January Transfer Speculation (or lack of) Thread

[James]

Aston Villa are considering a loan move for Slovenia midfielder Armin Bacinovic, who plays for Italian club Palermo.

It would have made more sense to keep and play Makoun rather than loan him out to justify loaning someone else in! Farcical, to say the least, but then that's what Villa are becoming/have become these days! Shameful.

[Concrete John]

Or, if Makoun wasn't going to have any impact for us and the loan signing does, a very good move.

[PaulTheVillan]

Sali Salifou

[PaulWinch again]

It's been said before but Makoun was never ever given enough of a chance. 7 games in a completely new league in a struggling side, was never going to be enough.

[Mellin]

Indeed. He may well have ended up not being good enough, but at this stage none of us, including the management, are in a position to judge with certainty.

[Chris Smith]

Aston Villa are considering a loan move for Slovenia midfielder Armin Bacinovic, who plays for Italian club Palermo.

It would have made more sense to keep and play Makoun rather than loan him out to justify loaning someone else in! Farcical, to say the least, but then that's what Villa are becoming/have become these days! Shameful.

Shameful? That a manager didn't particularly rate a player? Get a grip.

[Rick_avfc]

Aston Villa are considering a loan move for Slovenia midfielder Armin Bacinovic, who plays for Italian club Palermo.

It would have made more sense to keep and play Makoun rather than loan him out to justify loaning someone else in! Farcical, to say the least, but then that's what Villa are becoming/have become these days! Shameful.

Shameful? That a manager didn't particularly rate a player? Get a grip.

The manager didnt rate a player who could make forward passes so decided to loan him out and then sign sicknote Jenas who hasn't been playing regular first team football for ages - now thats shameful!

[Concrete John]

Indeed. He may well have ended up not being good enough, but at this stage none of us, including the management, are in a position to judge with certainty.

The managers (three of them, if you include Garry Mac) also saw him in training and between them decided he was only worth 7 games.  I'm guessing he simply wasn't/isn't suited to the PL.

[Chris Smith]

I watched Makoun at Derby and I don't think he ade single forward pass all night. He's a neat, tidy player but really all he does is keep the ball moving, he offers very little creativity, doesn't run and can't tackle.

[Toronto Villa]

Aston Villa are considering a loan move for Slovenia midfielder Armin Bacinovic, who plays for Italian club Palermo.

It would have made more sense to keep and play Makoun rather than loan him out to justify loaning someone else in! Farcical, to say the least, but then that's what Villa are becoming/have become these days! Shameful.

Shameful? That a manager didn't particularly rate a player? Get a grip.

Ooooh.....it's so dramatic to put shameful on there isn't it? Shameful is when a 13 year mugs a 65 year old lady in the street. It isn't when a manager doesn't really rate a player and send him out on loan.

For what it's worth, had Houllier stayed and he was given the money, I think he'd have bought players to make full use of Makoun. On his own, with the players we have now, Makoun would have been exposed.

[Mellin]

Indeed. He may well have ended up not being good enough, but at this stage none of us, including the management, are in a position to judge with certainty.

The managers (three of them, if you include Garry Mac) also saw him in training and between them decided he was only worth 7 games.  I'm guessing he simply wasn't/isn't suited to the PL.

You've missed my point. At the time he wasn't worth more than seven games (only two decided that), but if given further time to acclimatise he may well have been. Noone knows how they'll turn out without the player being given a real opportunity. Not even a manager who's more qualified than I to make a judgement. Six months isn't enough for a foreign import to show their worth and the Premier League's history is littered with players who having been excellent elsewhere, initially struggled, only to go on and perform after a year or so. Pires is a good example.

We'd spent the money and it was worth giving him this season.

[pedro25]

Makoun was woeful v Hereford, I think that was the night McLeish made up his mind.  During the summer I thought Makoun and Delph would be our central pairing this season, now they are probably 7th and 8th in the pecking order for a starting berth in central midfield behind Petrov, Clark, Herd, Bannan, Ireland and Gardner.

[Monty]

Makoun was woeful v Hereford

But also very good against Man Utd at Old Trafford.

[Rick_avfc]

I think Mellin is right.  Some foreign players need game time to get used to the pace and physicality of the PL.  Makoun needed more time and I think he would have turned into a very good player for us.  Could he have been worse than any of the CM's we currently have ?  Who knows but without being given a proper chance then we will never know.

[Concrete John]

Indeed. He may well have ended up not being good enough, but at this stage none of us, including the management, are in a position to judge with certainty.

The managers (three of them, if you include Garry Mac) also saw him in training and between them decided he was only worth 7 games.  I'm guessing he simply wasn't/isn't suited to the PL.

You've missed my point. At the time he wasn't worth more than seven games (only two decided that), but if given further time to acclimatise he may well have been. Noone knows how they'll turn out without the player being given a real opportunity. Not even a manager who's more qualified than I to make a judgement. Six months isn't enough for a foreign import to show their worth and the Premier League's history is littered with players who having been excellent elsewhere, initially struggled, only to go on and perform after a year or so. Pires is a good example.

We'd spent the money and it was worth giving him this season.

I get your point, I just don't agree with it.

If you're out of the team the way you get back into it is by impressing in training and my assumption is that Makoun did not do this, hence hasn't been given the chance you suggest he should have had.  If others were doing better in the training, such as Herd, then he was rightly given a start ahead of Makoun.  It's OK to mention other players who take time to settle, but if in the manager's judgement that isn't going to happen, based on what he sees from (and admittedly limted number of) first team appearances and during training, then he's right not to play him and try to move him on.