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

[bertlambshank]

Call him what you like he aint coming.

[Dave]

We certainly overpaid for him too.

How? What do you think is an appropriate amount of money to pay for a player who scores the number of goals that Bent does?

[mr underhill]

 what is  worrying is that we have a net spend of only£6.5 million-ish at the moment. Surely RL is going to back Lambert with a bit more than this, even allowing for the faxct that the wage bill needs to reduce further and the fact that its likely the deadwoods will still be with us come 1st September.

[maidstonevillain]

We're treading water until they've all gone.

Davies, Sidwell, Carew, Luke Young, Nige, Heskey, Collins, Hutton, Warnock, Dunne.

7 down, 3 to go.

It's admirable that Randy has stuck to it really. Hopefully once that's over it really is the end of us paying inflated fees and wages for players before letting them go on the cheap.

A quick scan through that list (of the 7 sold so far) - £6.5m loss on Davies, £4.75m loss on Sidwell,  £5m loss on Carew (swap for Baros, valued at £5 wasn't he?), £3m loss on Luke Young, £8m loss on Nige, £3.5m loss on Heskey, £3m loss on Collins.

It's astronomical money and it's just not sustainable.

If we can't shift players for a decent fee then the manager will have to work with them. Simple as.

Can't wait to see what return we get for Darren Bent when he goes....

We have already had our return from Darren Bent. We are still in the Premiership. Anything else is a bonus.

[Toronto Villa]

Not concerned. The club has identified players that they want to see leave and it's players that we'd have chosen. The season isn't won or lost this weekend and he's said that he doesn't know if their will any activity this week. We have enough to go and beat West Ham and Everton in my opinion with the right tactics and dedication. We absolutely need strengthening between now and August 31st though and I'm convinced that we will bring in 3-4 more players, so a net 2 if those two clowns leave. This season will be about settling things down in the early stage and bringing on everyone so that by the second half of the season we are steadily and consistently moving in the right direction. I am really looking forward to our style of play and our attacking intent. We won't win every week, but we won't lose by not having put up a fight irrespective of the opposition. For many of us, that's what we've wanted for a good while and it will be a big step forward to instill that attitude back into the club again.

[JJ-AV]

We certainly overpaid for him too.

How? What do you think is an appropriate amount of money to pay for a player who scores the number of goals that Bent does?

His true worth would be about £12-14m for me. His nationality and club stature of Sunderland compared to us contributed to the rest of the fee, IMO.

[Monty]

ToLambo, I share your analysis of the situation and your optimism. I've seen nothing but the right answers from PL this pre-season, and long may it continue.

[cjm]

We have already had our return from Darren Bent. We are still in the Premiership. Anything else is a bonus.

Absolutely. Randy paid what he had to pay to get us out of the mire that season and it worked. We will never make back what we paid for Bent but I'm pretty sure we will have had value out of him, mainly for his goals which have almost certainly kept us in the Premier League but also his general presence and profile in the team.

Similarly, with Carew, bit harsh to say he was a waste of money. While we may not have made our money back on him in transfer fees, I'd say he worked out decent value because we swapped a lazy, overhyped striker for one that became a cult hero for a couple of years and scored some very memorable goals. Now Carew wasn't perfect but in an era when actually winning anything is pretty much out of the question, he at least made some of our matches fun and will always be remembered fondly.

[Toronto Villa]

We certainly overpaid for him too.

How? What do you think is an appropriate amount of money to pay for a player who scores the number of goals that Bent does?

His true worth would be about £12-14m for me. His nationality and club stature of Sunderland compared to us contributed to the rest of the fee, IMO.

His true worth though is that he is one of the best PL forwards of all time, and has proven it time and again with a variety of clubs. His true worth to us was that his goals kept us in the league, so worth much, more than what we paid for him. Darren Bent scores goals and while he might not offer the full package outside of the box or from a creativity standpoint, the mere fact that he puts the ball in the net at a very high level on a very consistent basis should never be undervalued.

[Mr Speedy H]

Can't wait to see what return we get for Darren Bent when he goes....

We have already had our return from Darren Bent. We are still in the Premiership. Anything else is a bonus.

Agreed.

Let's face the facts - Darrent Bent is a prolific goal scorer. He can quite easily net 20 a season as he has proven in the past, thanks to his intelligent poaching ability.

The fact he hasn't done that in the last 18 months is not a surpise - our two wingers (Downing and Young) left and, whether you like it or not, they provided DB with the service he needed. In 11/12 we did not have the same service which is why DB didn't score (mind you, the injury didn't help either).

I would have liked to see a top-quality winger purchased this year (I have no idea how good Holman is if I'm honest - and I hope he fills this gap) to get the service in to the box and get DB's foot/head/knee/nose/toe/testicle on to that ball and stick it past the keeper.


We have to stay optimistic - the last 6 months have shown a vast improvement in and around VP. A new manager, a new (albeit caring) kit supplier, and new faces that didn't cost us the world and his dog. I believe in Mr Lambert and I believe this season will be something to look back on and say "fuck me sideways, what happened to us in 11/12?" As said above, this season will provide us with the much needed stability and hope to get this team back where it belongs.

We are Villa. We will not be defeated.

[darren woolley]

I'm just glad we have got Bent playing for us.

[Ads]

Without going all VillaDawg about it, has anybody put down a figure of what they would estimate our wages to be at now in comparison to what they were in 2010?

[Phil from the upper holte]

I love Darren Bent and I'm backing him to deliver this season

[Ads]

I love Darren Bent and I'm backing him to deliver this season

Absolutely. The bloke has got a record of 1 in 2 across 38 games for us.

We haven't had a forward like him in 20 years.

[bertlambshank]

Without going all VillaDawg about it, has anybody put down a figure of what they would estimate our wages to be at now in comparison to what they were in 2010?

Don't know but that's why we don't have a wank in hells chance of Adam Johnson.He doubled his wages last year to 90 grand a week.