Villa player loan watch

[BoskoDjembaSalifou]

Is Graham good? Don't think I've seen him play.

I'm pleased we're loaning out players from the academy. They'll learn a lot more playing competitive football.

[Matt Collins]

I'm not sure about siegrist to be honest. He seems to make quite a few mistakes

Like the looking graham though. I think he might have the most potential of our young forwards - though I've not seen a huge amount of any of them

[eastie]

@No1shaygiven: Great to be back in action today @Boro & also to make my 600th club app. A clean sheet but more importantly the 3 points made a perfect day

[eamonn]

Hopefully falling in love with football again will make Given amenable to permanent moves on much less money.

[DrGonzo]

A Villa mate was at the game, all the way from Shropshire (!) he did try and explain why he went but I wasn't buying it, said that Given had an excellent game, looked fit and sharp.  Fair play, he must still be training properly.

[supertom]

If Guzan got injured I'd feel more assured with Given between the sticks than Steer.

[OCD]

Hopefully falling in love with football again will make Given amenable to permanent moves on much less money.

Bit harsh. I've not been his biggest supporter but his professionalism can't be questioned. I'm sure if someone had come in for him and had him in mind for their number one spot, he would have gone.

[Dante Lavelli]

Hopefully falling in love with football again will make Given amenable to permanent moves on much less money.

Bit harsh. I've not been his biggest supporter but his professionalism can't be questioned. I'm sure if someone had come in for him and had him in mind for their number one spot, he would have gone.

It's a bit chicken and egg though isn't it.  I'm sure clubs would have made him that offer if he/his agent made it aware that the new club would not have to match his current salary.

[KevinGage]

A Villa mate was at the game, all the way from Shropshire (!) he did try and explain why he went but I wasn't buying it, said that Given had an excellent game, looked fit and sharp.  Fair play, he must still be training properly.

Hope it works out for him. 

He's never bad mouthed us (the 60k+ a week might help, but it hasn't stopped others) and was often the difference between winning and losing (or drawing and losing, if we're being honest) in that Horrible Anus of a year under Big Eck. Not his fault that Guzan has since eclipsed him. 

If we'd have had that level of competition for all positions in the starting XI we'd have been in far better shape these past few years.

[OCD]

I keep seeing this £60k figure. I think it's more like £40k/week - with that being the reason for the 5-year contract i.e. if it had been a 3-year contract, it would have been more like £70k/week to equal the £10m contract. It still doesn't justify the signing mind.

[KevinGage]

He was reportedly on 90k a week at city and took a pay cut to come to Villa - but over a five year contract to make up the shortfall.    The obvious consequence of that being if he'd seen out the five years with us, he wouldn't have been much worse off financially.   If he left before the five years (as looks likely)  we'll have to subsidise part of his contract at his new club or pay him off.

A bit of a pisser, but he did at least give us an extended run of good form when he was in the starting XI, unlike some of the other leeches.

A braver manager than Bg Eck might have gone with Guzan back in 2011.  But he wasn't staring from a strong position support-wise, so it's clear he wanted what he thought would be senior players guaranteed to come in and hit the ground running.    In the case of Given, there weren't too many that questioned the quality of the signing at the time.  Even if the length of contract did raise a few eyebrows.

[Matt Collins]

Found a report from a notts county fan on grealish. Seems slightly harsh but largely plays to my prejudices. I think he's got about one assist whilst there

The best thing that can be said of Grealish is that he has passed the first acid test of the young loanee – he actually looks like he wants to be here and is grateful for his first opportunity in senior football, which perhaps makes his peripheral performances in black and white more concerning for the future.

His spell started brightly, with his pace and quick feet causing real problems for Tranmere Rovers and Carlisle United, but as his time at Notts winds towards a conclusion it is becoming harder to escape the conclusion that Grealish has been found out by League One defences.

Most often used on the left by first Chris Kiwomya and then his replacement, Shaun Derry, Grealish’s reliance on his right foot has led to a frustrating situation where he is constantly being shown aside, coaxed into the trap like a mouse is attracted to a lump of Edam before being suffocated and losing the ball. His final ball is also frustratingly absent, with Grealish’s goals and assists columns since his arrival at the club looking worryingly empty, like the cupboard in the bunker just after the apocalypse.

Not that all is lost for Jack – his touch and ability to glide past players that has underpinned the rave reviews he has received as a young footballer have been evidenced, but currently he is being held back by a lack of footballing intelligence and a lack of final product, perhaps the two toughest things to find in the game.

To compare him to previous loanees who have floated through Meadow Lane, Grealish is miles away from the explosive talent of the eighteen year-old Thomas Ince, whose brief spell at the club saw him winning games single-handedly and being a central factor to our League One survival come the end of the season.

Nor, however, is he a lost cause – a Craig Lindfield who arrived from Liverpool as the new Michael Owen (interestingly he came with far more expectation from their fans than Ince), but left as a player who would drift through a career that has taken in Accrington Stanley, Macclesfield Town and Chester. That Ince is still only a Championship player, albeit perhaps the best, is enough indication that the hype around Grealish must be tempered, however, and that it is perhaps time to stop telling him just how good he is and begin focusing on the areas in which he needs to improve.

Talk of him being ready to impact on the Villa first team squad is, frankly, ridiculous for a player currently struggling to impact on a struggling League One side.

A loan spell at a side who aren’t quite as dreadful as Notts would be a start, although our season has been deceptive in its incompetence. The side sees far more possession game on game than you might expect for a side marooned at the foot at the table, but is being held back by its lack of creativity, something for which Jack must be somewhat culpable.

The overtures around his mythical talent must stop and he should be seen as a promising footballer who has a long way to go, as the evidence of senior football is worth so much more than any internet highlights package. I hope that, one day, I see Jack on Match of the Day and can smile that my club had a small role in his development as a footballer, rather than his name triggering something in my head when he scores a goal for Tamworth or Solihull Moors.

[Ron Manager]

Excellent post. Young Jack has obvious talent but so did the Moores and Stephen Cooke. He seems a distance away from what we hope he will achieve in the future.

Carruthers too does not seem to be imposing himself at MK Dons.

[TheSandman]

My Donny Rovers supporting mate said Enda looked decent enough on Saturday. He's playing for them against the Noses tonight.

[OCD]

Good post. Sums up why getting young players out on loan is so important. Let them experience first team football at a league team and then when teams start to find and exploit their weaknesses and ask questions of them. It's then up to that young player to work on their weaknesses and find answers to these questions. Doing so could be the making of them. You're always going to be playing the numbers game with kids though.