Summer 2015 - Transfer Rumours, Speculation & Suggestions

[edgysatsuma89]

"Bolasie isn't skillful"

Gabby can do that in his sleep.

I mean he actually dreams about it. Kicks his legs like a puppy.

[tomd2103]

Back to villa and I am increasingly thinking benteke will go, and you can't blame him

I'm coming around to Charlie Austin. In part because as we've developed under sherwood we've become a better passing side and less reliant on the big man. But whether Austin can play by himself or needs a partner I'm less sure

I can't envisage adebayor in a villa shirt. Fantastic player on his day but he makes ballotelli look like a safe option!

Austin has played a fair bit by himself. Plus I would guess the way Sherwood would set up would be to get those "number 10's" coming to support him and feed him.
He does play well with a big man, but Zamora has only played 21 games this season, and didn't play many last season so Austin has managed by himself at times. He's a brilliant finisher.
The way Grealish draws out defenders could make Austin very productive for us.

That said I'd rather keep Benteke.

I wasn't really impressed with him when we played them recently.  Not really involved or particularly mobile.  He does seem to score goals though my concern would be that the likes of Grant Holt have managed to do that in their first season in the top flight.

[PeterWithesShin]

I think Austin could be more the 'real deal' than Holt was. Holt was 30 or 31 by the time he reached the PL, Austin is about 5 years younger. And his record has stayed impressive as he's moved up the leagues. 1 in 2 at every club at every level.

[CT Villan]

Bolasie at Palace reminds me of N'Zog at Wigan.

If Benteke has his heart set on moving (and I hope he doesn't) I think we could do a lot worse than Austin...the difference between him and Holt is Austin has scored lots this season in an absolutely awful team.

[Matt Collins]

I do have reservations on Austin - principally lack of pace. But I was checking out his goals this season and there are a lot of great first time finishes in there

If we could get a six foot plus, fast, strong goal scorer who can be the focal point and danger man is obviously go for him. But we've got one of those and i increasingly think we should be aiming for more than £30m. If sterling is going to be £40m plus . .

Adebayor is the closest remotely attainable player of that ilk. But it would be a huge gamble and he might not come. Loan perhaps?

Other than that I think it's abroad and I just don't know enough about the Belgian, French and Dutch leagues which is where I think we'd be looking.

[Dante Lavelli]

Isn't Charlie Austin the same sort of player as Bent?  Wouldn't it be cheaper to just re-sign bent whilst we scout/find a player with more facets to their game?

[mr underhill]

Bent saved us one season from the drop but he's not the same player now. He did very well at Derby but the clue is the league they play in. If Benteke goes we need someone younger, hungrier and more versatile.

[Matt Collins]

I don't really know about austin's hold up play, but I think there is some. Bent literally doesn't have any

Also think we should be looking to strengthen the attacking midfield options, an upgrade or alternative to nzogbia

I'd benteke does go we'll need more goals from elsewhere and grealish and nzogbia have zero between them this season (albeit they've only probably played 20 games between them).

[SashasGrandad]

I'm getting sick of all this paper talk about Benteke going to a northern club in a run down fishing port. If he leaves to play for a CL team on mega money fair enough - but a move to a backwater at the end of the M62 (the Western end) is a best a sideways move.

Just another example of the meedia desperately trying to unsettle us before the cup final as they are terrified we might win.

[pauliewalnuts]

Anyone else find themselves counting down the minutes to the expiry of Darren Bent's contract with us, so we'll finally be free of the "we should keep Bent" / "Bent shouldn't be on loan, he should he here" loop?

[mr underhill]

yes, but I wish him well in the future

[ADVILLAFAN]

Anyone else find themselves counting down the minutes to the expiry of Darren Bent's contract with us, so we'll finally be free of the "we should keep Bent" / "Bent shouldn't be on loan, he should he here" loop?

Then it will be 'should we get Bent in on a loan deal?'  :-)

[Dave]

Anyone else find themselves counting down the minutes to the expiry of Darren Bent's contract with us, so we'll finally be free of the "we should keep Bent" / "Bent shouldn't be on loan, he should he here" loop?

Can he play against Burnley?

[Monty]

Even were he to call time on his career, someone would post something like '5 goals in 6 games for Bent in the North Cambs u-50s league - anyone else think we should get him out of retirement?'

[paul_e]

If they are prepared to pay £20m for Bolasie then it's fair to say they haven't learnt a thing.

I have watched a fair bit of Bolasie and whilst he is very skillful, his crossing is absolutely awful.

I don't even think he's that skillful, he's very quick and has just enough skill to make the most of that pace.  I agree that his crossing is poor, he's also a poor finisher.  He reminds me a lot of where Gabby was a few years ago, on his day he'll really hurt teams but that day won't be all that regular and as he gets older he'll get worse.

He reminds me a lot of Shaun Wright Phillips when he was at Man. City, Chelsea paid 24m for him which was way OTT as he didn't have the technique for top level games and think Bolaise is the same, decent player he is.

That's probably a better example in terms of a skill comparison, but that's not what I did.  Posting videos like the one above doesn't mean much either, and nor do a few highlights on motd, he can do skillful things but I don't think he has the close control, end product or potential to be worth the figures that are being quoted.

As for the gabby reference I'm going to assume anyone who complained about that stopped reading before I explained it; the reference was to his ability to affect games and being very much a 1 good game in 4 type of player and that I think he'll go the same way as Gabby and become less effective rather than improving.  I guess if I'd put that as a new paragraph it might have looked less like I was connecting the 2 statements but 2 single line paragraphs looks odd.