200m, meaning we need revenue of £300m+ for this season, which seems likely even if we have a big drop off from last year by missing out on on the champions league.
So, with my napkin maths and a lot of estimates I think the position is:
PSR - no concerns
SCR - no concerns
UEFA Punishment - 3rd year target has been met already
If that's all correct and Martinez doesn't leave to Turkey/Saudi then:
Olsen - Bizot
Disasi - Lindelof
Asensio - Buendia
Rashford - Guessand
Bailey - Sancho
Ramsey - Elliott
I'll take that given how many balls we had to keep in the air whilst doing it. With the likes of Jimoh, Burrowes, Hemmings, Rowe and Patterson all seemingly heavily involved as well I think we're in a decent place.
I hope you’re correct in this paul. Thanks for grafting to work out some rough numbers for us.
Next season the strategy must be to reduce the average age. That won’t be easy as it’ll mean shipping out some ‘names’ that have been part of our recent growth.
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If Watkins had left, Villa had a list of potential replacements. RB Leipzig’s Lois Openda was admired and so too was Nicolas Jackson, who Emery worked with at Villarreal.
Given we were looking at a forward who could play across the front, were mainly looking at loan signings, and we've allegedly been interested before was surprised to see Openda move on loan to Juventus yesterday.
I'd have preferred that to Guessand.
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Hopefully reducing the average age happens naturally as we bring some of the kids through anyway, which is why I don't mind the odd signing like Lindelof and Bizot who plug a gap and give us time and space to see if Proctor, Zych, Routh, Bogarde, etc can step up and take that place from them over the next 2 years.
My only real worry in that regard is that we, like most clubs, seem to be struggling to bring through strikers, across the rest of the pitch we either have kids in reserve who we're giving a chance or we already have a younger player in the first team squad.
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I'm surprised so many are blaming Monchi and Vidagney for the wage/revenue. I seem to remember the club was always around 90% most of the time it has ever been mentioned. The whole "tottenhams wage bill" debate 17 years ago was because we were that high wasn't it?
Didn't it only go to 96% because the club did a 13month accounting period which added an extra months costs during a time little revenue would have been coming in? I'm not sure that decicision would have been on Monchi/Vidagney.
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I'm surprised so many are blaming Monchi and Vidagney for the wage/revenue. I seem to remember the club was always around 90% most of the time it has ever been mentioned. The whole "tottenhams wage bill" debate 17 years ago was because we were that high wasn't it?
Didn't it only go to 96% because the club did a 13month accounting period which added an extra months costs during a time little revenue would have been coming in? I'm not sure that decicision would have been on Monchi/Vidagney.
Yep, 87% is the 'real' figure and even then that is pointless for SCR because that's measured on calendar year not by season.
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Judging it purely on the outcomes, I would give a 5/10, on the basis that the squad is roughly equivalent to 12 months ago.
If I were to factor in a "market difficulty" premium, that would bump it up to a 6 or a 7/10.
Personally, I thought that we needed something more radical this summer, believing that "one last push" with this spine was not going to enable us to make progress. Circumstances seemed to be pointing in that direction too, with a few attractive assets ripe to leave in Emi, Ollie and (in my view) Konsa. So for me, a 10/10 would probably have seen them depart and the cash reinvested in the team.
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Not going to repost JT's piece but it must be a surprise to the club, and the players themselves, how friendless Watkins & Martinez were on the market. Amorim might have wanted both but he's on very thin ice there so I can see why he was overruled. Hardly a hint of interest elsewhere it seems.
Think I put this on another thread but I'd have looked to have moved on others to regenerate the squad in the circumstances way ahead of JJ. Sure we finished the season strong but Wembley & Old Trafford were finisher days really for Emerys team. Kamara for me, despite being a very talented player, Id have moved on and Konsa too (no surprise) both ahead of JJ. Misfits like Onana and Malen are pointless and should have been moved on again. I'm definitely a fan of Elliot over Asensio, I can see the logic there. Guessand and Sancho are odd signings, one would have done and budget spent elsewhere.
Anyway, thankfully it's over and we go again.
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It’s been a window to forget. Not so much in that we haven’t been canny etc… Elliott should be a hit.
Just the fact that we have been left stranded by the big 4/5 teams flexing their substantial financial clout. Our progress has effectively been extinguished (on paper). The only saving grace being Unai and the hope that we can still be competitive
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It’s been a window to forget. Not so much in that we haven’t been canny etc… Elliott should be a hit.
Eliot is the one real light from the window. Whisper it, but he is an upgrade on JJ. Much is expected of him – do hope he's brought his shooting boots.
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Not going to repost JT's piece but it must be a surprise to the club, and the players themselves, how friendless Watkins & Martinez were on the market. Amorim might have wanted both but he's on very thin ice there so I can see why he was overruled. Hardly a hint of interest elsewhere it seems.
Think I put this on another thread but I'd have looked to have moved on others to regenerate the squad in the circumstances way ahead of JJ. Sure we finished the season strong but Wembley & Old Trafford were finisher days really for Emerys team. Kamara for me, despite being a very talented player, Id have moved on and Konsa too (no surprise) both ahead of JJ. Misfits like Onana and Malen are pointless and should have been moved on again. I'm definitely a fan of Elliot over Asensio, I can see the logic there. Guessand and Sancho are odd signings, one would have done and budget spent elsewhere.
Anyway, thankfully it's over and we go again.
You're nuts.
Kamara? That's a joke and renders your opinion on most things as questionable.
Konsa, well you're blind as far as he's concerned.
Malen and Onana have no profit in them so pointless moving on.
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Drummond, everyone's shit and should be sold and that's just how it is. Apart from Matty Cash.
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We were told at the start of the summer that it would be a tough summer with finances, the UEFA message was that we had to make a profit….it was and we have.
Obviously sacrificing JJ was far far from ideal & it’s never good selling a home grown player you don’t want to sell. If he stays fit (& I won’t miss the panic everytime he goes down holding that foot!) and gets a run up there he will likely be around the England squad at some point.
Guessand as the only cash outlay will essentially be the one we judge the window by.
I personally wouldn’t have gone near Lindelof but financially the deal make sense when you consider how much we paid out on Disasi last year to be a back up. It gives back up to Konsa which was needed….not sure it helps the right back woes though.
Sancho is another punt…get the Dortmund Sancho out of him then he is an asset….not sure any other club has got anything of that form out of him so it’s a big one for Unai to achieve.
Elliott from nowhere was a pleasant surprise and turned a very poor window into one we could work with.
Again, very personal opinion but I am glad we didn’t go back for Asensio - sure him and Duran will bite us on the arse in the Europa game but I think we had the real value out of him in that short, sharp loan period…be interesting to see how he goes in Turkey but I suspect he’ll move about a few times in next 2/3 years gradually down the level of clubs.
Having said the output from Guessand will be where the window is judged it will actually be the next 2/3 weeks and how the club & player deal with the Martinez fall out…explain what happened, get all the players back on the same page until at least January and we go again…if he isn’t reintegrated quickly it will overshadow everything so needs to be done
For me;
Sunday 5.45pm - window was D
Monday 7pm - window was C+
Summed up perfectly for me.
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Lindelop is a replacement for Disasi. I'd say an improvement
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I've often found myself non-plussed after transfer windows under Unai only to be proven wrong so long may it continue.
Interesting comments re lack of suitors for Ollie and Emi. It was definitely my preference to keep them but they need to show they're still up to it if we're to have a good season along with the likes of Konsa, McGinn, Tielemans, Rogers. All players who have been massively important to good form in the past and need to be again.
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Not sure where to stick this so I’ll plonk it here:
https://archive.is/2025.09.01-215420/https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-15055389/Aston-Villa-transfer-news-Emiliano-Martinez.html
Thanks. This is a good reminder to any of our fans not wanting him around: If Martinez stays, Villa fans should look at the examples of Luka Modric and Luis Suarez, two of the best players to grace the Premier League. Modric was at odds with Tottenham in summer 2011, as was Suarez with Liverpool two years later.
Both wanted to leave, both were told to stay – and delivered fine seasons before moving on the following spring. There is no reason Martinez cannot do the same, especially with a World Cup to retain next summer.
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He's too important and good to be bomb-squaded.
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I think Barry and Southgate both had full seasons for us after expressing a desire to leave, too.
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I wouldn't have minded the young kid Redmond sticking around but hopefully he'll have a cracking season at Huddersfield. It'll be interesting to see how he does.
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I suppose the big question is whether Elliott, Sancho and Lindelof are an upgrade on JJ, Bailey and Disasi, and to be fair it’s a close call - and of course we now have Guessand. Obviously Asensio and Rashford upped our squad in the winter but there I suppose we could do that again although loan spots are already taken up
All in all we are now no worse off than we were at the beginning of last season
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I wouldn't have minded the young kid Redmond sticking around but hopefully he'll have a cracking season at Huddersfield. It'll be interesting to see how he does.
I agree. One of my great pleasures of following the Villa, and being on this site, is the loanwatch thread. Increases interest when not much is happening with the first team.
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23 for the A List? Who are the two homegrowns?
Edit: I see Bogarde in your list now. I assume he counts as one. Who am I missing?
Bogarde (I think) is still fine for the B list, born four days after the cut-off. Unless UEFA haven't updated their website.
So I'm pretty sure we'll have a European squad of 21 plus da yoot. So I think one other player on that list above doesn't need to worry about digging out their passport.
Scenes if Malen misses out again.
It will be Garcia I think.
Yeah, he's probably the obvious candidate.
Although it seems a bit wild that with two players for every position, it looks like the one where we're going to say "nah, he's fine all on his own, make him the only specialist for that role and make sure there is cover everywhere else instead" is Matty Cash
Adding Elliot and Sancho probably makes Buendia the only realistic alternative.
We have Garcia to come back. He must be expecting him to be a first teamer.
Then which other player from:
GK: Martinez, Bizot
RB: Cash, Garcia
RCB: Konsa, Lindelof
LCB: Torres, Mings
LB: Digne, Maatsen
CM: Onana, Kamara, McGinn, Tielemans, Barkley
AM: Sancho, Rogers, Buendia, Elliott
ST: Watkins, Malen, Guessand
Is being left out of the European squad, if not him?
Fair comment. I can’t see Buendia, Malen or Gussand being left out. The Europa is the ideal competition for them to see action. Maybe Garcia will get Premier League time to permit rotation.
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I think Barry and Southgate both had full seasons for us after expressing a desire to leave, too.
Both played some of their best football for us in their final season and James Milner, 100% professional and who can forget the commitment and desire in his final game against West Ham.
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I'm surprised to see it 'confirmed' or at least repeated, that we are picking up such a large proportion of Sancho's wages. It didn't seem like there was a lot of competition to get him in.
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I'm surprised to see it 'confirmed' or at least repeated, that we are picking up such a large proportion of Sancho's wages. It didn't seem like there was a lot of competition to get him in.
I don’t think we were in a position to pretend we were doing them a favour. We were equally desperate.
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I wasnt expecting any signings than Lindelof so Im actually alright about it . I think Elliot and Sancho are better than JJ and Bailey . Sancho worked hard at Chavski and there was no problem with him at all , the system didnt suit him thou but I havent forgive him for that goal against Ipswich as I knew that has cememted their chumps league place now. I think he will settle quickly as he knows Malen and Maatsen really well.
Elliot was absolute quality at the euros 21 , his goals and playmaking was brilliant , a busy lee hendrie/buendia type and just turned 22 , such a great signing , excited and not injury prone at all and Liverpool fans rate him .
Guessand has massive potential and could just be something unpredictible we can use , rated by a few french football followers.
No problem with Lindelof and Im hoping Garcia is used more too .
Really wanted a RB as I think Cash needs upgrading.
Im sure Martinez stays as No.1 after bridges as been healed , he has been a right plonker , can be a arrogant bellend but still our best goalie and we need characters with arrogance still , we cant have Bizot playing 50 games so what choice we have .
anyway I feel better than Sunday at 9 pm.
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GK: Martinez, Bizot
RB: Cash, Garcia
RCB: Konsa, Lindelof
LCB: Torres, Mings
LB: Digne, Maatsen
CM: Onana, Kamara, McGinn, Tielemans, Barkley
AM: Sancho, Rogers, Buendia, Elliott
ST: Watkins, Malen, Guessand
So, this looks like a decent squad on paper.
Concerns:
* The biggest - can Emery shift his approach to one less focussed on pointless possession and deliver a more dynamic style?
* GK: Obviously, getting Emi's head back in a good place is a priority (I'm hoping that ManUre have done us a big favour by messing Emi around, and that he is now totally focussed on outperforming them this season).
* CB: are collectively slow. Will Konsa really get pressure from (the only 31 yrs-old!) Lindelof for his place in the team?
* FB: the RHS!
* CMF: fitness of Kamara; can Onana find some high-level consistency?
* ST: can we get Malen and Guessand scoring goals to take the pressure off Watkins?
Opportunities:
* The attacking elements actually look promising now, with Elliott particularly coming in
* Martinez will now hopefully refocus
* Some of the youngsters are ready to be properly introduced to first-team football
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Not going to repost JT's piece but it must be a surprise to the club, and the players themselves, how friendless Watkins & Martinez were on the market. Amorim might have wanted both but he's on very thin ice there so I can see why he was overruled. Hardly a hint of interest elsewhere it seems.
Think I put this on another thread but I'd have looked to have moved on others to regenerate the squad in the circumstances way ahead of JJ. Sure we finished the season strong but Wembley & Old Trafford were finisher days really for Emerys team. Kamara for me, despite being a very talented player, Id have moved on and Konsa too (no surprise) both ahead of JJ. Misfits like Onana and Malen are pointless and should have been moved on again. I'm definitely a fan of Elliot over Asensio, I can see the logic there. Guessand and Sancho are odd signings, one would have done and budget spent elsewhere.
Anyway, thankfully it's over and we go again.
You're nuts.
Kamara? That's a joke and renders your opinion on most things as questionable.
Konsa, well you're blind as far as he's concerned.
Malen and Onana have no profit in them so pointless moving on.
Kamara, biggest concern is his injury record. Missed 58 games in three seasons with us and limping off again v Brentford. Thought he would have been the easiest sell too.
Konsa continues to get a pass on here for whatever reason, poor form has rolled into this season. The other two maybe could have been moved on loan with obligations or some other FFP friendly deal. Onana unavailable yet again already with an injury. No idea where Malen will play after we signed three new wide players, very expensive backup to Watkins it looks like.
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* Some of the youngsters are ready to be properly introduced to first-team football
which ones?
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If we have another like this one when all qe can muster is two loans and freebie then unai wont be sticking around for much longer
Its absolutely essential we make sure we are not in this financial situation again next summer
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Drummond, everyone's shit and should be sold and that's just how it is. Apart from Matty Cash.
You must be still hungover, Matty Cash is the reason everyone is shit, especially Konsa. He probably unsettled Martinez with the back pass at Old Trafford too.
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If we have another like this one when all qe can muster is two loans and freebie then unai wont be sticking around for much longer
Its absolutely essential we make sure we are not in this financial situation again next summer
From the sound of it, none of this has come as a huge surprise to Emery & Co. It also sounds like maybe we’ve taken a harsh approach this summer specifically to make next summer a bit easier on ourselves.
I’d expect few to no incoming players in January, but some serious business next summer (assuming the above and that it’s gone to plan)
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I'm surprised to see it 'confirmed' or at least repeated, that we are picking up such a large proportion of Sancho's wages. It didn't seem like there was a lot of competition to get him in.
I don’t think we were in a position to pretend we were doing them a favour. We were equally desperate.
Or even maybe we’ve agreed for that story to float about as it suits them?
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If we have another like this one when all qe can muster is two loans and freebie then unai wont be sticking around for much longer
Its absolutely essential we make sure we are not in this financial situation again next summer
From the sound of it, none of this has come as a huge surprise to Emery & Co. It also sounds like maybe we’ve taken a harsh approach this summer specifically to make next summer a bit easier on ourselves.
I’d expect few to no incoming players in January, but some serious business next summer (assuming the above and that it’s gone to plan)
I hope so algy because we really cannot afford another summer like this again. One of the worst since the one dave w said when we said samatta nogoal and drunkwater
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I'm surprised to see it 'confirmed' or at least repeated, that we are picking up such a large proportion of Sancho's wages. It didn't seem like there was a lot of competition to get him in.
I don’t think we were in a position to pretend we were doing them a favour. We were equally desperate.
Or even maybe we’ve agreed for that story to float about as it suits them?
We are supposedly paying 80% of his £200K a week salary, if various reports are true? As we are in a tight corner financially let's hope he delivers. Lindelof was asking for £100K plus according to Swedish media I read, and we had to fend off Everton and Fiorentina for his signature. Both players surplus to requirements, football is truly mad regarding player salaries.
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The thing that sticks with me most from the Tanswell piece is Morgan Rogers being seen as "the main source of creativity". Don't like the sound of that, it's like Gerrardball and "a bit of magic". Hopefully the new arrivals, all of whom I am happy to have on board, trigger a change in system and bit of the load removed from Rogers' shoulders.
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Summer signing squad numbers in full are as follows:
3. Victor Lindelöf
9. Harvey Elliott
19. Jadon Sancho
29. Evann Guessand
40. Marco Bizot
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* Some of the youngsters are ready to be properly introduced to first-team football
which ones?
Jimoh-Aliba, Burrowes, Hemmings, Rowe and Patterson seem to be the ones Emery has looked at during pre-season. I'd like to think they'll get some gametime in the cups and in Europe. Hemmings, to me, looks most ready, but I'm not watching them in training every day.
We really need Wilson and Cotcher - the two junior stikers - to step up, too.
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If Watkins had left, Villa had a list of potential replacements. RB Leipzig’s Lois Openda was admired and so too was Nicolas Jackson, who Emery worked with at Villarreal.
Given we were looking at a forward who could play across the front, were mainly looking at loan signings, and we've allegedly been interested before was surprised to see Openda move on loan to Juventus yesterday.
I'd have preferred that to Guessand.
Yes, I really like Openda too.
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* Some of the youngsters are ready to be properly introduced to first-team football
which ones?
Jimoh-Aliba, Burrowes, Hemmings, Rowe and Patterson seem to be the ones Emery has looked at during pre-season. I'd like to think they'll get some gametime in the cups and in Europe. Hemmings, to me, looks most ready, but I'm not watching them in training every day.
We really need Wilson and Cotcher - the two junior stikers - to step up, too.
Agree & would add Broggio & possibly Borland to that list where there could be opportunities to get on the bench occasionally
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* Some of the youngsters are ready to be properly introduced to first-team football
which ones?
Jimoh-Aliba, Burrowes, Hemmings, Rowe and Patterson seem to be the ones Emery has looked at during pre-season. I'd like to think they'll get some gametime in the cups and in Europe. Hemmings, to me, looks most ready, but I'm not watching them in training every day.
We really need Wilson and Cotcher - the two junior stikers - to step up, too.
Proctor is clearly the 3rd keeper as well.
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Jimoh-Aliba, Burrowes, Hemmings, Rowe and Patterson seem to be the ones Emery has looked at during pre-season. I'd like to think they'll get some gametime in the cups and in Europe. Hemmings, to me, looks most ready, but I'm not watching them in training every day.
We really need Wilson and Cotcher - the two junior stikers - to step up, too.
Tristan Rowe has joined Ligue 2 side FC Annecy on a season long loan.
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That piece by Tanswell shows just how headshrinking it must be. Players are moving parts like cattle looking for the hest field to graze on. We've had to manage money, egos, whatif scenarios and a host of other logistics. Of course every other club does too to some extent but it must be high-pressure when these lads are costing & earning absolute fortunes and bleeding the club dry.
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This article shows how 1 thing can effect a number of clubs.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cvgngkwyx4ro
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* Some of the youngsters are ready to be properly introduced to first-team football
which ones?
Jimoh-Aliba, Burrowes, Hemmings, Rowe and Patterson seem to be the ones Emery has looked at during pre-season. I'd like to think they'll get some gametime in the cups and in Europe. Hemmings, to me, looks most ready, but I'm not watching them in training every day.
We really need Wilson and Cotcher - the two junior stikers - to step up, too.
The only thing I would add/change is I don't want to see our youngsters lumped all together in a crappy cup game or in Europe. I want to see the introduced into the first XI, off the bench to begin with and not 5 minutes of added time. Give them a chance to show what they can do with the best around them, not a mish-mash of the 'rest' cobbled together. It's the only way they really should be judged.
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* Some of the youngsters are ready to be properly introduced to first-team football
which ones?
Jimoh-Aliba, Burrowes, Hemmings, Rowe and Patterson seem to be the ones Emery has looked at during pre-season. I'd like to think they'll get some gametime in the cups and in Europe. Hemmings, to me, looks most ready, but I'm not watching them in training every day.
We really need Wilson and Cotcher - the two junior stikers - to step up, too.
The only thing I would add/change is I don't want to see our youngsters lumped all together in a crappy cup game or in Europe. I want to see the introduced into the first XI, off the bench to begin with and not 5 minutes of added time. Give them a chance to show what they can do with the best around them, not a mish-mash of the 'rest' cobbled together. It's the only way they really should be judged.
I agree completely, one of thethings we've got badly wrong in the past is 'kids' getting 15-20 appearances but most of them being either a few minutes in a dead game or thrown together as a sacrifice in the cup. 2-3 managers over the last 20-30years have been particularly bad for that, MON probably the worst.
I'd like players to come through in a similar way to Bogarde if possible.
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This article shows how 1 thing can effect a number of clubs.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cvgngkwyx4ro
Sources close to the deal explained that Chelsea ultimately ended up getting improved terms for Jackson, with Bayern now paying a £14.3m loan fee with an obligation to buy based on appearances made for £56m. A total package in excess of £70m would be some return for a player that cost £32m from Villarreal in 2023.
It's remarkable how Chelsea keep getting such high fees for players they have essentially written off. In the meantime, they are paying Stirling £300k a week for two more seasons to train alone and I assume, given the massive cost of our loan last season, Disasi who is keeping him company is also on a big whack.
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Disasi's apparently only on £40k per week.
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Disasi's apparently only on £40k per week.
Poor bloke
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I'm surprised because he cost about £40mil. I realise he wouldn't on a lot coming from the French Leagues as well but it does make you wonder if they load the payments to them some other way, after all Chelsea does seem to be masters of loophole payments which leaves most other clubs in the dust.
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Their new contracts are heavily incentivised on performance (I heard or read this, can't remember where). Someone like Palmer will have more than doubled his basic wage last season as a result. Disasi, not so much.
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Disasi's apparently only on £40k per week.
Poor bloke
When the average is 67k and in the same team the player he is bomb squaded with is on 10x more, it is (relatively) poor bloke. And the programme last night shows how easy the players who only have the chance for these earnings for a small proportion of their life can lose them and be in debt.
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Their new contracts are heavily incentivised on performance (I heard or read this, can't remember where). Someone like Palmer will have more than doubled his basic wage last season as a result. Disasi, not so much.
Rattycliffe at Manure was bemoaning that his players were on more per week then Citehs because the latter structure them to be based on winning bonuses. You might have got it from that.
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I always get slightly miffed when I read articles like the one in the link - https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/sep/07/ten-of-the-best-value-deals-from-this-summers-transfer-window - in a "why couldn't we have got 2 or 3 of these guys" way.
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Elliott is an up and coming star of England U21 and has a bunch of major competition medals.
Guessand similarly is a rising star.
Bizot is an established international who has been playing as a Number 1.
Sancho's list of clubs, Dortmund, Man Utd, Chelsea shows he's used to pressure and there will be less scrutiny of him (and less of a press agenda) and could allow him to flourish.
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https://x.com/CalledSoccerUS/status/1966109694524617009
🚨 @FabrizioRomano
: “I can guarantee to you that if there wasn’t social media Lucas Paqueta would be an Aston Villa player now.”
@CalledSoccerUS
Hypocrite.
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I dont understand that statement - what did social media do that meant that deal didnt happen?
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Leaked that it could happen. Of course it was him that leaked it.
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Very weird take to explain why he was so wrong for a transfer.
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I think that the concept of who or what an "Emery player" might be is overblown, but given we weren't signing both of them it doesn't feel likely that Elliot was second-choice behind Paqueta, it feels the other way around.
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I see Jacob Ramsey is out until October.
The lad just can’t get a run of games going.
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I see Jacob Ramsey is out until October.
The lad just can’t get a run of games going.
Really ? good lord that was quick
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I think that the concept of who or what an "Emery player" might be is overblown, but given we weren't signing both of them it doesn't feel likely that Elliot was second-choice behind Paqueta, it feels the other way around.
There was enough talk to think there was something in it. Liverpool only made Elliott available once the Isak deal was done
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I think that the concept of who or what an "Emery player" might be is overblown, but given we weren't signing both of them it doesn't feel likely that Elliot was second-choice behind Paqueta, it feels the other way around.
There was enough talk to think there was something in it. Liverpool only made Elliott available once the Isak deal was done
I'm sure there was something in it. I just don't buy the "but for social media" nonsense above. For that to be the case, Elliott would have had to be our second-choice behind Paqueta and we only moved to him when Paqueta fell through.
And while I could obviously be wrong, I don't really see Paqueta at twice the price over Elliott, given what we know about our finances as what our first-choice option would have looked like.
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Glad we didnt hitch ourselves to Paqueta. Talented but useless when you're under the cosh, absolute cheat (diving, don't know about the gambling) and he's one extended June holiday away from being fat and fucked but happy to trot around for £150k a week. No resale value either. Not sure what the hell we were thinking.
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I also read Monchi explicitly state one of the aims is to reduce the age of the squad, something Elliot does and Paquetta does not.
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Agreed, Elliot better bet for many reasons. One being we can't afford to carry a passenger out of possession. Makes the signing of Sancho all the more odd, and Malen before him.