Squad-building for 2019-20

[SaddVillan]

Didn't Smith say post match on Monday that he'd be having meetings with players today to tell them if the club is prepared to offer them a new contract or release them.

Can we expect an announcement re those to be released?

I expect that those being offered contracts might want to speak to their advisers before accepting so announcements about their fate may be delayed. If they do speak to their agents, then we'll want a decision quickly (by Friday) so that if they turn us down we can start the search for replacements.

[CT Villan]

Cahill and Milner are both 33, a bit too old for what we are building.

Delph is 29 and could play at left back or CM - worth an enquiry to check the price and availability.

[Mister E]

Mitrovic? - please not!

[Duncan Shaw]

Yet Suliman is in the England U21 squad.....

[Dazvillain]

The outline to strengthen is a simple model as I see it.
Strongest 18 selected Saturday so to improve ,we need 4 or 5 new faces better than those on starting 11. Those 4/5 then become more often bench players .
4/5 of Saturdays bench become more often squad members and 4/5 of Saturdays squad that were outside of the 18 Saturday get moved on

[Damo70]

SKY were suggesting yesterday we were prepared to spend ten million on Joe Lolley. They also said we were looking to sign up Mings, El Ghazi and Abraham permanently. They didn't mention Hause and Tuanzebe. Surely Carroll and Bolasie will not be seen in Villa shirts again. Also McCormack's and Tshibola's loans finished last week so they are back. Gardner, Hepburn-Murphy, Hogan and Bree's loans are all up today so they are back too.

[placeforparks]

not a massive surprise, but jedinak and elphick are confirmed as leaving.

[Damo70]

not a massive surprise, but jedinak and elphick are confirmed as leaving.

I was reading the Evening Mail whilst waiting to be seated in an Indian restaurant last night and they reckoned Jedinak would be staying, or at least it seemed he wanted to.

[cdbearsfan]

Jedinak was a key man for us up until this season and, even then, showed nerves of steel taking that penalty with his first touch. I don't think we always saw the very best of Elphick, but he is another one who seemed to "get" the club. The image of him sitting in the away end at Small Heath was great.

Good luck to them both, wherever they end up. Can see Jedinak being a star attraction in the A-League if he decides to go home.

[ASHTONVILLA]

Well it looks like Jedinak, Elphick, Richards, DeLaet, and Adomah are all out.

Can see us taking any offers for Bjarnson, Gardner, Bree, Kodjia, McCormack, Hogan and Lansbury.

That leaves us short in defense, wing, forwards and defensive midfield - plenty of work to do. Will be very interesting to see what the starting 11 is next season!

[AllanW]

I'm happy with a swap of Jota for Gardner. Good business by Deano et al. Kills 2 birds with one stone; brings in a right-sided attacking-mid or right wing with skill and experience that he's worked with before (successfully; look at his Brentford ratings and stats versus last year) and gets rid of a costly problem we did not value.

Nice.

[Legion]

A few principles that need to be used to base the build upon;
-   It’s Dean Smiths team so he will want it to be attacking not just surviving.
-   Much will depend on a persons personality and fit with the team and management not just their skill.
-   We need a Premiership team not a Championship team+. The big difference is SPEED. Strength is fine but SPEED is the X factor at every position.
-   Skills are important but worth nothing if the footballing brain is weak; Smith picks those who desire to be better footballers every day and can cope with tactical nuance and flexibility.
-   Structurally we will need the flexibility Dean has built in already and this will be increased next season. Lets’ specify the squad for a 4-3-3/4-4-2 regime because it can morph into lots of diamond, attacking wing-back and attacking midfielder schemes if the players are good enough.

Goalies
Steer deserves to be in the starting mix in the Premiership; he’s deserved it, worth it and we should value him.
Kalinic has been a valuable investment which needs to pay off now. Give him a chance. If he sees himself as automatic Number 1 he won’t fit in and I’d expect him to be sold if so.
Nyland will be fit again over the Summer but won’t get games as third choice so he should be sold for the benefit of his career.
Sarkic needs to be told he will be squad backup to top 2; developing young players for the future is what our club can be about. Here’s an example; ask him to step up and see if he does.
Bunn to go.

Centre Backs
Richards and Elphick to end contract and leave.
Chester will not be the player he was, we’ve now been told. Best we can expect here is a squad backup player for next year.
Mings needs to be snapped-up quickly. He wants it, we need it; get it done!
Tuanzebe would be great but won’t be available as a purchase and loans will not be our best priority in this position, it’s too important so reluctantly we won’t see Axel at VP next year, in my opinion.
Hause has not earned being purchased IMO and I’d expect the VP team to have a range of options from Cahill to who-the-hell-else-might-be-available but we need AT LEAST 2 in here who fit in, are speedy and technical ball-playing centre backs mainly because Suliman has not become a candidate.

Right Backs
Hutton to go with our best wishes.
Bree to be squad backup if the VP team assess him as worthwhile; we don’t know yet. If not, he’ll be sold.
De Laet; see below.
Elmohamady to fight for his place at RB alongside Guilbert who will join us now.

Left Backs
Taylor to stay and fight for a place against whoever we bring in because we need to bring someone in for this position, no doubt. There is no squad backup so we need to address that at U23/U20 level as well.

Defensive Midfield
Whelan may be given a one-year contract but solely as squad backup. Speed, remember?
Tshibola and Jedinak to go.
We have no-one else who can adequately play DM in the premiership so we need at least 2. If Fabian Delph is available as hinted at (he only has 1 year left on his contract at Citteh) I’d wrench him here as a priority; he could be the difference between surviving and kicking-on versus being relegated. He’s that good. Other possibilities are available as well but this is a priority now and will be fascinating to see.

Centre Midfield
McGinn is a diamond and a real Premiership-quality player already. Worth his weight in gold and an automatic selection.
Hourihane is useful and gets a place normally as well. I’m not as down on him as others; he will be useful in the prem.
Gardner can go.
We therefore need at least one good player here. No suggestions yet but the VP team will have candidates already. Watch this space unless they decide Bjarnason will fit the bill.

Attacking Midfield
Grealish is a diamond and a real Premiership-quality player already and he’s staying for next year so an automatic selection when fit.
Lansbury is my surprise here; I think he can be useful and deserves a squad place. You may hate him and if the VP team agree he’ll be moved-on. Me, I’d give him a chance IF his personality fits with the team.
My squad backup option here is O’Hare who I think has real potential and should be developed as a priority. We’ll need him.

Attacking Right
Adomah is not good enough so if not moved-on will be a squad backup only.
Green has not impressed so can only get a squad backup role if Adomah is not sold. Expect to be loaned next season until he improves, I’m sorry to say.
Here’s another surprise for you; Richie De Laet has been banging goals in in Belgium for 6 months and has always had a nose for goal as a genuine attacking right winger. So use him there if he wants the gig.
Of course, if Smith has already got a real plan to buy Lolley then the position is sorted.

Attacking Left
El Ghazi would be worthwhile but I’m not as wild about him as some other people but he’s good enough for next season.
We have no-one else so I’m looking for candidates to emerge. One to follow.

Strikers
Tammy will be going back to Chelsea not stay with us under any plan so needs to be replaced. Mitrovic has been mentioned, Maupay has been mentioned and I expect a bunch more will mention themselves. This is the other main priority; goalscoring striker. It will cost us real money but if we get it right we’ll stay up if not, we’ll really struggle.
Davis is a young development star and should be asked to push for a regular place. Keep and push-on.
Kodjia will stay for at least a year and be an option; I hope he takes the chance to get back to where he was. It’s his last chance IMO.
Hepburn-Murphy is no more than a possibility and loanee-in-waiting at the moment but I hope he improves.
McCormack is a hack who deserves to burn in hell and we don’t need him under any circumstances.
Hogan to be sold.

Which leaves our basic 23/24/25 squad members plus squad backups in brackets as;

GK; Steer, Kalinic, (Sarkic)
CB; Mings, Chester, +2
LB; Taylor, +1
RB; Guilbert, Elmohamady, (Bree)
DM; +2, (Whelan?)
CM; McGinn, Hourihane, +1
AM; Grealish, Lansbury, (O’Hare)
AL; El Ghazi, +1
AR; De Laet, (Green)
Striker; Kodjia, Davis, +1, (Hepburn-Murphy)

That’s all the current squad, losses taken into account and 8 purchases. I’m sure you’ll have plenty of observations 😊

Could you expand on that a little bit, please?

[eamonn]

Most people put less effort into their university dissertations.

[oldtimernow]

hey guys let's give a newby some slack here , let him settle in then take the piss as is the want of some on here.

 I found his analysis a good read he has probably not read these and other threads as thoroughly as many others have and it's just his opinions.

Welcome Allan W.

[Legion]

To avoid doubt, it was an excellent, insightful post.