Summer 2013: Villa Transfers, Speculation, Suggestions and Rumours

[Concrete John]

I do wonder if the club were expecting to lose Benteke after the World Cup anyway, which is what most of us were thinking, with the idea that Helenius would be the longterm replacement.  A small punt and in 12 months time we have a huge cash injection to buy a more established striker, if he doesn't look like he's going to cut the mustard.  And if so, what does that do to our plans if/when Benteke goes 12 months too early?

I think Lambert seems to be building the squad in a very logical and methodical manner, meaning he's unlikely to abandon the Helenius option.  So if we bought someone like Wilfried Bony now, who's 25 and should be around a few years, and we have the issue of Helenius possibly being held back if he's pushing hard for a 1st team place.   

All this says to me 'loan'.

I know there not to everyone's taste, but if we had Lukaku for 12 months we'd be in the exact same position in summer 2014 as we expected to be, which is Benteke gone and a huge bank balance to spend after having seen Helenius for a year.

[Dave]

On Helenius, I've never seen him play, so just taking the market value as an indication of the consensus on his quality. Obviously lambert thinks he's better than that, but it'd be a massive gamble to rely on him.

But on that basis, Fabio Borini should have been a better player than Benteke. Charlie Adam should have been a better player than Westwood. Bryan Oviedo should have been better than Lowton. They all cost more and play in a similar position.

It was a massive gamble to rely on Benteke last season, but taking a gamble is what we'll be doing again this season, whether that's bringing in another striker or using Helenius earlier than we thought. Fortunately where transfers are concerned Lambert seems to be good at gambling.

[pauliewalnuts]

With Lukaku, I think people are missing a couple of points.

Firstly, it was he who urged Benteke to move to a "bigger club" as soon as he could last season. That's not a promising start.

Secondly, he's one of Benteke's best mates, and the fact he is going to be in London next year will almost certainly be having an influence on Benteke wanting to be there, too.

Given that, there's no way Lukaku would come here.

[OCD]

Eastie - I heard from someone close to the first team, dont want to elaborate further but there is def no way back for him.....

I hope he hasn't  wanked in lamberts porridge.

Again.

[danlanza]

I do wonder if the club were expecting to lose Benteke after the World Cup anyway, which is what most of us were thinking, with the idea that Helenius would be the longterm replacement.  A small punt and in 12 months time we have a huge cash injection to buy a more established striker, if he doesn't look like he's going to cut the mustard.  And if so, what does that do to our plans if/when Benteke goes 12 months too early?

I think Lambert seems to be building the squad in a very logical and methodical manner, meaning he's unlikely to abandon the Helenius option.  So if we bought someone like Wilfried Bony now, who's 25 and should be around a few years, and we have the issue of Helenius possibly being held back if he's pushing hard for a 1st team place.   

All this says to me 'loan'.

I know there not to everyone's taste, but if we had Lukaku for 12 months we'd be in the exact same position in summer 2014 as we expected to be, which is Benteke gone and a huge bank balance to spend after having seen Helenius for a year.

Sounds a very good idea.

[danlanza]

Eastie - I heard from someone close to the first team, dont want to elaborate further but there is def no way back for him.....

I hope he hasn't  wanked in lamberts porridge.

Again.

Benteke seems to be doing a better job of wanking in everyone's porridge. Fecker.

[pauliewalnuts]

On Helenius, I've never seen him play, so just taking the market value as an indication of the consensus on his quality. Obviously lambert thinks he's better than that, but it'd be a massive gamble to rely on him.

But on that basis, Fabio Borini should have been a better player than Benteke. Charlie Adam should have been a better player than Westwood. Bryan Oviedo should have been better than Lowton. They all cost more and play in a similar position.

It was a massive gamble to rely on Benteke last season, but taking a gamble is what we'll be doing again this season, whether that's bringing in another striker or using Helenius earlier than we thought. Fortunately where transfers are concerned Lambert seems to be good at gambling.

One thing we saw last season was that Benteke was more important to us in terms of goals scored and goals made than any other player was to their club in the PL.

It is absolutely crucial that we replace him with as little risk as possible. Punts on the likes of Westwood and Bennett are one thing, but the higher cost of getting this one wrong makes taking a gamble riskier.

[Doorbell]

With Lukaku, I think people are missing a couple of points.

Firstly, it was he who urged Benteke to move to a "bigger club" as soon as he could last season.

Secondly, he's one of Benteke's best mates, and the fact he is going to be in London next year will almost certainly be having an influence on Benteke wanting to be there, too.

Given that, there's no way Lukaku would come here.

No, but it would really, really funny.

[Matt Collins]

On Helenius, I've never seen him play, so just taking the market value as an indication of the consensus on his quality. Obviously lambert thinks he's better than that, but it'd be a massive gamble to rely on him.

But on that basis, Fabio Borini should have been a better player than Benteke. Charlie Adam should have been a better player than Westwood. Bryan Oviedo should have been better than Lowton. They all cost more and play in a similar position.

It was a massive gamble to rely on Benteke last season, but taking a gamble is what we'll be doing again this season, whether that's bringing in another striker or using Helenius earlier than we thought. Fortunately where transfers are concerned Lambert seems to be good at gambling.

Benteke was a £7m first choice pick for a top class Belgian side, and at the time we were playing two up top with gabby bent and Weimann competing for places.

We now have a settled way of playing that requires a no 9. Helenius cost less than £2m and is not first pick for a poor Denmark side.

We need a similar signing to benteke or for Helenius to immediately exceed expectations

[Concrete John]

With Lukaku, I think people are missing a couple of points.

Firstly, it was he who urged Benteke to move to a "bigger club" as soon as he could last season.

Secondly, he's one of Benteke's best mates, and the fact he is going to be in London next year will almost certainly be having an influence on Benteke wanting to be there, too.

Given that, there's no way Lukaku would come here.

Whilst all valid points, it doesn't quite tally with him spending the last year where he did.  If Chelsea bid, he may be used as a bargaining chip.

And even if he's out of the picture, he's not the only loan striker available.  Dzeko, if Man City can't off load him, might be an option. 

[TheSandman]

Guidetti is an interesting shout, but I noticed he wasn't playing last season. Injured or just in City's reserves?

[SamTheMouse]

On Helenius, I've never seen him play, so just taking the market value as an indication of the consensus on his quality. Obviously lambert thinks he's better than that, but it'd be a massive gamble to rely on him.

But on that basis, Fabio Borini should have been a better player than Benteke. Charlie Adam should have been a better player than Westwood. Bryan Oviedo should have been better than Lowton. They all cost more and play in a similar position.

It was a massive gamble to rely on Benteke last season, but taking a gamble is what we'll be doing again this season, whether that's bringing in another striker or using Helenius earlier than we thought. Fortunately where transfers are concerned Lambert seems to be good at gambling.

One thing we saw last season was that Benteke was more important to us in terms of goals scored and goals made than any other player was to their club in the PL.

It is absolutely crucial that we replace him with as little risk as possible. Punts on the likes of Westwood and Bennett are one thing, but the higher cost of getting this one wrong makes taking a gamble riskier.

This is the way I see it too. Our defence is probably still going to ship quite a few goals next season, as the new additions may be promising but are young and have no experience of playing in such a competitive league. So based on that, we're going to need to keep scoring freely, but if you take Benteke (and Bent) out of the equation, our 'goals for' column is going to look pretty sick. And not in the street sense.

I don't know about Helenius, but I suspect the chances of signing two genuinely international class strikers from complete obscurity and having them score a shedload of goals in their first season for us - two seasons running - are lower than a limbo dancer's dick. We have to get top dollar for Benteke, because if we don't find a really good replacement, we're potentially looking at Relegation Struggle Mk 2 in 2014.

[Joshua Fineman]

I do wonder if the club were expecting to lose Benteke after the World Cup anyway, which is what most of us were thinking, with the idea that Helenius would be the longterm replacement.  A small punt and in 12 months time we have a huge cash injection to buy a more established striker, if he doesn't look like he's going to cut the mustard.  And if so, what does that do to our plans if/when Benteke goes 12 months too early?

I think Lambert seems to be building the squad in a very logical and methodical manner, meaning he's unlikely to abandon the Helenius option.  So if we bought someone like Wilfried Bony now, who's 25 and should be around a few years, and we have the issue of Helenius possibly being held back if he's pushing hard for a 1st team place.   

All this says to me 'loan'.

I know there not to everyone's taste, but if we had Lukaku for 12 months we'd be in the exact same position in summer 2014 as we expected to be, which is Benteke gone and a huge bank balance to spend after having seen Helenius for a year.

I think expecting Helenius to be as good next season as Benteke was last season is too much of a risk, and if that doesn't work we'll just be in exactly the same position we are in now.  There must have been some idea at the club that Benteke might decide to move on this summer, and I am sure they have targets in mind.  With the £20m plus we get in for him, I'm sure we could snap up two forwards, to share the goalscoring burden.

[ozzjim]

Paulie is spot on about Lukaku. As much as I would love him here, he ain't going to come.


I do though, think Lambert will find someone else that will perform the role. Maybe with a few less goals and a midfield contributing a few more.

I saw someone suggest Bas Dost? Where is he now? I though he was at Wolfsburg, who are interested in Bent aren't they? Maybe could do something there?

[Dave]

It is absolutely crucial that we replace him with as little risk as possible. Punts on the likes of Westwood and Bennett are one thing, but the higher cost of getting this one wrong makes taking a gamble riskier.

Benteke at the time was a punt just as much as Westwood and Bennett were.

We certainly need to replace his goals, but it's not as if when we signed him he was some sort of 20-goals-per-season guaranteed success.