January Transfer Window - The Verdict.

[frank black]

Awful

[PhilVill]

Best to defer any judgement until summer. I will be happy with 55 points which I believe we can achieve. Any thoughts of a push for Europe this season were gone after the first 12 games. If we don't push on in summer then the manager has been duped but I don't believe that will happen. Pleased to see deadwood being jettisoned.

[Taylor]

I’m sorry if I’ve missed something, but what happened to that Matteus Guendouzi bloke? I thought that was a done deal.

[rob_bridge]

I'd no problem with Ings going but even getting a loan replacement would have been wise - what West Ham did with Lingard a couple of years back. I assume he fancies Bailey as a striker of sort.

The rest to me is a positive - Moreno is an upgrade on what we have (and certainly Aug), glad to see Traore back, Duran Duran is an exciting signing.

The other outgoings are to me no great loss.

[ChicagoLion]

That’s 2 cup competitions and 1 transfer window we have thrown away since the managers arrival.
Piss poor.

[johnny from donny]

Not terrible, not great.  Cleared a bit of space in the squad from players who were never getting a game under Emery's watch and I reckon we'll see him take a look quite a few of the youngsters around the first team.

[PaulTheVillan]

Average.

The fringe players we've sold won't be missed.

Ings leaving has left us short. Keeping Archer would have helped here.

Excited by Duran, but only time will tell.

I'd rather we get players in we really want, other than getting ones in just to add numbers to the squad (Bednarek for example).

Traore coming back could be a smart move, we could have wasted £25m on a similar player, so I think it makes sense.

We've likely saved ~£200k a week on wages on mostly players that haven't contributed.

[Mister E]

The more pertinent point IMO is Emery’s verdict on it. I think we tried to back him by getting Moreno, meeting the release clause on Williams, and making offers to Delofeu and Guendouzi but they didn’t happen.Obviously GD got injured so we dodged a bullet there but  I think Emery’s feelings on Williams and Guendouzi will become clear if we get a new DoF/sporting director in. I do think he’s happy with the departures, but I’m speculating as to how much influence he had there.

I think if you believe the major decisions are Emery’s, you can’t really question the ambition of the club can you? I don’t think he’s here to arse about in mid-table.

Agree Percy. If Emery couldn't get who he wanted and decided he would wait until he can then that is fine by me. I am looking forward to seeing what he can do with the squad and then what he does before next season.

Yep.
I'm actually disappointed that we did not get Guendouzi in January - he'd have made our midfield more dynamic - and hope we can go back for him later in the year.
I'm glad we haven't knee-jerked and brought in players that we'd be bitching about come the end of the season: yes, upfront we appear to have taken a calculated risk - maybe Emery has told Bailey and Watkins that they now have the time to sharpen their finishing over the course of the upcoming games, to take the pressure off them.
I think Duran, McGinn, Bert and - to  lesser extent - Ramsey and Buendia can help to provide attacking resource, in the short-term.
I note that Sourhampton brought in a winger and a striker that have been mentioned on here recently ...

[Paul.S]

A bit of a gamble.

[SamTheMouse]

Verdict: slightly worrying.

[Clampy]

Not overly concerned but it could have been better obviously. Like Robbo said, having a smaller more tight knit squad might work really well and one or two of the young un's (KKH, Wilson, etc) might get a game or two sat on the bench which wouldn't be a bad thing. As for the season being over, that's just nonsense.

[PaulWinch again]

People saying the season is over are over doing it. However, we’ve taken an unnecessary risk that should have been avoided. I don’t buy the argument that’s there was no one available who could improve us, we’re not that good. Also if that’s the case then don’t sell Ings.
As for youngsters getting a chance, hopefully that’ll work but it’s not great planning.

[Meanwood Villa]

Crap. Jam tomorrow as always.

[boozey182]

To me, it looks a pretty average window, but time will tell. I still feel like I'm getting to know Emery, but in the last few weeks, I think he's told us a lot:

He is very selective about who he wants to work with. I've seen a couple of people suggest that he has been the one to reject certain deals, seemingly being happier with a smaller squad than one that has players in that he doesn't believe will do their job. Being so meticulous about his tactics, you can see the logic there - if there is one player that isn't or can't do what he wants, the entire plan could fall apart.

He's got rid of four of the starting eleven from the Stevenage game, within a few weeks. I think that defeat hurt him, and I think he wants to send a message to the squad that remains - that level of performance is unacceptable. If you don't do your job, you're gone.

Watkins has spent the last 18 months as one of our two main strikers. Now he is the main man. He strikes me as a confidence player - maybe this vote of confidence is exactly what he needs? Of course, if he gets a long term injury, we'll be in big trouble (if we're assuming Durán is effectively useless, which won't be the case), but if he gets a little boost that makes him more dangerous, surely it's worth it? Is one decent striker is better than two average ones? Is him playing a bit better more or less likely than him picking up an injury? I don't know what the answer is.

Our squad situation could be the opportunity that some of our youth players need to make a name for themselves. I'm sure I'm not the only one that has thought, when seeing an 18-year-old play for another club, "I thought our youth were supposed to be good - why don't we ever play one of our kids?". Well, now we might actually get to see them. Rory Wilson, Kaden Young, Tommi O'Reilly, Josh Feeney, Omari Kellyman - we might start to see some of them around the first team squad and start getting minutes under their belt, which can only help their development.

I do wish we would have landed one of our more ambitious targets, but I don't think it necessarily points to a lack of ambition, or settling for mid-table - at least in the medium term. Hiring Emery was the most ambitious thing I've see Villa do in my lifetime, pretty much. We're not going to hang him out to dry, we just aren't. I would imagine that work has already started on the summer transfer window, and probably the entire recruitment team will get a revamp in the meantime. Don't write this season off yet...

[Clampy]

Excellent post Boozey.