Sell Bent?

[OzVilla]

Hypothetical honest question, would it surprise any of us if we sold bent for say 20 million to QPR and then didn't replace him?

If so I think there's a chance Lambert could walk, heaven forbid.

[Salsa Party Animal]

If selling Bent allow us to buy two excellent strikers with the money I would do it.  I think Villa always do well when they have 2 or 3 good strikers playing together. 

[Shrek]

If we sold Bent and bought two players say, Carroll and Defoe we would instantly turn into a top 10 team, whereas now, with Bent we are around 12th

[OzVilla]

After watching the first couple of games, i really don't think we're 12th with this squad.

Having said that, i'd bite your hand off if we got Carroll and Defoe for Darren Bent.

[Legion]

Hypothetical honest question, would it surprise any of us if we sold bent for say 20 million to QPR and then didn't replace him?

If so I think there's a chance Lambert could walk, heaven forbid.

After two matches? I don't think so.

[OzVilla]

Hypothetical honest question, would it surprise any of us if we sold bent for say 20 million to QPR and then didn't replace him?

If so I think there's a chance Lambert could walk, heaven forbid.

After two matches? I don't think so.

Yeah you're probably right.

I just worry that if Randy handles the coming week in the same ham fisted manner he's handled the last 3 years we might get an awful shock coming to us.

He does the right thing by getting rid of TSM the day after the season ends, puts out a press release that i couldn't have written better myself and then does his classic disappearing act leaving us dreadfully unprepared to start the year for the 3rd season running.  Smoke and mirrors unless we invest in this Manager.

[Legion]

Huge task

But Lambert hinted he may bring in more players before the transfer window shuts on 31 August.

"Owner Randy Lerner, myself and chief executive Paul Faulkner will sit and see what's going to happen," the Scot said.

"If something comes available and I think it's worthwhile, then you can look at it.

"It's a really young side and sometimes you need a little bit of help."

[olaftab]

Bent going anywhere in  next week is a remote possibility unless we pick the phone up and call Tony Fernandez. In that case it won't be £20M more like £15M. This is unlikely to buy us a quality defensive midfielder and 20 goal striker. So we should stick with Bent and hope Randy  makes funds available to get at lease one player in by Friday.

[Risso]

Huge task

But Lambert hinted he may bring in more players before the transfer window shuts on 31 August.

"Owner Randy Lerner, myself and chief executive Paul Faulkner will sit and see what's going to happen," the Scot said.

"If something comes available and I think it's worthwhile, then you can look at it.

"It's a really young side and sometimes you need a little bit of help."

Inspiring.

[loughborough villain]

For me Bent represents the classic "chicken and egg" debate.  Is he the solution or the problem?

Last week at West Ham we played some really decent stuff early on but had no cutting edge which - it can be argued - was either due the midfield failing to create chances for Bent or Bent failing to provide the movement for the midfield to play the ball into the space that this movement would create.  Yesterday the ball retention was sacrificed to play a strike partner/play to Bent's strengths and with four in midfield we were completely unable to compete with a very good side.

Personally I think Bent is a really good player in a certain system but we don't have the players, or the resource to buy the players to provide that system. I also think that Ireland, Delph, Holman, El Ahmadi and Bannan are the sort of players who can provide ammunition to players with good movement, the pass from Holman to Wiemann yesterday highlighted this, Bent would never make the run that Wiemann made (although he may have scored if found in that position). This then begs the question that had that sort of movement been available in the first half hour last week would we have scored the goals that our early possession probably deserved?. 

For me a player in the Defoe mould would be the solution, he makes runs that our current midfielders would benefit from and he also gets on the end of tap-ins in the box, he would also contribute more in respect of overall involvement in the game and I think that with the current funding available to the manager it is a case of doing the best with what is realistically available which, for me, would be to replace Bent with player better suited to the limitations of our current squad.

It would be a shame to see him go as it would, in my opinion, signal yet further how far we have regressed over the past three years but sadly we are where we are and we are clearly not going to re-sign Young, Downing and Milner so I feel it is probably in the best interests of all involved (he can't enjoy playing football where he gets about two touches per game!!) if we cash in now.

Right now Paul Lambert is the most important consideration for me, he must be allowed to build a team and a style of play best suited to the available resources, he will surely be able to see the polar opposites of last week compared to this week and will recognise that he either needs a lot of new faces to play a style that suits Bent or a striker of the kind that suits the players that he has got.  I can only assume that has he hasn't bought in the players to do the former that he hasn't got the cash available, so I would reluctantly settle for the latter.

My overriding feeling at the moment is that we are such a poor side- the players are devoid of any confidence- that it is going to be a massive task to stay up this year (I am almost at the stage where I feel we may have to go down to gain the necessary momentum of winning games to allow us to progress in a forward direction).

I think that if Lambert stays here for three years, irrespective of what happens along the way, the team - and the club - will be in a better place and the football will be worth watching again.  I believe/hope he will make a decision on Bent during the next day or two and then develop the style of play according to whether Bent is here or not.

[KevinGage]

If we can't sell Warnock and Hutton. Could we not come to some agreement with them to tear up their contract? It'll cost, but we'd work something out. They'll find clubs far easier if they can move for nowt, and probably get a selling on fee. No one seems to want either of them right now, so it's gonna be 70-80k a week shat out for two reserves.

Can Prem players still go on loan to Championship sides after the window closes?  I think Beye, Gary Gardner and wee Barry have all done that in the (fairly) recent past.

That being the case, it will come down to how desperate we are to shift them off the wage bill -and how much of a percentage of their wage we still pay.

I reckon if any clubs had the inclination to do a permanent deal for either they'd have been long gone by now.

I also wouldn't be completely stunned to see N'Zog and Bannan on the way out - depending on who we bring in. N'Zog on loan to Wigwam seeing as they've just lost Moses wouldn't be completely out of the question.

No doubt we'd prefer a permanent deal, but sometimes it comes down to the least worst option.  It hasn't worked out for him here, and that 60k per week coluld be better utilised elsewhere. If it's a loan with a view to a permanent deal - and he plays himself into something approximating form there- we might not take too much of a hit.  We paid £9 million for him, I'd be happy to get back £6/7 million.

Bannan I'd like to see stay, but he apparently wanted out from about the second half of last season and -in truth-  he hasn't done anything of note despite being given numerous chances in 2012.  He might be a cracking player in a lower division though, so maybe we should hedge our bets and hold onto him, just in case...

[Ad@m]

For me a player in the Defoe mould would be the solution, he makes runs that our current midfielders would benefit from and he also gets on the end of tap-ins in the box, he would also contribute more in respect of overall involvement in the game and I think that with the current funding available to the manager it is a case of doing the best with what is realistically available which, for me, would be to replace Bent with player better suited to the limitations of our current squad.

Defoe is exactly the sort of player that got us in to this mess in the first place.

If we were to sign him his transfer fee would be overpriced because he's an established Premier League player and as he's 30 in a couple of months time he would view this as being his last chance to get a big contract before he retires so his wages will be as high as they'll ever get and after he finishes a 3 or 4 year contract he'll have very little resale value.  If we paid him £60k per week, a conservative estimate I reckon given we're apparently paying Bent £80k, then a four year contract would cost us £12.5m in wages alone.  He could therefore easily cost us £25-£30m with the transfer fee included.  Not worth it in my opinion.

But given all that I'm actually surprised Sunderland aren't sniffing round him - he's the classic MON signing - buy for now, worry about the future later.

[Monty]

KG, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Bannan wanted to leave McLeish's Villa - doesn't really matter how many chances he was going to be given, it's just not his football. Lambert appears to rate him and be willing to give him chances in teams playing the way suited to his game.

That said, he was very poor yesterday. His off-the-ball movement was fine (if a little lacking in sharpness), but he was back to his hitting aimless 60-yard balls routine yesterday, a really bad habit he's picked up especially over the last year. He needs to play closer to the goal, to be fair - deep in midfield is not his game - but he still did not do well at all, looking far too eager to actually make any meaningful in-roads.

Zog, I think, is just a bit of a hopeless case. He seems to have Baros head-down syndrome, and passing to him is just giving the ball away as he'll run down a cul-de-sac and lose it somehow. I wouldn't start Bannan at the moment, but I wouldn't have Zog anywhere near the first team I'm afraid.

[KRS]

If we sold Bent and bought two players say, Carroll and Defoe we would instantly turn into a top 10 team, whereas now, with Bent we are around 12th

12th?! Thats very optimistic of you Shrek!

[Shrek]

If we sold Bent and bought two players say, Carroll and Defoe we would instantly turn into a top 10 team, whereas now, with Bent we are around 12th

12th?! Thats very optimistic of you Shrek!

If we don't have optimism, what's the point?