Johan Lange - appointed

[Demitri_C]

Although im happy with the signings i was exepcting one or two gem unknown signings that may be around the first team.

Lange has a history in the Scandinavian league was hoping to see a gem being signed from over there as we seem to have a history of good players from there

[Mister E]

My fear with that is what we saw with Grealish we end up selling our best home grown talent
Just building up a savvy business model.
Sell on for big money
And our team is just an entertaining football outfit with one of own as manager and comfortable in the Prem from relegation bit not really threatening top 4 because ultimately they have better squads.

Grealish gave us 19 years of his life! I think it's a bit hyper to be critical of the club in that instance (likewise when Gazza Bazza left, some criticism was way OTT).
I'm sure the strategy is 'both / and': we buy good players for now (this window saw c.£80m being spent to progress the first team) AND we build from within.
If, in 3-4 years' time, we have a team comprising 4 or 5 homegrown and 5 or 6 bought-in stars - competing for major honours - I think we'll all be absolutely delighted.

[LukeJames]

Daramy going to Ajax for €12m from Copenhagen. This was one I was adamant that we would of gone for as soon as we apppointed Lange.

[PeterWithe]

It does seem strange that we've done so little in the weak European market, pretty much all the signngs have been known quantities and the youngsters presumably scouted by the Acadamy team.

[Risso]

It does seem strange that we've done so little in the weak European market, pretty much all the signngs have been known quantities and the youngsters presumably scouted by the Acadamy team.

Yep. I like the players we’ve bought, but it’s all quite obvious. Buying the player with the best stats from the Championship is what we did 4-5 years ago with Hourihane at the time, and Ings is this year’s Bent, although hopefully better.

[PaulWinch again]

I’ve a feeling Lange probably pushed for Bailey, which if true is a blinder.

[Footy-Vill]

At this moment I'm not such where Lange links lie other than opportunists moves.

[Footy-Vill]

Leeds, Wolves and Spurs sign Barcelona players
West Ham have links to Czech players

What exactly is Lange contact book and connections
I like our business but I don't think Lange has proved his worth in this window. Dean Smith and others must have quite a influence on who we are bringing in still for 1st team and don't see any identification of first team ready players by Lange

[Drummond]

Leeds, Wolves and Spurs sign Barcelona players
West Ham have links to Czech players

What exactly is Lange contact book and connections
I like our business but I don't think Lange has proved his worth in this window. Dean Smith and others must have quite a influence on who we are bringing in still for 1st team and don't see any identification of first team ready players by Lange

Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it hasn't happened. There are a number of players who have come in, and Lange will have dealt with the agents, players, families and clubs. We've got a good reputation with a number of clubs for the way we deal with transfers.

We've signed more than a dozen including the Academy recruits this summer and negotiated outgoings for some too. Lange will no doubt have been central to a lot of that, if not most/all.

We also don't know what other business we tried to get and failed, and what we're lining up for future windows.

[Smithy]

It does seem strange that we've done so little in the weak European market, pretty much all the signngs have been known quantities and the youngsters presumably scouted by the Acadamy team.

Yep. I like the players we’ve bought, but it’s all quite obvious. Buying the player with the best stats from the Championship is what we did 4-5 years ago with Hourihane at the time, and Ings is this year’s Bent, although hopefully better.

I'll hold my hand up and say I'd never even heard of Leon Bailey, not that I really pay attention to German football, but that was a complete surprise to me, and didn't not feel like a normal 'villa' signing.

The same can be said of Sanson, though we've not really seen much of him yet.  Those two definitely appear to have a 'Lange' fingerprints on them.  Whether they'll be proof of how good Lange is, remains to be seen.

[Smithy]

Leeds, Wolves and Spurs sign Barcelona players
West Ham have links to Czech players

What exactly is Lange contact book and connections
I like our business but I don't think Lange has proved his worth in this window. Dean Smith and others must have quite a influence on who we are bringing in still for 1st team and don't see any identification of first team ready players by Lange

Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it hasn't happened. There are a number of players who have come in, and Lange will have dealt with the agents, players, families and clubs. We've got a good reputation with a number of clubs for the way we deal with transfers.

We've signed more than a dozen including the Academy recruits this summer and negotiated outgoings for some too. Lange will no doubt have been central to a lot of that, if not most/all.

We also don't know what other business we tried to get and failed, and what we're lining up for future windows.

What I've found interesting over the last couple of years, is how the clubs in the Champions League places, the ones normally spending the big money, have all got examples of youth products going for big money, even without really playing for their first team.  These deals are HUGELY valuable in FFP terms, as it's all profit, and they all do it - I'm sure it's for a reason.

I think it's a model it seems we're hoping to emulate, hoovering up highly-rated youth players, and use their increasing value to help give us the financial firepower to compete at the top, without having to rely on billionaire owners trying to bend FFP rules.  Jack Harrison, Rhian Brewster, Tomori, all examples of players sold from these clubs for £10m+, plus countless others for a few million.  Sometimes it backfires, Tariq Lamptey is worth £30m one season after Chelsea sold him for £3m, but that's the risk you take I guess.

It might be the 'bargains' Lange is helping recruit are for the youth system as well as for the first team (with the likes of Sanson and Bailey).  If three or four youth product sales a year help us pay for a Leon Bailey, then it's a system I can definitely get behind!

[placeforparks]

Daramy going to Ajax for €12m from Copenhagen. This was one I was adamant that we would of gone for as soon as we apppointed Lange.

there is a clear gap in quality between the danish superliga and premier league. the dutch league is a natural stepping stone.

[LukeJames]

Daramy going to Ajax for €12m from Copenhagen. This was one I was adamant that we would of gone for as soon as we apppointed Lange.

there is a clear gap in quality between the danish superliga and premier league. the dutch league is a natural stepping stone.

Just for the record, I wasn't advocating that we should of signed him. I was just putting 2 and 2 together with Lange coming from Copenhagen and Daramy being the next so called Danish 'wonderkid', in reality I know very little else about him.

[algy]

It does seem strange that we've done so little in the weak European market, pretty much all the signngs have been known quantities and the youngsters presumably scouted by the Acadamy team.

Yep. I like the players we’ve bought, but it’s all quite obvious. Buying the player with the best stats from the Championship is what we did 4-5 years ago with Hourihane at the time, and Ings is this year’s Bent, although hopefully better.

I'll hold my hand up and say I'd never even heard of Leon Bailey, not that I really pay attention to German football, but that was a complete surprise to me, and didn't not feel like a normal 'villa' signing.

The same can be said of Sanson, though we've not really seen much of him yet.  Those two definitely appear to have a 'Lange' fingerprints on them.  Whether they'll be proof of how good Lange is, remains to be seen.

Yeah, me too. Don't watch German/French football but genuinely hadn't heard of either until they were linked to us. We shop a bit higher up the food chain than Copenhagen, so it's not surprising that the "surprise" players are ones that people who pay attention to those leagues have heard of.

Also, I'd say we've got a different focus to Copenhagen at all. It sounds like player development will be a big part of our setup, so bringing in players that are in that 16-20 age bracket who we think will improve massively with the right coaching & loan moves makes perfect sense. I'd be surprised if any of the youth team players we've brought in have been specifically targeted by Smith, even if the first team ones might have been more influenced by him.

It's hard to say, of course, because it's all behind the scenes stuff but I think Lange's influence is something we'll see over 5-10 seasons. Think we'll also see more left field signings from abroad when the production line is properly rolling and you're seeing multiple academy players breaking through.

[Bad English]

Who is 'Big Sam'? I know of a 'Fat Sam'. Are they related?