Summer 2025 Transfer Window - hopes, speculation, rumours etc.

[Drummond]

There was a player who we had on trial under Sir Graham from Grimsby  Boulding ?  he was pretty out of his depth   

You should have seen his backhand though.

oh yes he was good at tennis as well wasnt he  ,  bloody all rounders !!

No, he didn't play rounders.

[Sexual Ealing]

Balaban pound for pound has to be the worst.

Yep, you could names dozens that were worse. Crespo, Luna, Malcolm Allen, Comyn, Jota are some more.

I saw Michael Boulding play for us (in the Intertoto cup, admittedly), so I've definitely seen worse.  But in terms of money spent, not sure there is much worse than Balaban? Big money (for the time) and a big wage (for the time), for practically zero return.

This has probably been asked before but did anybody here see Balaban live for us? He played for Croatia and was it Brugge in CL afterwards so he can't have been a complete dud of a player.

Then again that Croatian keeper we bought under Smith, and had tracked for years apparently, was impossibly bad.

Philogene doesn't belong in that camp but it's fair to say he looked miles out of his depth for us.

Kalinic? There are chairs screwed to the floor in prison visiting rooms with more spring in their legs.

[Matt C]

Remember that Portuguese keeper we had - on loan I think - under Bruce? He was, shall we say, not optimal.

[Monty]

Yeah Engels was fine, just resembled an actual tree. But you can bounce a ball far off a tree, and he did that just about often enough.

I'm pretty sure Helenius never did anything other than getting lovingly pantsed.

And suffering from fairly severe depression if I remember right.

Not to be flippant*, but most of us did watching the Villa back then.

(I'm allowed because I genuinely did for non-Villa reasons. And Villa reasons.)

[eamonn]

Did Sunderland's board member, Margaret Byrne (?), screw-us over with something to do with Kalinic?

[PeterWithesShin]

I remember thinking that Helenius would become a star when he signed.

[PeterWithesShin]

Kalinic was the signing to save us in Jan 2016. Which pretty sums up that season.

[WassallVillain]

I saw Balaban play. Not that he played very much. I recall watching him in a half time kick about and he couldn’t return the ball to his teammate within 20 yards of him much to said  teammates obvious perplexity. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a worse professional footballer in a Villa shirt.   In fairness he was very young and new in a foreign land.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Remember that Portuguese keeper we had - on loan I think - under Bruce? He was, shall we say, not optimal.

Andre Morreira, I'd completely forgotten about him, I had to Google to find his name. Two games for us, he after been sent out on loan for years ended up at Grasshoppers and is now playing in Saudi. A Jorges Mendes player who should be very grateful to his agent for stealing a living.

[AV84]

I was rooting for him but Zaniolo was pretty rubbish in the end.

[olaftab]

Yeah Engels was fine, just resembled an actual tree. But you can bounce a ball far off a tree, and he did that just about often enough.

I'm pretty sure Helenius never did anything other than getting lovingly pantsed.

Engel and that Son winner….grrrr

[PeterWithe]

Balaban was pretty highly rated for a while, he was mentioned a few times in World Soccer mag 'ones to watch', there were numerous stories doing the rounds that a few people saw a lot more of the transfer fee than his previous club did.

[Witton Warrior]

Has nobody mentioned the utter cack that was S Ireland. He looked like Maradona in a warm-up and then disappeared from view

[Dogtanian]

I dunno, I remember the 3-1 away at Chelsea, which I enjoyed immensely.

[Somniloquism]

I remember thinking that Helenius would become a star when he signed.

Not specifically when he signed, but I thought he looked decent when he came on in the one league match and I think came close to scoring which I have always imagined was his sliding doors moment.