Summer Transfer Thread and Gustavo Cisneros Type Rumours.

[LeonW]

Arsenal have spent a shed load under Arteta and are going backwards. Arteta walked into Arsenal because he had a reputation as a good coach. Everton spent a shed load under Ancelotti and finished 12th and 10th in the last two seasons. Ancelotti has won leagues and champions leagues in multiple countries. Both of these are established premier league teams.

Smith took over a lopsided championship team in October, with  a number of players on loan and oldies with contracts expiring. Had one transfer window (which was the hardest one to do much in) and got us up following a record winning run. That included a win at Wembley; something we’ve been shocking at doing for 20 years.

He then helped rebuild the squad, improving almost every player we signed, keeping us up and then getting our best finish in over a decade.

Last season we thrashed the champions (managed by Jurgen Klopp) in performance that will always be remembered (especially by Klopp), beat Tottenham and Leicester away (managed by Rodgers), did the double over Arsenal and took 4 points off the eventual champions league winners. Keep in mind that the home win against Tuchel’s team was when they were desperate to win to help ensure they qualified for the champions league.

We got a British record fee for a player that was going to leave for not even a quarter of that when Smith took over and whom he improved.

And we’ve done all that whilst improving our league placing each season and broadly playing very good football, particular against teams that have bench players that would walk into the majority of teams in the Europe, let alone the premier league.

Does all that not warrant the faith from NSWE to see what else he might be able to do? And from us supporters as well for that matter?

Of course it does, but this is a crucial year for him.

Not disputed, but I think the first post was a reaction to Risso’s frankly ridiculous comment that we are “saddled with a lower league manager”.

Risso and everyone else is entitled to their own opinion but felt context was required for Smith here. Four years ago we were getting smashed in the Championship at Sheffield United 4-1. We were in a mess for the size of club Villa are...but how many other clubs could we say that about? Now we're talking about aspirations for European football. It's true, Villa have spent alot with Smith in charge but it's also true that alot of those players could very likely be sold for a decent profit now. Smith has to take his share of the responsibility for the good as well as the bad.

[ozzjim]

I genuinely think the international calendar is going to cost 5-8 points this season with Buendia, Bailey, Martinez, Doug, Nakamba and Traore potentially missing 7-8 club games each due to covid rules etc and African nations. That's a huge pool of talent to remove. Especially when we have tried to Co operate and the Argentina manager says bollocks to Villa they will play all 3 games.

[LeonW]

I genuinely think the international calendar is going to cost 5-8 points this season with Buendia, Bailey, Martinez, Doug, Nakamba and Traore potentially missing 7-8 club games each due to covid rules etc and African nations. That's a huge pool of talent to remove. Especially when we have tried to Co operate and the Argentina manager says bollocks to Villa they will play all 3 games.

Did we have to release Buendia and Martinez this time out?

[Flin5tone]

Seems like we are happy to get anyone out of the door either for loans or international duty

The fact we have let Martinez leave for 3 games plus any potential covid delays without bringing in another Goalkeeper is a disgrace.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Indeed. In protest, I'm going to write to my MP.

[Drummond]

Seems like we are happy to get anyone out of the door either for loans or international duty

The fact we have let Martinez leave for 3 games plus any potential covid delays without bringing in another Goalkeeper is a disgrace.

The international sides have the right to call players up. It's that simple. I'd contact FIFA, UEFA, The FA and the Premier League if I were you.

[john e]

Arsenal have spent a shed load under Arteta and are going backwards. Arteta walked into Arsenal because he had a reputation as a good coach. Everton spent a shed load under Ancelotti and finished 12th and 10th in the last two seasons. Ancelotti has won leagues and champions leagues in multiple countries. Both of these are established premier league teams.

Smith took over a lopsided championship team in October, with  a number of players on loan and oldies with contracts expiring. Had one transfer window (which was the hardest one to do much in) and got us up following a record winning run. That included a win at Wembley; something we’ve been shocking at doing for 20 years.

He then helped rebuild the squad, improving almost every player we signed, keeping us up and then getting our best finish in over a decade.

Last season we thrashed the champions (managed by Jurgen Klopp) in performance that will always be remembered (especially by Klopp), beat Tottenham and Leicester away (managed by Rodgers), did the double over Arsenal and took 4 points off the eventual champions league winners. Keep in mind that the home win against Tuchel’s team was when they were desperate to win to help ensure they qualified for the champions league.

We got a British record fee for a player that was going to leave for not even a quarter of that when Smith took over and whom he improved.

And we’ve done all that whilst improving our league placing each season and broadly playing very good football, particular against teams that have bench players that would walk into the majority of teams in the Europe, let alone the premier league.

Does all that not warrant the faith from NSWE to see what else he might be able to do? And from us supporters as well for that matter?

Of course it does, but this is a crucial year for him.

Not disputed, but I think the first post was a reaction to Risso’s frankly ridiculous comment that we are “saddled with a lower league manager”.

Risso and everyone else is entitled to their own opinion but felt context was required for Smith here. Four years ago we were getting smashed in the Championship at Sheffield United 4-1. We were in a mess for the size of club Villa are...but how many other clubs could we say that about? Now we're talking about aspirations for European football. It's true, Villa have spent alot with Smith in charge but it's also true that alot of those players could very likely be sold for a decent profit now. Smith has to take his share of the responsibility for the good as well as the bad.

In fairness to Risso I don’t think he is doubting the ability of Smith to take one of the biggest clubs in the world and now one of the richest clubs in the world with massive investment out of the championship and into a mid-table position in the premiership

That’s never been in doubt because he has done it and deserves credit for it but let’s face it it’s not a miracle we’ve spent a quarter of a billion getting there,
Improvement year on year should be the minimum requirement from where we started with that sort of backing and investment anything else would be a bloody embarrassment

Some of you guys talk about Villa as if we’re the size of Crew Alexander with not a pot to piss in
And somehow find ourselves in a higher position than we deserve
We are where we are because two very rich guys saved the club invested hundreds of millions And then with the help of one of the best players in the world and the guidance of Dean Smith we’ve steadily improved over the last three seasons

We are exactly where we should be with what’s gone on at the club in the recent past
And now the challenge is to get to a position where we really belong
European football
Let’s stop pretending we’ve done something really special like what Brentford have done and start behaving and acting like we’re the biggest club in Midland’s bar none, loaded and ready to challenge

And all we’re asking is Dean the man to take us there
He will certainly get the time chance to prove it but there are concerns

[steamer]

Are we still allowed to bring in loan players ?
Did Barkley come in last year after the window closed ?

[sickbeggar]

The trouble with Dean is he's probably the most anonymous "big club" manager in the Premiership. I quite like his low profile but I can understand part of Risso's point about attracting big name players. That's no attack on his potential or ability, just the reality that foreign players have heard of people like Bielsa and Benitez. Even obviously arse managers like Arteta are known more from their playing days. I do think there's a danger that the club may decide to get a "name" manager in, if we stutter a bit this season.. I have no idea what target they have set Smith this season whether its realistic or they'll still heading for this European target but if there's any doubts about him from the owners, he could be under pressure.

[cdbearsfan]

Are we still allowed to bring in loan players ?
Did Barkley come in last year after the window closed ?

I don't think so. Barkley came in late but the transfer window was late last year because the previous season didn't finish till July. I think the only players we can bring in before January are free transfers, like when we signed the Ghost of Robert Pires.

[LeonW]

Arsenal have spent a shed load under Arteta and are going backwards. Arteta walked into Arsenal because he had a reputation as a good coach. Everton spent a shed load under Ancelotti and finished 12th and 10th in the last two seasons. Ancelotti has won leagues and champions leagues in multiple countries. Both of these are established premier league teams.

Smith took over a lopsided championship team in October, with  a number of players on loan and oldies with contracts expiring. Had one transfer window (which was the hardest one to do much in) and got us up following a record winning run. That included a win at Wembley; something we’ve been shocking at doing for 20 years.

He then helped rebuild the squad, improving almost every player we signed, keeping us up and then getting our best finish in over a decade.

Last season we thrashed the champions (managed by Jurgen Klopp) in performance that will always be remembered (especially by Klopp), beat Tottenham and Leicester away (managed by Rodgers), did the double over Arsenal and took 4 points off the eventual champions league winners. Keep in mind that the home win against Tuchel’s team was when they were desperate to win to help ensure they qualified for the champions league.

We got a British record fee for a player that was going to leave for not even a quarter of that when Smith took over and whom he improved.

And we’ve done all that whilst improving our league placing each season and broadly playing very good football, particular against teams that have bench players that would walk into the majority of teams in the Europe, let alone the premier league.

Does all that not warrant the faith from NSWE to see what else he might be able to do? And from us supporters as well for that matter?

Of course it does, but this is a crucial year for him.

Not disputed, but I think the first post was a reaction to Risso’s frankly ridiculous comment that we are “saddled with a lower league manager”.

Risso and everyone else is entitled to their own opinion but felt context was required for Smith here. Four years ago we were getting smashed in the Championship at Sheffield United 4-1. We were in a mess for the size of club Villa are...but how many other clubs could we say that about? Now we're talking about aspirations for European football. It's true, Villa have spent alot with Smith in charge but it's also true that alot of those players could very likely be sold for a decent profit now. Smith has to take his share of the responsibility for the good as well as the bad.

In fairness to Risso I don’t think he is doubting the ability of Smith to take one of the biggest clubs in the world and now one of the richest clubs in the world with massive investment out of the championship and into a mid-table position in the premiership

That’s never been in doubt because he has done it and deserves credit for it but let’s face it it’s not a miracle we’ve spent a quarter of a billion getting there,
Improvement year on year should be the minimum requirement from where we started with that sort of backing and investment anything else would be a bloody embarrassment

Some of you guys talk about Villa as if we’re the size of Crew Alexander with not a pot to piss in
And somehow find ourselves in a higher position than we deserve
We are where we are because two very rich guys saved the club invested hundreds of millions And then with the help of one of the best players in the world and the guidance of Dean Smith we’ve steadily improved over the last three seasons

We are exactly where we should be with what’s gone on at the club in the recent past
And now the challenge is to get to a position where we really belong
European football
Let’s stop pretending we’ve done something really special like what Brentford have done and start behaving and acting like we’re the biggest club in Midland’s bar none, loaded and ready to challenge

And all we’re asking is Dean the man to take us there
He will certainly get the time chance to prove it but there are concerns

In the season we got up, we spent a total of £13m on transfer fees and got 8 loan signings in. The big signings under the previous ownership like McCormack, Hogan, Gollini, that Tishbolo, we’re nowhere to be seen and Chester was done midway through that season. Is that really a lot to get out of the championship?

The investments in players since have almost all been astute with a decent probability of making of profit on the big signings we made before this summer. In the season we got promoted, 22 senior players left either permanently or on loan (10). Our average spend replacing them (with 13 players) in 19/20 equated to £13.8m a player- peanuts in premier league terms-as we sought to play catch up and atone for the previous mess Smith and NSWE inherited. The majority of these signings (particularly the more expensive ones, Wesley aside) eventually worked out with their values increased and years on the clock to improve further.

I don’t agree our current position from our promotion 3 seasons is a minimum achievement relative to our spend. I don’t think it’s that straightforward. There are plenty of embarrassments out there with high spending. In some cases, established premier league clubs who have spent for years and got nowhere. We’ve had 3 straight seasons of an upward trajectory so far under Smith/NSWE. We want more but I think they overachieved relative to where they started from-a struggling lopsided team in the championship that almost went bankrupt.

[Ads]

The only other club who have had a similar trajectory as us, is Wolves and they've slipped back into lower midtable. Smith is doing a good job a d he has done a good job over a  number of years.

[Mister E]

I was intrigued by a comment that Smith had spent the 'thick end of half a billion' since his arrival in October 2018. I couldn't think how that estimate was arrived at so took a look at www.transfermarkt.co.uk.
I looked at Villa's most expensive 50 players and then sorted them by year of purchase to see how much has been spent on Dean's watch: I would include a picture here to show the data but cannot seem to do it!.
This analysis does not include players bought for under £6.00mm, but, Smith seems to have spent £322mm on 19 players; roughly £17mm per player. The average Premier League player is currently valued at £15.8mm (purchase value) by the same source.

I don't think the Smith years are marked by excessive spend or profligacy, based on this. Obviously, we can question the quality of some of the purchases but not the overall spend. Nor has he spent a big amount given that he was effectively rebuilding a depleted squad.

[Ketzster]

I was intrigued by a comment that Smith had spent the 'thick end of half a billion' since his arrival in October 2018. I couldn't think how that estimate was arrived at so took a look at www.transfermarkt.co.uk.
I looked at Villa's most expensive 50 players and then sorted them by year of purchase to see how much has been spent on Dean's watch: I would include a picture here to show the data but cannot seem to do it!.
This analysis does not include players bought for under £6.00mm, but, Smith seems to have spent £322mm on 19 players; roughly £17mm per player. The average Premier League player is currently valued at £15.8mm (purchase value) by the same source.

I don't think the Smith years are marked by excessive spend or profligacy, based on this. Obviously, we can question the quality of some of the purchases but not the overall spend. Nor has he spent a big amount given that he was effectively rebuilding a depleted squad.

322 million is still an awful lot. Leeds didn’t spend much last year and managed to finish in the top half. As my Leeds mate always tells me, they’ve got Liam League 1 Cooper playing in defence. So it’s fair to say Smith had had better resources available than that. Yet we spend a fortune and people talk as though it would be a great achievement if Smith finished in the top half. Bielsa is just an example of what a really good manager can do without spending a fortune. Imagine if you combined having a really good manager and spending money

[Risso]

The half a billion included wages as well, apologies for not making that clear.