Summer Transfer Thread: Speculation, Lies, Absolute Cr*p and Bosman Rumours

[Karl Bridges]

That article is old but I wouldnt be suprised if he was a target.

Reliable source Karl?

Sorry didn't realise it was an old article, saw it on Twitter didn't check dates. Not the usual solid source Maz. Just whispers from a couple of places.

[tomd2103]

It looks like PL will play a diamond midfield and 2 up top, in which case I don't see a case for signing any more midfielders or wingers, but a striker should be a priority. 

That is the key for me.  If we are only going to play one up front then I think we could possibly get away with what we have now.  If we are going to play two up there, we definitely need another striker.

I haven't seen much of him so would be interested to hear what others think of him, but the young lad Hooper at Celtic seems to score a lot of goals.   

[HOLTEnDEANO 1972]

If we could get him?,i reckon Shane long would work well with DB.Talk of him wanting a return to Reading/unhappy yamyams

[Chipsticks]

It looks like PL will play a diamond midfield and 2 up top, in which case I don't see a case for signing any more midfielders or wingers, but a striker should be a priority. 

That is the key for me.  If we are only going to play one up front then I think we could possibly get away with what we have now.  If we are going to play two up there, we definitely need another striker.

I haven't seen much of him so would be interested to hear what others think of him, but the young lad Hooper at Celtic seems to score a lot of goals.   

I actually quite rate him, but I'm not sure he's Prem level. Before Celtic he was in similar form, but at Scunthorpe. On top of that, other goal scorers from Celtic/Rangers have come to England and barely performed in the Championship, such as Scott MacDonald fella at 'Boro.

[villadelph]

I like this Douglas Teixeira cat. I think he'd plug in nicely at the Villa, however I'd hate to see Clark get a more limited roll because of it. We certainly need CB coverage though with Dunney out for an extended period.
 
As for the strikers I think Weimann and even Danny could hold down the fort while Gabby's unfit. Our midfield will be flying come the West Ham opener and goals will be coming from all sorts of players.

[Mister E]

Can someone enlighten me re: Karl's link please? Bloody BlackBerry!

Aston Villa are setting up the £7million recruitment of giant Brazilian centre half Douglas from FC Twente.

Douglas plays for Steve McClaren’s Dutch club and, thanks to his marriage to a local Dutch girl, holds an EU passport.

He has just got Dutch citizenship and could play for Holland at the end of August.

Newcastle have had a £5m bid turned down.

I don't see us spending £7m on a CB, TBH. I may be wrong but it doesn't feel like that's where we're at currently.

[Holy Trinity]

Can someone enlighten me re: Karl's link please? Bloody BlackBerry!

Aston Villa are setting up the £7million recruitment of giant Brazilian centre half Douglas from FC Twente.

Douglas plays for Steve McClaren’s Dutch club and, thanks to his marriage to a local Dutch girl, holds an EU passport.

He has just got Dutch citizenship and could play for Holland at the end of August.

Newcastle have had a £5m bid turned down.

I don't see us spending £7m on a CF, TBH. I may be wrong but it doesn't feel like that's where we're at currently.

personally i think its exactly where we are at. last seasons lack of goals had much less to do with bent gabby and n'zog and more to do with the shocking tactics deployed by tsm we will certainly improve the goals scored column just by actually trying this newfangled attacking football that everybody seems so keen on. however i dont think our defence has been prem standard for 2 years. dunnes a little fat getting on a bit and was always an accident waiting to happen his entire career. just look back at his man city days didnt he have 12 own goals to his name whilst there and a string of red cards roy keane would have been proud of and collins was only ever going to work in a fat sam style system where finess and skill are an after thought and hoof ball was the order of the day. so open heart surgury was needed for the defence. i was impressed with eric last season and herd at rb lowton gives us depth and options vlaar gives us 1 in for the 3 defenders we have lost since the start of last season beye, cuellar and collins and its would be far to risky to just have clarke and vlaar as our senior cbs as if either got injured we would be stuck with just baker and the vlaar/clarke which could end badly 7 million from doug would be a smart move and i'd imagine that vlaar and doug will be on significantly lower wages than carlos and collins. after this is wrapped up i would like to see a new midfielder and a striker and i think we are pretty well equipped for the coming season.

[NeilH]

There's not a whiff of the Douglas link in the Dutch press and I've checked a few papers. He's a fine player, of that there is not doubt. However, if we were scouting for talent in NL, I'm surprised we did not go for Luc Castaignos, previously of Feyenoord and who has now joined Shteeeve's Twente after a torrid time at Inter.

[nigel]

I'm sorry but those saying we can rely on Delfouneso and Weimann to get the goals are talking shite and not being realistic. Do you have any idea how many goals they have got in competitive football as a senior??

Between them they have scored 12 goals in 94 games (both starts and subs), some of which are at lower level than the EPL, that is not good enough to be relied on to get us goals in the new season. Don't get me wrong I like both these lads and think they have good futures but saying they can be relied on to get us the goals we need now is ridiculous.

Gabby is also a big unknown, he has the capability to get goals but he has had 2 bad seasons and we don't know yet if he is going to find his form again, pre-season was the chance to judge him but he picked up the injury so now we won't know until he is fit and playing again.

We saw last season what happened when we lost Bent and we can't risk that again, we need another striker with a proven track record of getting goals otherwise we are relying on Bent and 3 strikers who could or could not get goals for us this season and even if they do they won't be getting any where near the amount of goals Bent can get

Bent has already picked up an injury in pre-season and that don't bode well for the coming season that a player injured for a good part of last season has also picked up an injury in pre-season, we have to bear this in mind and remeber anyone can get injured at any time.

We need to ensure we have the strength and depth in attack, something I don't think we have at the moment. Our younger players need the next couple seasons to grow and develop and during that time we need proven seniors to get our goals but to also help mentor and develop our youngsters.

I expect Lambert will have all this in his mind and will be looking to fill the gaps, as he has/is, in midfield and defense, before he looks at how much money he has left to be able to buy another striker as he won't want a repeat of last season when we lost Bent and the goals dried up - I do expect another striker to arrive before the start of the season.

Disagree completely. Pulling stats like 12 goals in 94 appearances out is ridiculous when they're both youngsters and most of those are run-outs consisting of about 5 minutes.

When you're basing our strikers on last season with he who shall not be named in charge you're being extremely unfair. You could have put RVP in the team and he would have struggled just as much as Weimann and Gabby did at the end of last season. We have two quality strikers and two very promising strikers to fill 1 possibly 2 spots in the first XI. Another striker just is not necessary.

If I was to say you're talking sh*t, villastikz, what would your reply be?
Probably along the lines of 'I'm entitled to my opinion', plus a shed load of abuse 
The magic words here are "entitled to my opinion" just like the others.

I have to admit that I'm unsure of Fonz, but, I also think he just needs a break.
I heard a rumour that PL was looking to take him to Norwich, so he must have seen something.
I reckon if he got some games, with a manager who has faith in him, a few goals and he'd have shed loads of confidence, he just needs a break. He is a pretty talented footballer

Nah, I'm used to being told I'm full of shit, the misses tells me everyday and I don't insult people for having a mind of their own, I've already said with those that disagree with me that we will have to agree to disagree as I think one thing and they think another and everyone is entitled to an opinion and different opinions create debate.

I also said that I think Weimann and Delfouneso have a future at the club and that I like both players, I don't expect them to be strikers who get 25-30 goals over a season but I do think they will develop into 12-15 goal a season players, just they aren't there yet and I think the pair of them need another 2 seasons of development in our squad to get to that level. I'm not saying they are no good or that we should get rid of them just that I don't think they are ready yet to get the goals we need if we experience injuries.

Ha Ha fair reply.
It's a tough one really, as I think Fonz is potentially better than Gabby, but he just hasn't had the break with a run of games, but, I agree with you saying that they won't be getting us 20+ goals. Not yet anyway. I think Weimann could develop into a 20+ as he has those predetory instincts.

[pauliewalnuts]

Given the Gabby injury and the possible need to get a new striker in, balanced against the risk of giving a long contract to someone who might be seen as "cover", wouldn't it make sense to look at getting John Guidetti in on loan, if (if) he's available?

[brontebilly]

I know Dunne is injured but I think this is the time to give Clark a proper run in the first eleven. Only Baker as cover but I'd be happy to go with that rather than spend 5m or so on a panic signing at centre back. Dunne is out of contract next season so if Clark and or Baker don't step up, January is the time to bring a new centre half in.

Definitely think we need a new player up front though. Gabby off the back of 2 shit seasons is injured again. Bent needs a player up with him at times. Our best football last season came with Keane in the side. Berbatov would be class for us I think and there is the Bulgarian connection with Petrov. I'd love to see a really clever player up front come in who doesn't mind coming of the bench and is a good all round influence.

[Ryu]

Still not convinced we need anither striker, despite accepting that an injury to bent could leave us relying on unproven players. (I think weimman would do ok given an extended run, however.)

If we are looking for one I'd hope it was a support strike type to compliment bent, as IMO the team should be set up to get the best out of him.   

One worry I'd have with paying 2 up front is that I think our midfield migt not be strong enough for most PL teams without an extra man. We were very weak in the middle last seasonand it remains to be seen if Karim can fix this. 

[Concrete John]

I know Dunne is injured but I think this is the time to give Clark a proper run in the first eleven. Only Baker as cover but I'd be happy to go with that rather than spend 5m or so on a panic signing at centre back. Dunne is out of contract next season so if Clark and or Baker don't step up, January is the time to bring a new centre half in.

I like this Douglas Teixeira cat. I think he'd plug in nicely at the Villa, however I'd hate to see Clark get a more limited roll because of it. We certainly need CB coverage though with Dunney out for an extended period.

I agree with both points.

A new CB coming in would either be a) an experienced player for the first team or b) and younger reserve.  If the former then we'd be limiting Clark's chances and if the latter it would be pretty pointless considering our own young CBs already at the club.  So, do we want to see Clark go the way of The Bolton Defender due to lack of opportunity?  I don't, so would be happy with the alternative of keeping Dunne for another year as the experienced reserve while we find out exactly how good he and Baker are.

[villastikz]

Given the Gabby injury and the possible need to get a new striker in, balanced against the risk of giving a long contract to someone who might be seen as "cover", wouldn't it make sense to look at getting John Guidetti in on loan, if (if) he's available?

If we could get a decent striker in on loan would probably be the best option all round.

A season long loan would save us money on buying a striker and would provide the cover we need in the squad whilst we develop Weimann and Delfouneso into regular playing EPL strikers and also give us time to see how Gabby does this season. I was thinking maybe we could bring in an elder established striker on a short term contract but a loan deal would be a better deal as long as they are proven at getting goals.

[Concrete John]

Still not convinced we need anither striker, despite accepting that an injury to bent could leave us relying on unproven players. (I think weimman would do ok given an extended run, however.)

If we are looking for one I'd hope it was a support strike type to compliment bent, as IMO the team should be set up to get the best out of him.   

One worry I'd have with paying 2 up front is that I think our midfield migt not be strong enough for most PL teams without an extra man. We were very weak in the middle last seasonand it remains to be seen if Karim can fix this.

Pretty much agree about the striker.  We have 4, with a big question mark over the Fonz, which I think is enough if we play 1 up front.  In we go for a 2, then another may be needed, but not so much if we use the likes to N'Zogbia or Holman behind Bent.

However, I have less concerns about the midfield given the way we've been setting up during pre-season with a tight 4 in the centre.  The lack of width should be compensated for by attacking FBs and/or the 2nd striker pulling wide, but the 4 in the centre should stop us getting outnumbered and overrun as we've seen happen with a traditional 4-4-2.  In fact, I'd hope we'd be the ones doing the outnumbering and overrunning against sides playing with a 2 or a 3 in there.