Summer Transfer Thread and Gustavo Cisneros Type Rumours.

[Neil Hawkes]

This is more about Smith than transfers.I can't think of a player who has regressed under Smith.Elmo,El Ghazi and Conor nailed down places in the Championship side and Whelan had a part to play when most of us thought he was finished.
Hause wasn't well regarded by the Wolves fans,Brentford fans thought that Konsa's signing was a bit premature.Eddie Howes couldn't find a place in a leaky defence for Mings.How Howes ? Shades of Cahill and Knight.
The last 3 you might file under Terry but Smith helped to make  that Citeh player worth £100m. .In the first season we were crippled by injuries to very important players,Heaton,McGinn and Wesley but with relegation looking likely ,Smith and more importantly the players didn't panic.
Most buys have been good value,how much are Watkins and Konsa worth ?
Even lesser lights like El Ghazi and Nakamba have kept their value.
Flops only a few and minor ones,Kalinic ,Engels and injury might have scuppered a true assessment of Wesley.
The manager deserves a lot of credit.

Fully agree.
I would also say that despite all the suppositions that Smithy has taken us as far as he can, they are just that - suppositions - he's improved our squad & league position every consecutive year; therefore until this comes to a grinding halt, we don't know what he can/cannot achieve.

[Risso]

This is more about Smith than transfers.I can't think of a player who has regressed under Smith.Elmo,El Ghazi and Conor nailed down places in the Championship side and Whelan had a part to play when most of us thought he was finished.
Hause wasn't well regarded by the Wolves fans,Brentford fans thought that Konsa's signing was a bit premature.Eddie Howes couldn't find a place in a leaky defence for Mings.How Howes ? Shades of Cahill and Knight.
The last 3 you might file under Terry but Smith helped to make  that Citeh player worth £100m. .In the first season we were crippled by injuries to very important players,Heaton,McGinn and Wesley but with relegation looking likely ,Smith and more importantly the players didn't panic.
Most buys have been good value,how much are Watkins and Konsa worth ?
Even lesser lights like El Ghazi and Nakamba have kept their value.
Flops only a few and minor ones,Kalinic ,Engels and injury might have scuppered a true assessment of Wesley.
The manager deserves a lot of credit.

Totally agree with this as well.
The other thing that is always thrown at Smith is the G factor and how we’ve gone on long winless runs without him under Smith. On the face of it you can’t argue with it, the results and facts point to this. But I would argue firstly, any team losing a true world class player would suffer, unless your a Man City. But taking a Salah out of Liverpool, despite their other resources would impact them, Spurs in the past have never done that well without Kane, although this may change this season, Chelsea haven’t been the same side without Kante.

Secondly and nearly always missing from the smith is nothing without Grealish discussion, is how good was Grealish on a consistent level until Smith came along. Ok he had injuries as ever, but in those first couple of years in the championship, can anyone seriously remember Grealish putting in a run of consistently good games, cuz I was there and I can’t. Is it really a coincidence that Grealish became this player under smith. Or are the smith decriers really saying that the admittedly hugely talented Grealish just came good of his own accord around about the time smith took over and how lucky was that for smith.
There is no doubt having Grealish really helped smith and it will be a challenge for him going forwards, but there is also no doubt in my mind that the benefit was mutual and we and Grealish has much to be appreciative of smith, for his development of said ratboy.

It's hard to know how much was down to Smith, and how much was down to suddenly playing with a much better standard of player. He went from playing in the same team as the likes of Chester, Jedinak, Elphick and Adomah; to McGinn, Mings, Tuanzebe, El Ghazi and Abraham in the space of a season.

[wince]

I thought the window went quite well all things considered. As soon as the phantom villa injury curse is lifted the better.

[LeeB]

Yeah, but had it not been for Smith getting us up, he'd have been playing for someone else.

[dave.woodhall]

If Joe had stayed he is exactly the player we should have been chasing. He is exactly what we need in midfield. He'll end up at man u, man city or Chelsea next summer.

What makes you think he wants to leave Dortmund?

[Monty]

He'll be sold when Dortmund's Bellingham Timer goes 'ding'. It's all part of their usual plan. Haaland, Giovanni Reyna etc will all be in the same situation, as was Sancho.

[Drummond]

Belllingham will stay there for a while longer I suspect. And if and when he goes, it won't be to us.

[paul_e]

He'll be sold when Dortmund's Bellingham Timer goes 'ding'. It's all part of their usual plan. Haaland, Giovanni Reyna etc will all be in the same situation, as was Sancho.

Haaland will be their big windfall next summer so it's at least 2 years before Bellingham will be going and even then Reyna may be a better one for them to cash in on in that window.

[sickbeggar]

Haaland's not going to be that much of a windfall with that clause in his contract. Rather a mistake financially i'd say.

[Sexual Ealing]

He'll have better options than us. Add in the Blues factor and there's less than zero chance.

[paul_e]

Haaland's not going to be that much of a windfall with that clause in his contract. Rather a mistake financially i'd say.

it's still £65m for a guy that cost them about £16-17m but yes allowing that clause has halved what they should be getting for him.

Also I forgot to add Moukoko who is almost certainly going to be the next big thing there. What they've done as a club in the last 10 years or so is pretty amazing.

[Dante Lavelli]

He'll be sold when Dortmund's Bellingham Timer goes 'ding'. It's all part of their usual plan. Haaland, Giovanni Reyna etc will all be in the same situation, as was Sancho.

Haaland will be their big windfall next summer so it's at least 2 years before Bellingham will be going and even then Reyna may be a better one for them to cash in on in that window.

I think the contract Haaland signed means he can leave for relative peanuts next summer, something like £75m.
It’s a weird one, as it is arguably half his value but it was how they attracted him to the club in the first place.  Not to mention that Dortmund will still make a significant profit.

Villa should consider using it if it means we can get three years out of say Bellingham.

[paul_e]

It's quite funny how fucked up the sport is when £65/75m (whatever it is, i've seen a few different values) is talked about as "relative peanuts". That's not a criticism of you at all, just of the system that means top players are now £100m+ and that means only 3-4 clubs will ever be competing for them.

[Dante Lavelli]

It's quite funny how fucked up the sport is when £65/75m (whatever it is, i've seen a few different values) is talked about as "relative peanuts". That's not a criticism of you at all, just of the system that means top players are now £100m+ and that means only 3-4 clubs will ever be competing for them.

I completely agree.  No idea how but it would be better for football if the wealth was shared better.  At the very least I think the media could play a part by not constantly wishing players were sold to the big X clubs, instead they should be high lighting the virtues of loyalty and how the league is better when it is competitive.

[sickbeggar]

True. But you can't help doing it really. We did the same with ratboy. Suddenly 100m doesn't seem enough when you know you can't attract an equivalent replacement, and players like Cantwell and JWP have 40+m price tags put on them