Transfer Speculation / Gossip

[Ger Regan]

Who's "showing off" about not going to games?

[Matt Collins]

I just think the obvious thing to do is what Sunderland did last year - take a bit of a chance on a creative player or forward not getting a game at a better side. Borini and ki were vital players for them. Who? Not sure, but some candidates:

Powell, lingard, zaha, Wilson - Man U
Gnabry - arsenal
Van ginkel, salah - Chelsea
Assaidi, borini - Liverpool
Sinclair - man city
Holtby - spurs

I'd much prefer some to others but you'd hope we could get one of them and they'd all give us an option we don't have at the moment.

[tomd2103]

Gabby is gabby. He's probably not as good as we'd hope he'd be but in market where Shane Long costs £12 I don't think we can afford better. Or certainly not guarantee 'better' unless we spent well over £10m.

It's not as if he's keeping some superstar out if the team so I don't think he deserves the constant criticism he seems to receive on here.

To be fair, it's the same market in which Gabby and Darren Bent are taking home something in the region of £120,000 a week between them.  I like Gabby and still think he could do a job if partnered with either Benteke or Kozak.  That said, if those two leave the club for free next summer and free up that kind of money, then I'm not sure how disappointed I would be.     

[Des Little]

A high profile (ish) loanee would be a real boost, and for relatively small beer in terms of financial outlay. I'm seeing Everton are being linked with a loan move for Wellbeck, despite just shelling out 28 mil for another striker. That's what I call ambition.

[AvFc4eVeR]

We all want Gabby to succeed and we all want him to score more than he does, maybe we don't realise the pressure we put on Gabby to perform. He needs our support if he is ever going to get back to his best, but his best was under a manager that got 'more' out of average players. Hopefully Keane will have a positive impact on his game this season. Time will tell.

In terms of selling him, completely ludicrous idea IMO, he will end up at another Prem team, and probably score against us everytime!

Better to work with him and use his strengths better than we currently are, i.e. use his pace to get us in behind teams to the byline and cause them problems.

[BoskoDjembaSalifou]

Another Agbonlahor discussion. Great, that never gets boring!

[N'ZMAV]

Can't really discuss Gabby on the Transfer Speculation / Gossip thread. He's never really been linked with a move away. Even in the Young, Downing, Milner era, he still never got much speculation.

[Clampy]

Like someone mentioned the other day, the problem with Gabby is that when he's not 100% fit, it shows. With him being in the last year of his contract, it'll be interesting to see how he performs.

[N'ZMAV]

Going on the first 2 games he's probably been our worst performer. So, improvement needed. I look forward to it.

[pauliewalnuts]

When Gabby is at the peak of his game he can be devastating.

The problem is, the gaps between him showing what he can do are big and getting bigger. Far too many games where he just goes through the motions, offering next to nothing.

I like the fact he is one of us, but I don't think we can afford to carry a player who contributes so little but plays so much.

If he is one of the few players still on MON era big money then he'll no doubt be looking for similar when his contract runs down. I wouldn't be happy to see him picking up anywhere near the 40k a week her is probably on now. He's not worth that much.

If we put him up for sale now, how much interest do we honestly think there would be in him from top flight teams?

I'd be inclined to move him on. It'd be good for both us and him I think.

[Steve67]

Paulie, spot on as usual. A top player when on form but at the minute, I doubt if even QPR or Burnley would want him. Funny, as you would think he'd be busting a gut to earn a contract. Unless of course he already knows he's not getting one? We are not a good enough team to be able to carry  players.

[KevinGage]

We were linked with this guy last year, as a potential Benteke replacement. Turn the sound down, obv.

With our current forward options, might be worth looking at again.

[Clampy]

It wouldn't shock me if another left back came in actually.

[old man villa fan]

I just think the obvious thing to do is what Sunderland did last year - take a bit of a chance on a creative player or forward not getting a game at a better side. Borini and ki were vital players for them. Who? Not sure, but some candidates:

Powell, lingard, zaha, Wilson - Man U
Gnabry - arsenal
Van ginkel, salah - Chelsea
Assaidi, borini - Liverpool
Sinclair - man city
Holtby - spurs

I'd much prefer some to others but you'd hope we could get one of them and they'd all give us an option we don't have at the moment.

This is what is wrong with the Premier League.  Top clubs being able to farm out players to either develop them or just to keep them happy is killing competition outside of 5 or 6 clubs.

Having said that, I do not want my club to stand alone and try and build a team traditionally in the correct way.  We should use the system where it can be most effective for us.  We cannot afford to buy promising strikers or midfield players so should be going to all of the top teams and asking who they would loan out.  I am sure Everton are not waiting to see who is available.

[AvFc4eVeR]

Maybe putting him on the transfer list is the answer, might shake him out of his comfort zone. I do think part of the problem is his belief he will always be a Villa player no matter what.