Ramón Rodríguez Verdejo (AKA Monchi)

[Dave]

Which is why I mentioned there will always be exceptions where he says "this guy is perfect for us, go and get him", but that's not going to be the wider strategy.

Because the pool of players that aren't about to play, or have recently played Villa that we're going to want to buy is much bigger than the pool that are.

Perhaps, and I guess there's no real way of knowing. But from Emery's comments regarding Zaha/Pepe after his time at Arsenal, I'd be surprised if most of our "big" signings weren't players that he personally asks for, rather than asking for a type of player based on stats. I think we'll still do that, but more for the up and coming players like Duran. Obviously the main requirement will be that they speak Spanish, and I hope that Tielemans is using his summer holiday to get up to speed having foolishly neglected that area of his game for too long.

Yup, that's probably about right. I certainly don't think we're going to see anyone going over Emery's head and saying "bollocks to Zaha, here's your new Pepe" like he had at Arsenal. If there's someone particular that Emery wants then I think we'd be going all out to get him as a priority.

[Duncan Shaw]

"There's a young fwd in Paris who wants out, go and make it happen please Monchi!" is the sort of thing then........

[pablo_picasso]

Was talking to a Sevilla fan & he had this to say a out Ramón Rodríguez Verdejo;

He helped the team go from the second division to what the club is today. He is, in my opinion, the most important figure in the history of the club. Amazing with Sevilla, would call him a legend here. Kinda flopped with Roma, but he's an icon here.

[jwarry]

Sounds like the hold up is about compensation and the fact he has to give three months notice, which is no good to us

[Dante Lavelli]

I’d guess the initial signings will be dictated by Emery and Monchi will line up the next ‘cabs in the rank’ to suit Emery’s style of play.  That’s what he did incredibly well at Sevilla (arguably what Brighton have done recently).  from what I’ve read he signed some good players at Roma but they did not fit the manager’s system.

It’s a good model but its built on selling players for the right price which may not be popular.

[enigma]

Perhaps it will mainly be Emery identifying who he wants and Monchi using his contacts to make the deals happen?

If you mean specific players, for the most part, I'd hope not.

It should be Emery's job to say "I need a player who can do this, this and this and who doesn't do this", and then people who can spend all day, every day analysing who that player is can find names.

Emery seems to spend all of this time researching opponents and working out the best way to beat them, his time isn't going to be better spent watching non-Villa adjacent matches in the hope of seeing a player that he might want to buy.

But that discounts the fact all the work Emery does studying the opposition, and all of the players he's worked with in the past. I'd be fairly certain that Tielemans was his pick through having watched him play for  Leicester, for example.

If he watched Tielemans during his time as Villa boss he wouldn't have touched him with a barge pole.

[OCD]

If you know you've got someone better in the pipeline, it makes it a lot easier to cash in someone who's seen to be at the peak of their market value.

[Stu]

I follow Colin Millar on twitter, bloke who wrote The Frying Pan of Spain about the Sevilla - Betis rivalry. Anyway, he reckons Monchi expected Sevilla to waive the release clause as a goodwill gesture but they haven’t.

[kippaxvilla2]

Aston Villa are close to appointing Monchi as their new sporting director at Villa Park, Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano has exclusively revealed to GIVEMESPORT.

[Bent Neilsens Screamer]

I’m sure I read somewhere that Sevilla wanted Ł1.7m in compensation.

[PaulWinch again]

I struggle to believe that a Ł1.7m release clause would cause a problem.

[Beard82]

I struggle to believe that a Ł1.7m release clause would cause a problem.

I wouldn't image it will, but its part of the process I guess.  I get it with work.  There a project that we want to do and the client wants.

I say it costs x they want to pay y - eventually you find a point in the middle - but, you have to dance around it til you finally agree.

I imagine well agree to pay something so he can start straight away - but we would be crazy not to negotiate as it could save us hundreds of thousands

[Drummond]

There's the release clause and the notice period.... The latter is possibly the sticking point. It's either no comp and 2 years or the comp and 3 months. Neither of which suit us or him... I suspect it will cost a chunk more cash.

[SaddVillan]

Sounds like the hold up is about compensation and the fact he has to give three months notice, which is no good to us

Money will no doubt, persuade Sevilla to waive the 3 month notice clause.

[LeeB]

Sounds like the hold up is about compensation and the fact he has to give three months notice, which is no good to us

Money will no doubt, persuade Sevilla to waive the 3 month notice clause.

"We've got this brilliant reserve keeper you can have"