Charles N'zogbia update

[Clampy]

Alright Davey

Like I said he's injured at the moment so at a guess I'd say it's just idle speculation. He's been ok without being great. Some half decent games, a couple of goals but not a lot else. The talent is there, there's no question about that but I think we all expected a lot more from him considering what we paid.

Have a great new year yourself (apart from tomorrow).

Cheers mate, properly laughed at the (apart from tomorrow) bit!   

Shame you couldn't make it mate, i'd have popped around to the away end to say hello and share a pint!

atb

Davey

Yeah our normal boys are not running a coach so we thought we'd leave it. Just as well, it's a long bloody way on New Years Day. We're bound to win now though.

[Davey B]

Don't know whether it's made up bollox by the paper, but we (SAFC) are being linked with a move for N'zogbia!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/sunderland/10542867/Sunderland-manager-Gus-Poyet-targets-Charles-NZogbia-and-others-in-January-transfer-window.html

Apparently we are in negotiations with Brighton for Liam Bridcutt (a DM) and Will Buckley who is a winger, so a move for Charlie, (if it's correct) might depend on the success/outcome of the Brighton discussions.

What do you guys think, have you heard anything down there? 

Its a load of bollocks davey, he's not expected to play again till next season and a long way off a return.

Cheers Eastie! I was thinking as much tbh. The wage structure here affected our chances last time and i doubt whether they'll break the bank for him now after not doing it when we had the opportunity last time! 

Davey  O'Neills out, Wes Brown's out, even Cuellar's out. Does this mean a late call up for Charlie Hurley?

Lol Ron! Mate, i promise, i'd be tempted to offer Charlie a contract now, and as old as he is, play him instead of the two we have as cover currently. It really is that frightening.

atb

Davey

[Davey B]

Alright Davey

Like I said he's injured at the moment so at a guess I'd say it's just idle speculation. He's been ok without being great. Some half decent games, a couple of goals but not a lot else. The talent is there, there's no question about that but I think we all expected a lot more from him considering what we paid.

Have a great new year yourself (apart from tomorrow).

Cheers mate, properly laughed at the (apart from tomorrow) bit!   

Shame you couldn't make it mate, i'd have popped around to the away end to say hello and share a pint!

atb

Davey

Yeah our normal boys are not running a coach so we thought we'd leave it. Just as well, it's a long bloody way on New Years Day. We're bound to win now though.

Wel if you ever make it up here, give uz a shout!  deffo have a pint mate!

[PeterWithesShin]

Happy New Year Davey. Have a good one mate.

[Clampy]

Alright Davey

Like I said he's injured at the moment so at a guess I'd say it's just idle speculation. He's been ok without being great. Some half decent games, a couple of goals but not a lot else. The talent is there, there's no question about that but I think we all expected a lot more from him considering what we paid.

Have a great new year yourself (apart from tomorrow).

Cheers mate, properly laughed at the (apart from tomorrow) bit!   

Shame you couldn't make it mate, i'd have popped around to the away end to say hello and share a pint!

atb

Davey

Yeah our normal boys are not running a coach so we thought we'd leave it. Just as well, it's a long bloody way on New Years Day. We're bound to win now though.

Wel if you ever make it up here, give uz a shout!  deffo have a pint mate!

Will do.

[Davey B]

Happy New Year Davey. Have a good one mate.

cheers Pete! 

atvb mate

Davey

[SoccerHQ]

Davey, what on earth has happened to Adam Johnson up there? I guess people were going OTT with saviour of England stuff when he was at Man. City but he's surely capable of better than he's shown in his 18 months at Sunderland?!

[Davey B]

Davey, what on earth has happened to Adam Johnson up there? I guess people were going OTT with saviour of England stuff when he was at Man. City but he's surely capable of better than he's shown in his 18 months at Sunderland?!

Don't know mate, he hasn't exactly set the place alight, though he has shown glimpses of his capabilities, and scored the odd goal or two. There are rumours up here of him and Fletcher moving in this transfer window. Though i'd be really worried about our only goal threat leaving, i'd not be as gutted to see the back of the very highly talented and highly paid Johnson. And i'm a big fan of his, i was delighted when he signed, but to say he's been an anti-climax while here is an understatement. Very disappointed to be brutally honest.

[SoccerHQ]

Yeah quite a few of us wouldn't have minded him here 18 months ago.

Would be madness to let Fletcher leave with Altidore and Borini staying. Fancy him to score tomorrow if he starts.

[paul_e]

I never understood the Johnson love-in on here.  He's always seemed the very definition of a highlights player to me, and that's exactly what he delivered at Man City and, by the sounds of it, at Sunderland as well.

I knew things were bad for you guys, every other season when we've played you lot I've had the mackem half of the family giving me shit for a few days on Facebook, this season there's not been a peep for either game.

I'll be up your way in April but probably only for a night on route back to Birmingham, All the inlaws are from seaburn so we usually end up in the blue bell or the flying boat (or whatever it's called this week).  They're all ex miners as well so I get dragged into the club there a fair bit as well, it's dire but £1.50 for a pint serves well enough after a couple of years over here.

[Toronto Villa]

looks like we'll be seeing our Charlie again before the end of the season. Good luck on your recovery

Charles N'Zogbia still has Villa future, insists Paul Lambert
By Matt Kendrick
4 Feb 2014 22:30

Villa boss says winger could return to action before the end of the season as he continues recovery from Achilles injury

Charles N’Zogbia is expected to play for Aston Villa again this season after Paul Lambert dismissed suggestions the injured winger’s claret and blue career is over.

N’Zogbia has been out of action since July after rupturing his Achilles heel during a pre-season jog while on holiday in Miami.

There were strong rumours N’Zogbia was no longer in Lambert’s plans after he was given the ‘Bomb Squad’ treatment and stripped of his number.

But Lambert is hopeful the 27-year-old wideman will return to action before the end of the campaign as he steps up his rehabilitation.

N’Zogbia lost his No.10 shirt and was handed No.36 last summer but that has since been given to rookie midfielder Daniel Johnson.

The twice-capped French international is listed without a number on Villa’s official website and not listed at all in the club’s matchday programmes.

It has been made clear that other players with squad numbers in the 30s, including Darren Bent, Alan Hutton, Shay Given, Enda Stevens and Nathan Delfouneso, are surplus to requirement and can leave.

Asked if the number situation with N’Zogbia carried any significance, Lambert replied: “No, you’re looking for something that’s not there.           

“The lad’s hurt his Achilles and we’ve got to get him back fit. He’s doing really well.

“You would think he would play before the end of the season, yes, but it’s not nice, that injury. I think his Achilles heel just went and once you get that it’s a major injury.”

N’Zogbia is contracted to Villa until summer 2016, having signed a five-year deal when he arrived from Wigan for £9.5 million in July 2011.

His spell in claret and blue has been largely disappointing, barring fleeting flashes of quality, but Lambert insists he is not ready to write him off.

N’Zogbia has started some light training exercises with Villa’s fitness coaches but is still quite a way away from being match-ready.

With Villa failing to recruit a No.10 style playmaker during last month’s window it seems Lambert is prepared to give N’Zogbia’s creative potential another chance.

“You’re right, when you have those sort of players coming at you, you know you can score,” said Lambert.

“I think I’ve said before, if you damage your Achilles heel, it’s a major injury.

“Sometimes you’re better off having a straight break rather than that injury because it’s a nightmare.

“He’s doing well. He’s just started back with the fitness lads, doing little bits, but his match fitness is not there.

“He’s not really done training or anything. He’s just getting the fitness levels up a little bit.’’

Lambert confirmed N’Zogbia sustained the serious injury during an innocuous exercise session in the States as he tried to get in shape ahead of returning to Bodymoor Heath last summer.

“I think he did it on a jog,” added Lambert. “He was running. I think every player does that in pre-season.

“They go out for a jog just to get going again and maybe your legs just aren’t as good as what they were during the season. It can happen that, from a really simple jog you can hurt yourself.

“That’s it, I just need to get him fit.”

[Dave Clark Five]

Looks like Lerner has told him that he can't act like O'Neill. Players are our assets and need to be used where possible.

[N'ZMAV]

I think if he'd have been fit during either transfer window then he'd have been sold or loaned out.

[Witton Warrior]

When I saw that bloke who is supposed to have been afloat for 13 months I wondered if I recognised him...

[Villa in Denmark]

Looks like Lerner has told him that he can't act like O'Neill. Players are our assets and need to be used where possible.

Apart from Hutton, Given and Bent?

I quite agree that we should manage our "assets" better.  It's the thing after wages that has screwed us royally since Randy took over.  Apparently no oversight of squad management (not that MON would have tollerated that anyway), but the ensuing mess and constant changing of manager and playing style, buying of new players has ended with god knows how many millions of asset Investment leaving the Club with next to no return.

Players who we've either lost for nothing because their contracts ran down, or where we lost a significant proportion of their value because, either we overpaid in relation to the quality we saw on the pitch or were frozen out and essentially valueless from a transfer market perspective.

Player                                        Loss
Dunne                                        £5.0M
Reo Coker                                   £8.5M
Cuellar                                        £7.8M
Young (L)                                    £3.0M
Warnock                                      £8.0M
Davies                                         £6.0M
Sidwell                                        £4.0M
Harewood                                    £4.0M
Heskey                                        £3,5M
Beye                                           £2,5M
Ireland                                        £8.0M

We're probably going to take significant hits on Hutton, Given and N'Zogbia to the tune of arounnd £10-12M

I reckon that's about £60M that we've just written off (although for the profit / loss accounts it won't show as a loss at the point the contract runs out as the value has already been amortised - the difference between profit/loss and cashflow)

Even if we'd only got back 50% of that value, how much better a position would be in?

Obviously the actual values of the individual players can be debated ad infinitum, but on the that there will be roughly as many over valuations as under valuations the net value should be about right.