Summer 2015 - Transfer Rumours, Speculation & Suggestions

[Clampy]

Heaton signed a new contract at Burnley in pre-season I think.

I like Guzan but he's not been as solid as he was when Lambert first put him in.

[RussellC]

But the point is that the clubs insure the player for the transfer fee they're paying, if I understand it correctly? Regardless of how many games he's played in the past few seasons, if Austin really does have a serious knee issue, no club will get insurance on a £15m fee.

So, how did West Ham, Newcastle and Chelsea manage to insure Demba Ba given that he failed a medical with Stoke due to his supposed knee problem?

Either by passing A medical at those clubs, or by those clubs choosing to run the risk of not having his transfer fee insured, I would imagine. I'm not suggesting that Austin can't be signed, just that clubs appear to be bulking at his asking price because of this issue. It wouldn't surprise me to see a number of clubs try their luck with lower bids as the deadline approaches.

So presumably if Austin passes a medical with us (and the fact that he's barely missed a game in his career through injury, and even when he did it was nothing to do with knee indicates that he probably would) then we'd have no problem insuring him?

And without him having a medical with us (or somebody else), then we'd have no idea of whether he would pass one, so "whether he can insured or not" clearly can't have anything to do with it?

It's possible - I don't know. But wasn't GobShite Sullivan citing this as the issue with Austin last week? That they weren't prepared to pay £15m for a player they couldn't insure?

What do you think is holding clubs back from spending £15m on a 26 year old player who scored 18 Premiership goals last season if it's not this? I don't really get your point.

[Chris Jameson]

Didn't Austin fail a medical at Hull before signing for QPR. I like him but the way QPR operate might mean they were the only club who didn't care about any risk involved.

[RussellC]

Look at it another way- would you spend £20k on a car if a mechanic told you it was liable to blow-up at any second, regardless of the fact that it had 200k on the clock? If it is a degenerative problem in his knee, the fact that he's already played so much football on it probably makes it even more of a problem.

[IAmTheOneIanOlney]

I'm sure Tim Sherwood would have all the info on Austin from Chris Ramsey and could make a pretty informed decision about fitness or suitability.

[ktvillan]

The real bummer though ozz is that we can score a shed load of goals with what we have got. Sinclair is full of goals and Adama, Carles and Jack will heap the chances on a plate for him. We have potentially an electrifying attack. It is stupid, stupid, stupid endless defensive cock ups, calamities and gift goals we have to put an end to. That is why I was so pissed off about the Notts game. Wow we won and scored five goals. Yes and played like the Keystone Kops in defence.

I'd agree with that. Unfortunately Sherwood does have this reputation for not worrying too much about defence and relying on a gung-ho attacking we'll-score-one-more-than-you approach.  Which would make things very entertaining but would not provide a very solid basis on which to build the club up into a solid upper mid-table unit.  No-one will ever convince me that Clark or Baker are PL standard centre backs.  Okore I don't know but he was held back by his injury and deserves more of a chance to prove himself.  But I think we need to find another solid Mellberg/Laursen type (perhaps with better ball skills) to go alongside Richards.  I also think we could improve at RB and Keeper.  I really don't think Guzan is good enough.  I'd be disappointed if we only have net spend of 5 or 6m because we still have some clear weaknesses that need addressing.  Doing so would not be spending for the sake of it, but an investment of upcoming TV money in order to safeguard our continued participation at the top table.   

[john e]

If he does have a dodgy knee that may or may not flair up at sometime in the future,
you can bet your last custard tart it will go just after he signs and gets up from the signing table

This is Aston Villa after all

[Nirog72]

We've never had a player with dodgy knees before have we.......

[Salsa Party Animal]

Tim could get word of mouth from his mate to tell him to go for him or not. This is why we didn't make an offer with inside knowledge from his mate.

[Salsa Party Animal]

After Europe Transfer windows closed tomorrow we got extra 18 hours to buy players. I hope Tim could find a poacher in europe, a new right back and goalkeeper.

[Leicester_Villian]

Test the baggies with 25 million for Berahino ...... he scores goals and if we don't believe Austin is fit then who else is still out there?

[john e]

The problem with the striker situation is that we have already signed two and got another one back from injury
we now think the ones we have signed or already have arnt good enough, so let's sign some more

 I don't suppose you can just keep signing forwards for big money untill you get one that works, maybe you just have to work with what you have, or better still give the ones you just brought a bit of time to settle in

And I thought Gestede was pretty poor yesterday

[DB]

Test the baggies with 25 million for Berahino ...... he scores goals and if we don't believe Austin is fit then who else is still out there?

Look outside the UK and there are players, probably better value for money as Sherwood stated, British players are over-priced.

[Leicester_Villian]

Problem we have is:
1)Kozak - Tim obviously does not rate him, shame because I think he would offer something
2) Gestede - I don't believe he is Premiership class - good squad player to have
3) Ayew - Unknown but does seem he may take time to settle and show if he will make it
This is the Premiership and unless you have a player who will score 15+ a season you will struggle - which is the fear that I have for us

[Holte L2]

Valdes's move to Beskitas has fallen through. We should be in for him.