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

[VillaZogmariner]

anyone fancy defoe?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/may/18/jermain-defoe-frustrated-football-tottenham

If we didn't have Bent I'd have said yes, but he's not what we need now. We've got Bent/Gabby for his position already.

Gabby's not exactly lighting up the premiership now is he? 
He is another player who has potential but fails to deliever.

He's struggled with niggling injuries this season. However over the past 3 years he's more than delivered.

[Rick_avfc]

anyone fancy defoe?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/may/18/jermain-defoe-frustrated-football-tottenham

If we didn't have Bent I'd have said yes, but he's not what we need now. We've got Bent/Gabby for his position already.

Gabby's not exactly lighting up the premiership now is he? 
He is another player who has potential but fails to deliever.

Same as Defoe then.

Defoe is better than gabby!

[glasses]

Id have Gabby in my team every day of the week and twice on Sundays rather than Defoe.

[VillaZogmariner]

Id have Gabby in my team every day of the week and twice on Sundays rather than Defoe.

Is the right answer.

[barrysleftfoot]

  Think i would rather have Sturridge than both of them.

  Would'nt complain in getting DJ Campbell cheaply either.

[brontebilly]

One thing is a lot of the 'fails' were punts, loans and short terms deals we tried, such as Agathe, Carson and Routledge.  I personally wouldn't put NRC in that bracket, but the real losses for us were Harewood, Davies, Sidwell and Shorey.

I dont mind the punts, in the cases of Moloney and Knight we sold them back for more than we got them anyway. The Carson loan fee was 2m I think but he did well that season until the Croatia game. They add up but Carew for Baros was super business on the flip side.

Reo Coker's contract shouldnt have been allowed to run down like that. At least he has given decent service with this being his best season Id argue. Still we will be taking a hell of a loss on him.

Warnock - bought for 6m rising to 8m, lets say he cost 7m, we will be doing well to get 3m back.

Harewood, Davies, Sidwell, Shorey, Heskey, Beye, Warnock were his biggest mistakes. Stephen Ireland bought without a manager another huge one. MON really mismanaged the budget to a crazy degree. The board ultimately have to take the rap for that though.

Anyway time to look forward instead of backwards. The summer will be interesting.

[Rick_avfc]

Not sure why all the love for Gabby? ok, he has come through our academy but he has had ample time to improve his game and show off his true potential but has failed.  He is the same as Cameron Jerome from the scum!  Im sure their scoring record is not far off.
He has his moments but it comes very rarely.  He hasn't come on in my opinion and we would be better off getting someone better especially if we need / want to improve.  Do Man Utd keep faith in players who dont deliver?  Wellbeck, Macehda, Rossi?  No! So why should Aston Villa considering we want to challenege higher up the league and win trophies.  Gabby is a squad player at most and not a player who will start week in week out.  Fails to make the right runs, not intelligent enough and clearly doesn't score enough.  The only plus points he has are that he has become stronger and he still has pace which he fails to capitalise on.  Defoe is a better finisher than gabby and isn't scared to shoot from outside of the box.  Gabby never gets into a position to shoot from outside of the box.
I say give the Fonz more of a chance.

[BILL DE VALL]

I'm not advocating his signing per se
I will say this for him-he fancies himself-always a good thing for a forward (for the opposite see Emile Heskey)

[Rick_avfc]

Thomas Hitzlsperger anyone?  Im sure he would come back to the villa and would fit in nicely into our midfield.  your thoughts?

[not3bad]

Thomas Hitzlsperger anyone?  Im sure he would come back to the villa and would fit in nicely into our midfield.  your thoughts?

Gabby not good enough but let's bring back Hitz.  Hmmm.

[Rick_avfc]

Hitz has most likely improved as a player since leaving Villa the first time.  He now has champions league experience, EPL, Bundesligue and Seria A experience.  Im sure he would do a much better job than NRC and Petrov in the middle of the park.  Another bonus that he will and can shoot from outside of the box and scores some right belters! I cant remember him scoring a crap goal to be fair.
I say we bring him back!   

[JJ-AV]

Gabby would be a better partner for Bent than Defoe IMO.

[BedsVillain]

Daniel Sturridge on SSN saying he will look to move in the summer if it's not looking like he'll get 1st team football next season! Come back home Daniel...!!

[Rick_avfc]

Daniel Sturridge on SSN saying he will look to move in the summer if it's not looking like he'll get 1st team football next season! Come back home Daniel...!!

Sturridge and Bent up front would be much better than Gabby and Bent!
also, we need to bring back Der hammer!

[Bent Neilsens Screamer]

Not sure why all the love for Gabby? ok, he has come through our academy but he has had ample time to improve his game and show off his true potential but has failed.  He is the same as Cameron Jerome from the scum!  Im sure their scoring record is not far off.

Comparing Gabby to that carthorse Jerome is something else, I don’t think he’s done much wrong since he’s come into the side, he’s filled a variety of positions along the front line, is a handful for the best defenders in the league with his combination of power and pace and this is the only season where he has struggled for goals but this is more down to the fact that he missed a large proportion of the season through injury. Gabby might be more prepared to sit on the bench and wait for a chance than any forward we could buy particularly Defoe who would be swapping Spurs’ bench for ours.