Concrete Ron

[Mister E]

To be fair he was shocking at times last season, the Premier League is too fast for him in my opinion.

There's no denying he's had a fine WC though.

it's all about the players around him. As part of a back three, I think he'd do well in the Premiership. Okore and Senderos would actually look good alongside him.

[tomd2103]

To be fair he was shocking at times last season, the Premier League is too fast for him in my opinion.

There's no denying he's had a fine WC though.

it's all about the players around him. As part of a back three, I think he'd do well in the Premiership. Okore and Senderos would actually look good alongside him.

Agree.  When you consider that he has been surrounded by some of the worst defenders seen at the club during his time at the club, it is hardly surprising he's struggled at times.  It is his injury record rather than his ability that concerns me. 

[Matt Collins]

Look at our record with and without him over the last two years

Up until march it was astonishingly different and i imagine it's still pretty obviously different

[ozzjim]

It would seem Benteke and Vlaar unsurprisingly are a double act that when removed from our side render us completely useless. Benteke we can cover with Kozak, but we have nothing that covers Vlaar as a player or a leader. He is vital to us. Lose him to Southampton I will be very gutted, and very worried. Replacing him would be very tough. Lose him to United I can understand it from a player view and wish him the best, but still shit myself about the fact we would have no replacement.

[pauliewalnuts]

Our four best players are Guzan, Vlaar, Benteke and Delph.

There is then a considerable quality drop to the rest of them. People who go on about whether Vlaar is as good as his WC performances suggest, or whether he's good enough to play for Man United, are totally missing the point.

The point is that he is one of our best players. We already have enough of a challenge this summer getting in enough players of a higher standard than those we already have just to start to even approach something nearing acceptability next season.

It doesn't matter if Vlaar is good enough for club A or club B or if he's one of the best CBs we have had in a while. What matters is that he is clearly one of a small group of players who are significantly better than the rest of the dross that stinks out the club these days.

I will totally understand if he decides he doesn't fancy it any more, and I wouldn't be even remotely surprised if our glorious leaders opted to cash in, but surely the key point here is that, regardless of whether he's good enough for this or that CL club, he is more than good enough for us, and losing him can only be a bad thing.

[villan from luton]

Vlaar is a good player, has shown that Do think the 3 man defence suits him, just not with Baker esp and Clark. If he is to leave, surely it wont be QPR, that would be a kick in the teeth

[silhillvilla]

Keeping Ron the captain etc is as much symbolic as anything he so has to stay

[Villa in Denmark]

Our four best players are Guzan, Vlaar, Benteke and Delph.

There is then a considerable quality drop to the rest of them. People who go on about whether Vlaar is as good as his WC performances suggest, or whether he's good enough to play for Man United, are totally missing the point.

The point is that he is one of our best players. We already have enough of a challenge this summer getting in enough players of a higher standard than those we already have just to start to even approach something nearing acceptability next season.

It doesn't matter if Vlaar is good enough for club A or club B or if he's one of the best CBs we have had in a while. What matters is that he is clearly one of a small group of players who are significantly better than the rest of the dross that stinks out the club these days.

I will totally understand if he decides he doesn't fancy it any more, and I wouldn't be even remotely surprised if our glorious leaders opted to cash in, but surely the key point here is that, regardless of whether he's good enough for this or that CL club, he is more than good enough for us, and losing him can only be a bad thing.

Completely agree.

In this instance, managing the "squad value" of is secondary importance to giving us the best shot at getting through next season without too much drama.

Oh for the heady heights of mediocrity.

[ozzjim]

If he does want out, and Liverpool have paid 22 for Lovren, I would expect a minimum of 12-15 of that for Vlaar after his world cup.

[villan from luton]

Trouble is, we have fecked up by letting his contract wind down, great business not.

[supertom]

Trouble is, we have fecked up by letting his contract wind down, great business not.

I think even with 12 months left we could easily demand, and probably get, someone to pay us over 10 mill. Short of a silly offer it's better for us to let him see out his last 12 months and then worry about replacing him next year, as opposed to selling him now.
If someone spunks 10 mill on him though, we can then conceivably go and re-invest that on a suitable replacement.

The current market is absolutely fucking insane, especially with domestic transfers. I think anything short of 10 is abject failure on our part. We can get a lot for Vlaar.

[villan from luton]

When Borini is going for 14 million, I really worry. I think we may get about 7-8 million for Vlaar bu how will we replace him for that? The club is being run as a fecking joke at the minute and really feel sorry for the manager

[Dante Lavelli]

I'm just glad we bought Okore last year.  Any moves between premiership clubs are so over inflated right now.
Naive me hoped all the clubs would have formed some sort of cartel and agreed that this extra cash would sort out their accounts but alas no, they're just inflating the market again.

I know its not been that successful recently but we really need to be looking abroad.

[Villa in Denmark]

Trouble is, we have fecked up by letting his contract wind down, great business not.

When we signed the first batch of Lambert's signings, there was general approval of only signing them up on 3 year contracts so that se didn't get stitched with unwanted players with 2-3 years left on long contracts as with a the likes of Beye.

After his first season, where he'd looked off the pace and spent a large chunk of the season injured, he had done nothing to justify a new contract.

At the point where we could have sensibly offered a new contract during the course of last season he was injured again, casting further doubts on his long term fitness.

Once we approached the end of the season there was never going to be any contact negotiations, first we were too busy worrying about survival (again), followed by Vlaar departing for Brazil.

He's now on a well earned holiday and the earliest anything can happen is on his return.

When would  you have offered a new contract?

[villan from luton]

Villa are fooked with some of these signings, but shouldnt be. Lerner does not want to invest more, but the wages have gone down, we have big tv money, give us a chance and then you can sell for more FFS