Concrete Ron

[Matt Collins]

He is also reported to have said

@football_oranje: Ron Vlaar, "Soon I'm going with my agent to the table and then we will go through the various options.'' (Fox Sports) #AVFC

[curiousorange]

He is also reported to have said

@football_oranje: Ron Vlaar, "Soon I'm going with my agent to the table and then we will go through the various options.'' (Fox Sports) #AVFC

I saw this one too. Again, I saw no reason to crack open the razorblades. Villa would be mad to not make themselves one of the 'various options'.

[PaulWinch again]

Well presumably he can't go to any other offers if we haven't allowed anyone else to speak to him, so I hope there's an offer from us.

[Matt Collins]

Yes I just hope we offer him a contract that's close to what he'll get offered elsewhere. I'm just not sure we will

[SoccerHQ]

I take it as he won't be signing an extension but isn't adverse to staying here another year and then leaving on a free.

I'd take that option as hopefully in a years time the ownership situation will be resolved and we'll be heading in an upright direction so he could then stay or we'd have the funds to adequately replace him.

The doomsday scenario is he leaves and we just rely on the existing centre halfs here to replace him which is possible seeing as we have four on our books. Think that would mean relegation.

[pauliewalnuts]

Yes I just hope we offer him a contract that's close to what he'll get offered elsewhere. I'm just not sure we will

Me neither.

We also seem not to be being run by anyone at the moment, so god only knows what sort of confusion will be reigning.

Anyway, we'll find out soon enough.

[silhillvilla]

Guess it all comes down to what him & his agent think he's worth and whether we can get near that ballpark with an offer.

[SoccerHQ]

Be honest, take away the Villa blood running through your veins and ask yourselves this; If you were an established premier league player (not a youth like Robinson or Grealish) would you be signing any contract the club would possibly be offering.

I sure as hell wouldn't. Not when the ownership situation is up in the air, the team aren't very good as it is and the club is in extreme cost cutting mode so god knows what the terms on the extension will even be.

[Dave]

Be honest, take away the Villa blood running through your veins and ask yourselves this; If you were an established premier league player (not a youth like Robinson or Grealish) would you be signing any contract the club would possibly be offering.

I think it depends on the offer in question and the age of the player. If it were Benteke or Delph, probably not.

Ron however has one last decent contract in him before his wages are going to start to drop and contracts are more likely to be of the one year variety rather than the three year variety. He's also not averse to spending a few months here or there out injured.

If he were offered a three year contract, a pay-rise and the option to leave for a set fee if we go down written into it, I think he's more likely to take financial security for him and his family over the possibility that a Champions League team will pick him up for nothing if he has a good season with us.

[Matt Collins]

I really don't think we can afford to lose him. Even if it means losing him on a free next year. I've no confidence in replacing him adequately

[pauliewalnuts]

I really don't think we can afford to lose him. Even if it means losing him on a free next year. I've no confidence in replacing him adequately

What worries me is, if we sold him, I think we'd quickly discover that his replacement is already here - Senderos.

[pauliewalnuts]

Be honest, take away the Villa blood running through your veins and ask yourselves this; If you were an established premier league player (not a youth like Robinson or Grealish) would you be signing any contract the club would possibly be offering.

I sure as hell wouldn't. Not when the ownership situation is up in the air, the team aren't very good as it is and the club is in extreme cost cutting mode so god knows what the terms on the extension will even be.

I would be looking at what our ambition is.

I haven't seen anything from the club in a long while which suggests our ambition extends beyond not getting relegated, absolutely nothing.

We ended last season saying how much we needed to invest in players, and what sort of players, to return to an acceptable level, and since then we've signed three free transfers, one of which is a 33 year old who is made of glass and hasn't done anything for years, one of which is an underwhelming centre half, and the other is a bog standard left back.

It's football fans' optimism that we're increasingly talking about the return of the injured or pointlessly excluded, and saying they're "like a new signing", but really, we had a need to do a significant amount of squad strengthening, and thus far, we haven't seen anything at all to suggest we're going to do it.

As a fan, it is depressing, but if I were a footballer, aged 29, looking at my last deal, had had a very good World Cup and had only a year on my contract, there's really no way I'd dedicate the final years of my career to a club which clearly just exists to not get relegated.

There isn't any ambition, ultimately, I wouldn't blame anyone for not fancying that.

[Matt Collins]

I agree. I think we just need to dig our heels in.

[Toronto Villa]

I suppose what needs to be considered is what he is told as opposed to what is as fans know. When Benteke was on the verge of being sold nobody could ever see the eventual outcome. While the takeover talks appear really gloomy it's all based on what we know, which in truth is very little indeed. I imagine as the club talks to Vlaar he'll be told things that fans will never hear that might influence his ultimate decision.

[kippaxvilla2]

Even thought it was whilst being a regular first teamer for us that he finally made it onto the world stage.  And even though we have shown incredible patience and loyalty by standing by him despite knowing and being proved right on his injury record?