Summer transfer rumours, speculation and out-and-out b*ll*cks.

[eastie]

We need to forget the discussion on wether we should sign Given, he is nailed on to be our keeper next season. AM says Guzan will be staying so our GK dept. is set for the season. 

Happy with shay but god help us if he gets a bad injury and guzan gets the gig.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

We need to forget the discussion on wether we should sign Given, he is nailed on to be our keeper next season. AM says Guzan will be staying so our GK dept. is set for the season. 

I hope you are right Karl. With so much press shite about it's difficult to believe anything they say. Will be happier when it's confirmed and gone through.
We all need a bit of "good" news on here and it will help the players know who they're working with. Foster would have sent out a stronger message, but Given is sound/safe and experienced.

[WALTERS WARRIORS]

So he stands out in poor company, like N'Zogbia? I don't really see this as being the best way to consider a player. He looks good but it's all just an illusion because those around him are rubbish and making him look better. Looks like Utd may have been suckered with Ashley Young then, standing out in a poor mid table team, he must be cack.

I never mentioned "cack" or players around him "rubbish"  so if you know more about him feel free to enlighten us. Please share with me how to "consider" a player. I thought it was trivial things like raving reviews in the Dutch press, or several teams had approached his club to check on his availability ........

[pauliewalnuts]

Villa have also moved ahead of Tottenham in the pursuit of West Ham's Scott Parker, because Spurs must sell before they buy.

Daily Mirror report today.

So Villa are not the only selling club then......

don't tell anyone, but I heard Arsenal are selling their best players too in order to invest in new ones, as did Liverpool, Sunderland and Newcastle in selling their top strikers. But it's only Villa, don't you know.

You seem to be missing the point, Toronto.

Everyone knows all clubs have to sell players at times. The difference is we've sold our best player for three years in a row and are stropngly rumoured to be selling another one this summer, making it four in three.

It's not about selling players to buy new ones. It is about the fact we consistently sell our best ones. Someone was going on about Liverpool trying to shift Jovanovic, Cole, Aquilani etc earlier as if that is in any way comparable. It isnt. 

What would be comparable would be if they'd sold Torres last year, Gerrard the year before, and Reina the year before that. They didn't, though.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

Has Craig Gardner come out yet and said how he's been a Black Cats fan all his life?

[eastie]

True paulie, but they did sell alonso, then mascherano, and then Torres - all for £20m plus and all who wanted out so they aren't that much different.

[citizenDJ]

Villa have also moved ahead of Tottenham in the pursuit of West Ham's Scott Parker, because Spurs must sell before they buy.

Daily Mirror report today.

So Villa are not the only selling club then......

don't tell anyone, but I heard Arsenal are selling their best players too in order to invest in new ones, as did Liverpool, Sunderland and Newcastle in selling their top strikers. But it's only Villa, don't you know.

You seem to be missing the point, Toronto.

Everyone knows all clubs have to sell players at times. The difference is we've sold our best player for three years in a row and are stropngly rumoured to be selling another one this summer, making it four in three.

It's not about selling players to buy new ones. It is about the fact we consistently sell our best ones. Someone was going on about Liverpool trying to shift Jovanovic, Cole, Aquilani etc earlier as if that is in any way comparable. It isnt. 

What would be comparable would be if they'd sold Torres last year, Gerrard the year before, and Reina the year before that. They didn't, though.

I think that's a fair point, Paulie, but also it;s worth pointing out that we weren't in the same place as Liverpool when we lost Milner and Barry; Liverpool were able to offer Champion;s League to their players while we couldn't and, crucially, didn't seem like it was going to be a possibility.

It's not very nice, but the riches of Man City or the Champion's League are, regrettably, more appealing to our best players than sticking with us for another tilt at sixth.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

I really like it where I work, but if a company in Manc offered me 15 million over 5 years to move to them I'd bite their hand off!
We can't really blame players for being ambitious, whoever they play for.
Fans are different because we love our club.
I don't LOVE the company I work for. I go there cos they pay me to work for them and I need money for stuff ...like season tickets!

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

...and beer!

[Shrek]

Villa have also moved ahead of Tottenham in the pursuit of West Ham's Scott Parker, because Spurs must sell before they buy.

Daily Mirror report today.

So Villa are not the only selling club then......

don't tell anyone, but I heard Arsenal are selling their best players too in order to invest in new ones, as did Liverpool, Sunderland and Newcastle in selling their top strikers. But it's only Villa, don't you know.

You seem to be missing the point, Toronto.

Everyone knows all clubs have to sell players at times. The difference is we've sold our best player for three years in a row and are stropngly rumoured to be selling another one this summer, making it four in three.

It's not about selling players to buy new ones. It is about the fact we consistently sell our best ones. Someone was going on about Liverpool trying to shift Jovanovic, Cole, Aquilani etc earlier as if that is in any way comparable. It isnt. 

What would be comparable would be if they'd sold Torres last year, Gerrard the year before, and Reina the year before that. They didn't, though.

Gerrard is the exception because he is Scouse.

Liverpool have sold one of there best players every year like us.

Alonso went, the next year Mascherano, the next year Torres. Noone in Liverpool wanted any of those players to go.

Spurs have sold carrick, Berbatov, keane

We sold Barry, Milner and Ash.

So what's the difference between us and Liverpool and Spurs

[Toronto Villa]

Villa have also moved ahead of Tottenham in the pursuit of West Ham's Scott Parker, because Spurs must sell before they buy.

Daily Mirror report today.

So Villa are not the only selling club then......

don't tell anyone, but I heard Arsenal are selling their best players too in order to invest in new ones, as did Liverpool, Sunderland and Newcastle in selling their top strikers. But it's only Villa, don't you know.

You seem to be missing the point, Toronto.

Everyone knows all clubs have to sell players at times. The difference is we've sold our best player for three years in a row and are stropngly rumoured to be selling another one this summer, making it four in three.

It's not about selling players to buy new ones. It is about the fact we consistently sell our best ones. Someone was going on about Liverpool trying to shift Jovanovic, Cole, Aquilani etc earlier as if that is in any way comparable. It isnt. 

What would be comparable would be if they'd sold Torres last year, Gerrard the year before, and Reina the year before that. They didn't, though.

I'm not missing any point at all paulie. Three years in a row for our club is an anomaly, just as it will be with Arsenal selling their best players in one summer. That's the point. It's the first time in my entire time of following the club that this has happened. That's unusual and unless it carries on forever there's no indication it has to become the norm.

To call us a selling club, more so than any other club is completely wrong. We're unfortunately in a group of clubs that are going to be targeted by the bigger or more fashionable clubs. That's us, Everton, Newcastle, Sunderland, Fulham etc to name a few. You can't really count Liverpool because aside from a blip year or two they still offered CL football, and they still hold lots of pull across Europe. The only way we are going to get away from losing players is if we find a way into the next bracket. And even if we do we cannot slip out again, because as Spurs will find out if they don't make the CL next season they'll lose their best players; Modric, Bale, VDV in consecutive seasons too.

It just happened that we had some of the most sought after players in England the past few years because we did well. Had it been any one of the other clubs I mentioned that had those players and Man City or Man Utd came calling they'd have lost those players just as we did. For a few years Spurs were getting picked off, Everton lost Rooney and Lescott and just because it didn't happen to them in consecutive years doesn't change the fact they still sold their best players when either the player made it clear he wanted to leave, or when the board felt the money was too big to ignore. We are no different to them in any way. I don't get why people are buying into this tag that we are a "Selling Club" like it should be part of our badge. If you believe that then you may as well then add it to the badge of every non CL club because until that competition goes way it will be the same for every club that cannot offer it.

[Dante Lavelli]

You should probably factor in that Gerrard tried to leave for Chelsea but changed his mind after some (possibly genuine) death threats. ...or that's how the story goes anyway.

[Redman]

You should probably factor in that Gerrard tried to leave for Chelsea but changed his mind after some (possibly genuine) death threats. ...or that's how the story goes anyway.

That's how the story goes according to the West London based Evening Standard.

[citizenDJ]

Indeed. While there are clubs prepared to pay players more than their current employers, there will be players who up and leave at the drop of a wallet. Added to that, there is the curse (just my own opinion) of Champions League football, which has somehow become the be all and end all for footballers.

I really don't think you can attach blame to Paul Faulkner, Randy Lerner, Alex McLeish, whoever, for that state if affairs. If we had finished fifth last year, on the back of good football and squad unity, Ashley Young would still have left, and Liverpool would still have batted their eyelids at Downing (who, let's remember, hasn't left yet!), and he would have still have been receptive to it.

[Eigentor]

That we're selling our best player every summer isn't the problem but a symptom of the problem. We lost both Laursen and Barry in one summer, but the team didn't suffer too badly.

So while it's not ideal to sell the stars, the team can still progress if sold players are adequately replaced, other positions are strengthened and other players develop.

That's not happening, though, and that's the worry. We look like running out of good players. If Downing leaves, do we have many players of proven top half of the Premiership quality? Bent, surely. Gabby, perhaps. Other than that there is lot of promise (Delph, Albrighton, Bannan and Clark), but not that many we can rely on if the going gets tough. Dunne, Petrov and Heskey seem to be in decline.

It seems risky to assume that our signings (whenever they arrive) will bed in immediately, that our youngsters will progress steadily and/or that Ireland, Beye and Warnock suddenly will act like Premiership footballers again.