January Transfer Window Rumours/Suggestions/Hearsay/Heresy/Horseplay

[LeeB]

B'ham Mail confirming Sam Johnstone on loan until the end of the season.

Solves the problem of relying on a young and inexperienced keeper.

Isn't he young and inexperienced too?

I think that's what PWS was getting at.

[Dave]

B'ham Mail confirming Sam Johnstone on loan until the end of the season.

Solves the problem of relying on a young and inexperienced keeper.

Isn't he young and inexperienced too?

I'm pretty sure that's PWS's point.

Looks like rather than playing our own highly rated, inexperienced young goalkeeper we'll instead be giving experience to somebody else's.

[Matt Collins]

It isn't a bit of an odd one

But if he's better then so be it

[Gareth]

Presume Bruce with Round & Walsh will have identified which keeper they wanted (age irrelevant I guess?) and will know if Johnstone is an improvement on Gollini / Bunn - I think I'll go with their judgement.

In the summer would have gone for Marshall myself, watching him flapping that ball in last night shows what I know :-)

[VinnieChase84]

Presume Bruce with Round & Walsh will have identified which keeper they wanted (age irrelevant I guess?) and will know if Johnstone is an improvement on Gollini / Bunn - I think I'll go with their judgement.

In the summer would have gone for Marshall myself, watching him flapping that ball in last night shows what I know :-)

Strange move this. As others have mentioned, he's hardly any older than PG and his relative experience comparable.
He is though very highly rated. Maybe his style is more in line with a keeper than Bruce and co like more?

[Chris Smith]

B'ham Mail confirming Sam Johnstone on loan until the end of the season.

Solves the problem of relying on a young and inexperienced keeper.

Isn't he young and inexperienced too?

I'm pretty sure that's PWS's point.

Looks like rather than playing our own highly rated, inexperienced young goalkeeper we'll instead be giving experience to somebody else's.

From what I gather he is highly rated and an extremely confident, vocal keeper and that is what Bruce and Round are looking for.

[exigo]

He's already impressed in this division, got years ahead of him, can shout at the defence in an accent they understand, and is probably lined up for a permanent move if he impresses with us. Makes good sense.

[frank black]

He's already impressed in this division, got years ahead of him, can shout at the defence in an accent they understand, and is probably lined up for a permanent move if he impresses with us. Makes good sense.

Hope so, but extremely unlikely as Man up really rate him apparently. We will be fluffing him for Man U.

[Old Kodjia]

B'ham Mail confirming Sam Johnstone on loan until the end of the season.

Solves the problem of relying on a young and inexperienced keeper.

Isn't he young and inexperienced too?

I'm pretty sure that's PWS's point.

Looks like rather than playing our own highly rated, inexperienced young goalkeeper we'll instead be giving experience to somebody else's.

Not quite true.  He has already had several loan periods at lower league sides and a successful stint at Preston last year.

An improvement experience wise on Gollini, not by a great amount but an improvement all the same.  Bruce will know a lot about Johnstone from last season so I trust his judgement.  Keepers generally improve with age but again, we have to consider what our genuine targets are.  No PL keeper will join, no PL club will let their number 2 go unless they have a replacement lined up.  We all know and accept that January is a hard window at the best of times-For a keeper, it is probably even harder.  Bunn gave us a little reminder on Thursday night that he always has a mistake in him.  If I remember, he played a few last season very well and then deteriorated drastically thereafter.  I'm happy with Johnstone and think he's an improvement.

[Diablo]

Pat Murphy recent tweets :-

Understand @AVFCOfficial Not in for Jordan Rhodes. And not just @Boro interested in Gestede. Villa not yet rushing into a deal due to @ACON

Any money @AVFCOfficial get in player sales will b reinvested in new signings & Bruce will also be backed if there are some he really wants.

I've seen a quote saying the days of Aston Villa paying over the odds for players has gone (also various Rhodes not rated £11m by Villa comments in the articles) and now Pat Murphy saying "Bruce will also be backed if there are some he really wants"? For a "team" so disjointed and so obviously missing key components this isn't exactly filling me with confidence. Have I missed something relating to the club's finances? Something that crossed my mind is I wonder if we're still on track for Bruce's promotion target? I know he said we were 2 points behind before the win against QPR (I think) and if not if this will change our transfer policy?

[darren woolley]

Bruce's rates Sam Johnstone so that's good enough for me.

[West Derby Villan]

And me. We have to give Bruce a couple of transfer windows to sort it out surely?

[john e]

he's coming from Man Utd so he must be good, that's always been the case in the past

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Pat Murphy recent tweets :-

Understand @AVFCOfficial Not in for Jordan Rhodes. And not just @Boro interested in Gestede. Villa not yet rushing into a deal due to @ACON

Any money @AVFCOfficial get in player sales will b reinvested in new signings & Bruce will also be backed if there are some he really wants.

I've seen a quote saying the days of Aston Villa paying over the odds for players has gone (also various Rhodes not rated £11m by Villa comments in the articles) and now Pat Murphy saying "Bruce will also be backed if there are some he really wants"? For a "team" so disjointed and so obviously missing key components this isn't exactly filling me with confidence. Have I missed something relating to the club's finances? Something that crossed my mind is I wonder if we're still on track for Bruce's promotion target? I know he said we were 2 points behind before the win against QPR (I think) and if not if this will change our transfer policy?

After the way we threw around money in the summer it doesn't do any harm to tell the world we have a tight budget to try and get value for money. I'm assuming Xia will back Bruce and we'll see 3 new players this window.

if we can get rid of Richards for this window for a couple of million it will be an added bonus.

[Chris87]

Pat Murphy recent tweets :-

Understand @AVFCOfficial Not in for Jordan Rhodes. And not just @Boro interested in Gestede. Villa not yet rushing into a deal due to @ACON

Any money @AVFCOfficial get in player sales will b reinvested in new signings & Bruce will also be backed if there are some he really wants.

I've seen a quote saying the days of Aston Villa paying over the odds for players has gone (also various Rhodes not rated £11m by Villa comments in the articles) and now Pat Murphy saying "Bruce will also be backed if there are some he really wants"? For a "team" so disjointed and so obviously missing key components this isn't exactly filling me with confidence. Have I missed something relating to the club's finances? Something that crossed my mind is I wonder if we're still on track for Bruce's promotion target? I know he said we were 2 points behind before the win against QPR (I think) and if not if this will change our transfer policy?

After the way we threw around money in the summer it doesn't do any harm to tell the world we have a tight budget to try and get value for money. I'm assuming Xia will back Bruce and we'll see 3 new players this window.

if we can get rid of Richards for this window for a couple of million it will be an added bonus.

Yeah, I was actually thinking about Bruce's comments earlier. I would much rather the club take a sustainable approach to transfers than spend obscene amounts to secure players.