January 2023 Transfer Rumours, Discussions and Done Deals Thread

[Beard82]

I cant believe we wont get anyone in - as were in the mix for the europe still and in good form, it would make no sense not to push on.  I worry when things go this late in a window though none of our first choices are available - And that's how we end up with the likes of Dendocker and the guy from Southampton rocking up.

So I am choosing to be hopeful, and that were trying to complete big deals that arent that easy. 

[chrisw1]

A slight upgrade in the left back department, a kid for the future and the loss of Ings would make this a deeply disappointing transfer window if we don't get anybody else in.

Particulalry given the massive opportunity with the way the league places have panned out.  You'd have to expect Brighton, Fulham and Brentford to fall off a bit too.

[paul_e]

It was Steve Bruce, who knows what he saw in players, he signed Lansbury and Hogan in the same window.

That was when he was trying his version of Moneyball. Just buy the top scorer at the time, Hogan, the person with the most assists (Hourihane) and the player with the best combination of assists and goals at the time (Lansbury). With seemingly no thought as to if they were actually any good or how he'd end up fitting them in.

I don't think the transfers we made under Bruce were as bad as people like to make out. Lots of fans also thought Hogan and Lansbury would be good signings but admittedly they weren't.

He shipped out a lot of underperformers and we brought in some decent upgrades permanently or on loan (eg Hourihane, Johnstone, Snodgrass, Grabban, Elmo, McGinn).

I think if you compare the squad he inherited and the one he handed to Smith it's very hard to avoid thinking he made a bit of a mess of things.

[ozzjim]

The only concern i have is that Gregg Evans has written the "we won't panic buy" article. He does strike me a kind of useful idiot for the club, in that the feed him the narrative they want to push and he's more than happy to print it. I might be unkind in this assessment, but i've noticed a trend in his articles that would suggest as much.

Really... He strikes me as an Albion fan that has lived off the Villa for many years without every getting anything right.

[LeeB]

I wouldn't trust him to spell his own name correctly

[ozzjim]

A slight upgrade in the left back department, a kid for the future and the loss of Ings would make this a deeply disappointing transfer window if we don't get anybody else in.

I reckon there will be 1 perm and 1 loan in yet. Villa are notorious for being quiet. Loan won't happen till deadline day and the selling club can't sell though. I am quite comfortable with no one coming though, as appointing Emery shows Sawari is still all in, and the summer will be interesting.

[chrisw1]

Fuck me, that's a pretty shit hit rate and over half the decent ones were loans:

Sam Johnstone  January 2017  Manchester United (loan)
Henri Lansbury  January 2017  Nottingham Forest
James Bree  January 2017  Barnsley
Birkir Bjarnason  January 2017  Basel
Conor Hourihane  January 2017  Barnsley
Neil Taylor  January 2017  Swansea
Scott Hogan  January 2017  Brentford
John Terry  July 2017  Chelsea
Sam Johnstone  July 2017  Manchester United (loan)
Ahmed Elmohamady  July 2017  Hull
Christopher Samba  July 2017  Free agent
Glenn Whelan  July 2017  Stoke
Josh Onomah  August 2017  Tottenham (loan)
Robert Snodgrass  August 2017  West Ham (loan)
Axel Tuanzebe  January 2018  Manchester United (loan)
Lewis Grabban  January 2018  Bournemouth (loan)
Viljami Sinisalo   July 2018  FC Espoo
Andre Moreira  August 2018  Atletico Madrid
Orjan Nyland  August 2018  Ingolstadt
John McGinn  August 2018  Hibernian
Anwar El Ghazi  August 2018  Lille (loan)
Yannick Bolasie  August 2018  Everton (loan)
Tammy Abraham  August 2018  Chelsea (loan)
Akos Onodi  August 2018  ETO Gyor

[chrisw1]

The only concern i have is that Gregg Evans has written the "we won't panic buy" article. He does strike me a kind of useful idiot for the club, in that the feed him the narrative they want to push and he's more than happy to print it. I might be unkind in this assessment, but i've noticed a trend in his articles that would suggest as much.

Really... He strikes me as an Albion fan that has lived off the Villa for many years without every getting anything right.

He does nice puff pieces, but nothing on tactics or any detailed analysis.  Absolutely shite compared to other clubs reporters and can't even be arsed to do the podcast anymore.

[chrisw1]

Where's Bree gone to? Fair play to him, I thought he'd have a better chance of getting a role in Emmerdale with his Barnsley accent than becoming a PL player.

Southampton

They are getting ready for their promotion push next year by the looks of it.

Replaceing Kyle Walker Peters?

[Risso]

A slight upgrade in the left back department, a kid for the future and the loss of Ings would make this a deeply disappointing transfer window if we don't get anybody else in.

I am quite comfortable with no one coming though, as appointing Emery shows Sawari is still all in, and the summer will be interesting.

This was the bench against Southampton though:

2 Cash
8 Sanson
16 Chambers
23 Coutinho
25 Olsen
32 Dendoncker
38 Sinisalo
72 Young

With Sanson now gone as well, and McGinn and Digne out for a while, there's paper thin, and then there's that. Two goalies, two kids who have never played a second of first team football, a plodder in Dendoncker, a crap reserve defender and Coutinho who hasn't been in form for months. One or two more injuries and suspensions and the season couls start to unravel quite quickly.

[Risso]

Fuck me, that's a pretty shit hit rate and over half the decent ones were loans:

Sam Johnstone  January 2017  Manchester United (loan)
Henri Lansbury  January 2017  Nottingham Forest
James Bree  January 2017  Barnsley
Birkir Bjarnason  January 2017  Basel
Conor Hourihane  January 2017  Barnsley
Neil Taylor  January 2017  Swansea
Scott Hogan  January 2017  Brentford
John Terry  July 2017  Chelsea
Sam Johnstone  July 2017  Manchester United (loan)
Ahmed Elmohamady  July 2017  Hull
Christopher Samba  July 2017  Free agent
Glenn Whelan  July 2017  Stoke
Josh Onomah  August 2017  Tottenham (loan)
Robert Snodgrass  August 2017  West Ham (loan)
Axel Tuanzebe  January 2018  Manchester United (loan)
Lewis Grabban  January 2018  Bournemouth (loan)
Viljami Sinisalo   July 2018  FC Espoo
Andre Moreira  August 2018  Atletico Madrid
Orjan Nyland  August 2018  Ingolstadt
John McGinn  August 2018  Hibernian
Anwar El Ghazi  August 2018  Lille (loan)
Yannick Bolasie  August 2018  Everton (loan)
Tammy Abraham  August 2018  Chelsea (loan)
Akos Onodi  August 2018  ETO Gyor

Grabban and Johnstone did well I'd argue. Glen Whelan played his part as well.

[Dave]

Glen Whelan played his part as well.

Missing the penalty that got Bruce fired for example. Modern-day Villa hero.

[chrisw1]

True, I didn't mid Whelan and Grabban had a good record in his few months with us.  Johnston was a good signing - he's in the list twice.

[Grocer]

Neil Taylor was more than adequate for the Championship at the time

[Dave]

A slight upgrade in the left back department, a kid for the future and the loss of Ings would make this a deeply disappointing transfer window if we don't get anybody else in.

I reckon there will be 1 perm and 1 loan in yet. Villa are notorious for being quiet. Loan won't happen till deadline day and the selling club can't sell though. I am quite comfortable with no one coming though, as appointing Emery shows Sawari is still all in, and the summer will be interesting.

I can't imagine that we're going to spend the second half of the season with no attacking options other than Bailey, Watkins and Durán. I don't see why we would have let both Ings and Archer leave if that were the case.