Summer Transfer Thread and Gustavo Cisneros Type Rumours.

[Richard E]

I never knew so many rated AEG so highly?

Mark Kelly makes-up for that by getting on his case at every opportunity 

Don't go all "Eastie" on us - for the purposes of this site he is "Rudy"!

[eamonn]

Fair point.

[DB]

AEG is a good player.

The problem is, he's so inconsistent that he's useful to have in the squad as another option, but not one you should be absolutely reliant on.

Then he is not a good auer IMO. He is a squad player, yes at best, but wouldn't be surprised if he moved on

[paul_e]

I think AEG is a pretty limited footballer in a lot of ways but he does have value with his penalties and his willingness to takes shots. I've said all along that I'd be happy for him or trez to have left this summer but with trez being out until the new year I don't see any great need to push AEG out.

[eamonn]

His value may be at its peak so if we received a good offer/he was a makeweight for another player, it might be worth looking at.

[Dave]

AEG is a good player.

The problem is, he's so inconsistent that he's useful to have in the squad as another option, but not one you should be absolutely reliant on.

Then he is not a good auer IMO. He is a squad player, yes at best, but wouldn't be surprised if he moved on

I've got no issues if he were to move on, if it's the right move for us and for him and we are bringing in somebody better.

I do have issues if we're selling him and then spending twice as much on Dwight McNeil who produces far less than El Ghazi does.

[paul_e]

AEG is a good player.

The problem is, he's so inconsistent that he's useful to have in the squad as another option, but not one you should be absolutely reliant on.

Then he is not a good auer IMO. He is a squad player, yes at best, but wouldn't be surprised if he moved on

I've got no issues if he were to move on, if it's the right move for us and for him and we are bringing in somebody better.

I do have issues if we're selling him and then spending twice as much on Dwight McNeil who produces far less than El Ghazi does.

Yep, I'd agree on that but mostly because I really can't work out why anyone who wants to challenge for Europe would think he'd be a good signing for us. I think some people have been permanently scarred by how we've operated in the past so can't look beyond signings like McNeil, Anguissa, etc who are mid-lower premier league players who stand out slightly at their clubs because of the amount of relegation quality players around them.

I think the same attitude is behind the thinking of needing to have a best 11 and then squad filler and it's a hard mindset to get away from.

[sickbeggar]

The way I see it we have 3 spaces for new players if Hourihane and Guillbert go/don't get squad numbers. That's not including any loans for the likes of Davis, Wesley etc.. so unless we're buying 5+  players then its not worth weakening the squad by selling AEG unless we get offered stupid money.

[algy]

The way I see it we have 3 spaces for new players if Hourihane and Guillbert go/don't get squad numbers. That's not including any loans for the likes of Davis, Wesley etc.. so unless we're buying 5+  players then its not worth weakening the squad by selling AEG unless we get offered stupid money.

Yeah, I agree here.  Unless we get a daft offer for AEG, I'd not sell him.  With that other chap who played on the left wing having left, I think El Goalzi will get plenty of games - particularly in the first half of the season.  If he produces another 10-ish goal return then his value will go up again.

[Clark W Griswold]

I would definitely keep him at the moment, he did well last season when called upon. Maybe look at it again in a year, if we keep improving and he’s clearly well under the standards of the players around him then fair enough. We don’t know how well new signings are going to do just yet, as I say front three wise I think we’re fine especially if Beundia is likely to be used more in the attacking positions. It’s the midfield that needs some work JWP and a big hard fucker would do just fine with Hourahane offloaded and one of the younger players loaned.

[caster troy]

We seem a bit unbalanced on the wings. Based on where they have played historically, on the right we have Traore, Bailey, Buendia, Philogene-Bidace. On the left we have only El Ghazi, potentially Watkins too. I assume Buendia is going to be in the '10' role, so unless we are going to play Bailey on the left I think we are still a player light in that area and definitely shouldn't be selling El Ghazi.

[Joshua Fineman]

The way I see it we have 3 spaces for new players if Hourihane and Guillbert go/don't get squad numbers. That's not including any loans for the likes of Davis, Wesley etc.. so unless we're buying 5+  players then its not worth weakening the squad by selling AEG unless we get offered stupid money.

3 new players?  I think we'll only get 1 in, or 2 at the absolute max.  The squad is pretty balanced - pretty of options going forward.  We are just a bit light in the middle. We need the ball winner/disruptor type player.  I'm not sure that's JWP, but wouldn't mind his set pieces!

[Toronto Villa]

I don't understand the urgency to move certain players on. Especially ones like AEG who, agreed that he's not an every game starting option, but when he plays it's not like he's an accident waiting to happen. He's a competent fill in for where we are now. No doubt he will feel he wants more playing time at his age and will likely want to move at some point, but for what he offers in the limited appearances he makes he doesn't let us down. He's just not going to be the player to propel us to the next level if we relied on him all the time. But coming off the bench or covering for an injury, scoring the odd goal, he's perfectly fine for a side that finished 11th with aspirations of a Europa spot this season.

[Alex77]

I also don't get the clamoring to move on AEG. One of our main issues over the last year was our squad depth when bans and injuries occur. He is not a regular starter but a great option to bring off the bench when needed, or to rest the better options in the less challenging games.

[LeonW]

Even if there was, it seems pretty unlikely that we would have basically been able to spend what we liked in the last two seasons with virtually no incomings, then have to tighten the purse strings when we've got £100 million on top of our usual budget to piss about with.

One of the other benefits about the Grealish sale is that under FFP, Villa can claim 100% of the sale in the books. Gives us a lot of flexibility whenever we choose to take advantage of that.

really, I never knew that.

It’s because he’s a youth team player and we never paid a transfer fee for him. It’s one of the incentives of FFP; youth development. So another bit of the good side of the coin in selling JG.