Concrete Ron

[Richard E]

Stories about him leaving definitely seem to have receded.

[Matt Collins]

Just listened to a new version of the villa podcast with messrs Nee and Kendrick. They both seemed to fear he'd be off. I don't think he will. He'd go if Juve or Man U were genuinely in for him and who on earth could blame him. But Southampton? Why would he?

[bobdylan]

Arsenal have apparently just accepted a £15mill offer for Vermaelen from Barca, he's not been a starter for 12 months, surely Vlaar's value must be c. £12 mill even with only a year left on his contract?

[pauliewalnuts]

15m for Vermaelen strikes me as stupid money.

[Rigadon]

When do we expect the Vlaaresenal stories to start?

[pauliewalnuts]

When do we expect the Vlaaresenal stories to start?

I don't think that is the sort of move which is achievable, if that makes sense.

I think if he wants to play in the CL, he could get a move to a CL club, but not likely to be one of the CL clubs in this country - purely because they have more options, and for them, the fee isn't that big an issue.

[PeterWithesShin]

Daily Heil

Paul Lambert is hoping to keep hold of defender Ron Vlaar amidst interest from Ronald Koeman's Southampton.

Lambert is keen to open talks with the 29-year-old centre-half once the transfer window shuts, but was far from impressed with Koeman for admitting publicly that Vlaar was 'an option'.

The Villa boss said: ‘There is been absolutely no enquiry, not one iota on it. The only thing I am disappointed in is people talking about him, who should know better than to talk about other people’s players.

‘I don’t think you accept it. I think out of respect you don’t do it, you don’t get involved in that. That is my opinion. You will have to ask others what they think but I am just giving my opinion.’

[N'ZMAV]

Lambert is meant to have came across as a bit negative regarding Ron's situation at todays press conference. I haven't seen it yet - I do hope he stays. We need to keep our better players, even if they've only been slightly above average for us.

[David_Nab]

Lambert apparently when asked if Vlaar will still be here at end of window replied we will see or words to that effect

On the other side Koeman said he wants Vlaar and hopes he will be a Southampton player ...asshole

Found a quote

Then asked whether he thought Vlaar would remain loyal to Villa, Lambert replied: "I don't know. I'm not sure there is loyalty in football any more. So we'll have to wait and see."

[Matt Collins]

He has a year left on his current contract, and asked on Thursday about the chances of Vlaar signing a new one at Villa Park, Lambert said: "To be fair to Ron, he has not come to us or anything.

"We have had little chats here and there, but I think his main concern was getting back after the World Cup, getting fit and hopefully being ready for Saturday (Villa's Premier League opener at Stoke).

"That is where he has been. I have a good rapport with Ron, so I don't have any problem with that whatsoever."

Then asked whether he thought Vlaar would remain loyal to Villa, Lambert replied: "I don't know. I'm not sure there is loyalty in football any more. So we'll have to wait and see."

[PaulWinch again]

Well that's not overly reassuring.

[Chris Stares]

I say even if he wants to leave, make him stay for his final year and let him go for free next season if he still wants to.  I think he only cost us something like £3m in the first place didn't he?  Given his age next year, we probably wouldn't get a whole lot more for him anyway even if he did have longer to run on his contract - not the sort of profit as would make a great deal of difference anyway.

[SoccerHQ]

My gut feeling has always been he wouldn't sign a new deal so I feel Lambert's comments indicate this.

Personally I'd keep him for the first few months and look again at things in January unless someone major comes in offering stupid money.

[PeterWithesShin]

My gut feeling has always been he wouldn't sign a new deal so I feel Lambert's comments indicate this.

Personally I'd keep him for the first few months and look again at things in January unless someone major comes in offering stupid money.

Unless a club is desperate i'm sure he can start talking to clubs anyway then.

[silhillvilla]

Can he also buy himself out of his contract in Jan ?