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

[DB]

Mickey Quinn reckons downing was in talks with Liverpool at the weekend- Wigan want £9m for nzogbia- bargain at that price.

That fat-twat is just spouts off Liverpool propaganda every oppoutunity. He is full of it....and a bellend.

[KevinGage]

Just seen something on Sky Sports News about Hitzlsperger having to choose between us, Fulham and Blackburn. I think he'd be worth a punt on a free. Decent squad player if somewhat injury prone.

You'd think it would be us then.

For some reason though I can see him go elsewhere. Fulham would be my bet.

[King of the Nørth]

Foster, Shawcross, N'Zogbia - not bad

This.
Foster for no more than £9m
Shawcross for £8-10m + Dunne
Nzogbia for £10-12m as in last year of contract

 I am also with the suggestion of selling Downing for £20m+ ONLY if we have bought in a replacement FIRST. If we sell Downing before we even bring in a new GK, replacement for Young or himself there would be a huge uproar and another unforgivable decision by the board. We must have someone lined up before we would even entertain letting Downing go to Liverpool.

PS I would even consider £15-17m + Meirelles for Downing. Box-to-box goalscoring midfielder could be what we need.  Bringing in Foster, Shawcross, Nzogbia & Meirelles wouldnt be a bad bit of business IMO.

[garyshawsknee]

Mickey Quinn reckons downing was in talks with Liverpool at the weekend- Wigan want £9m for nzogbia- bargain at that price.

Unless they're tapping him up,or we've agreed a fee with Liverpool,then he can't talk to them.

More a case of that fat scouse prick stirring things up.

[WALTERS WARRIORS]

Absolute no to Hitz. Gardner, Delph, Bannan are better already. Nzogbia is a must. Where is our vision on european players ? Premier players values now are way over priced. We really need to get going. We need players signed and ready for pre-season ....

[Toronto Villa]

Jesus!

Aston Villa are also interested in signing Stoke winger Matthew Etherington as a replacement for Ashley Young. Full story: Daily Mail

Let me re-write that same article for you Fletch

McLeish eyes move for N'Zogbia to plug gaps as Villa Park exodus continues
By Sportsmail Reporter

Last updated at 11:29 PM on 26th June 2011

Aston Villa are considering a bid for Wigan Athletic winger Charles N'Zogbia as they consider replacements for Ashley Young and Liverpool target Stewart Downing.

Ex-Villa midfielder James Milner, Wolves' Matt Jarvis, Stoke's Matthew Etherington and Den Haag's Wesley Verhoek are other possibles.

Manager Alex McLeish has also added Blackpool's Matt Gilks to his list of goalkeeping targets with Bolton's Ali Al Habsi and Manchester City's Shay Given.

Edit: Easy this journalism lark in terms of getting tongues wagging.

As for Downing, right now I hope it's true that he met Liverpool. If he has met with them, then he'll still be going on our terms and for a feee that we are comfortable with. I'd rather get in players that want to be here as opposed to being a distraction. We've had too many distractions the past few summers.

[PaulWinch again]

Matt Gilks bloody hell.

[eastie]

I hope I'm wrong but I'm beginning to think this talk about bent being bought with the young cash coming in to pay for for him may be true- it could well be we are shopping in poundstretcher from now on if finances are as bad as some portray.

Maybe that's why it took so long to get a manager if we don't have much to spend on players?

[King of the Nørth]

 Matt Jarvis? Matthew Ethrington? Jeepers creepers reminds of the O'Leary days. How very dull and uninspiring links. I see a few clubs have been linked to Sissoko. Exactly the type of midfielder we NEED. A midfield of Sissoko, Makoun & Delph. Now that would be a pretty awesome midfield. Shame Houllier had to go as these are the types of players I was looking forward to being linked with this summer.

[KevinGage]

Matt Jarvis might not be the worst bit of business, got to the fringes of the England squad last year and was linked with Liverpool amongst others. Still quite young too.

[Toronto Villa]

 Matt Jarvis? Matthew Ethrington? Jeepers creepers reminds of the O'Leary days. How very dull and uninspiring links. I see a few clubs have been linked to Sissoko. Exactly the type of midfielder we NEED. A midfield of Sissoko, Makoun & Delph. Now that would be a pretty awesome midfield. Shame Houllier had to go as these are the types of players I was looking forward to being linked with this summer.

McLeish isn't MON in that he'll avoid Europe or beyond like the plague. He convinced Alex Hleb to join the shit from Barcelona. We were all very surprised that they signed him and would all have been delighted to see him at VP last season. It didn't turn out well in the end, but that might be down to a number of things. The important thing is that McLeish will be broader in his search than MON ever was, and we shouldn't get so wrapped up in what the papers say might be our targets.

[King of the Nørth]

 Matt Jarvis? Matthew Ethrington? Jeepers creepers reminds of the O'Leary days. How very dull and uninspiring links. I see a few clubs have been linked to Sissoko. Exactly the type of midfielder we NEED. A midfield of Sissoko, Makoun & Delph. Now that would be a pretty awesome midfield. Shame Houllier had to go as these are the types of players I was looking forward to being linked with this summer.

McLeish isn't MON in that he'll avoid Europe or beyond like the plague. He convinced Alex Hleb to join the shit from Barcelona. We were all very surprised that they signed him and would all have been delighted to see him at VP last season. It didn't turn out well in the end, but that might be down to a number of things. The important thing is that McLeish will be broader in his search than MON ever was, and we shouldn't get so wrapped up in what the papers say might be our targets.

 I hope so toronto villa. I hope so. That is why I acknowledged 'linked' and not getting carried away too much. I like many other have been underwhelmed by the appointment of McLeish but wont go ott and suggest handing in season ticket/never going to Villa Park again. What I would like to see however is McLeish getting his arse in gear, getting in his backroom staff and scouting setup sorted asap and a willingness to show the fans he means business. He needs to win a majority of fans over. And as each day/wk passes it gets harder and harder for us to keep showing blind faith as others convince us we have no ambition/money. An early top quality signing such as a Foster, Nzogbia etc will go someway to uniting the fans oncemore and renew our optimism for the season ahead.

[Concrete John]

Matt Jarvis might not be the worst bit of business, got to the fringes of the England squad last year and was linked with Liverpool amongst others. Still quite young too.

Agreed.

Way I see it is that N'Zogbia is on the radar as Ash has left, so if Downing does go too then Jarvis would be a good signing to replace him.

[Redman]

However he ended up, Lee Hendrie at the same age was twice the player Henderson is. I think he's bloody ordinary to be honest.

When Hendrie was the same age as Henderson, he'd made 24 league appearances. Henderson has made 71.

So? We had a better team then than Sunderland have had for the past 2 years and his opportunities were more limited.
Hendrie was still a better player in my opinion.

Point being that if he was twice the player, he hadn't yet had a chance to prove it. 24 league appearances is nowt. 71 isn't even a lot to be making a sound judgment.

Well, I also watched him come up through the ranks so it wasn't based on just the league games.
But we're not going to agree. You'll defend the signing of Henderson for such a ridiculous fee as a calculated risk and who can blame you. Taking such a massive punt on a young player is commendable.
But I see it as an unbelievable waste of money on what I consider a tidy but otherwise unremarkable player who has done absolutely nothing to justify that figure.

He has nothing like the talent Hendrie had, but unlike Hendrie perhaps he will make the most of what he does have.
Time will tell.

I keep reading what a waste of money Henderson is and it gets less and less meaningful each time because none of us have a crystal ball.

The assumption is that, at age 20 and two seasons of league football, we've seen enough of a player to guage the limit of his potential and capability. I'd dispute that.

If Liverpool have seen enough to think they can mould Henderson into a top player, isn't the sensible thing to reserve judgment until they've had a chance to do it?

[Mazrim]

We could always exploit the loan market in order to concentrate funds elsewhere.

So if Downing goes, it doesnt mean we have to buy a replacement this season. We could loan one from one of the European heavyweights and then buy somebody outstanding in another position.