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

[Clampy]

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.

He probably would have done  had he not had his pants dragged round his ankles.

[ozzjim]

He went through some pretty dark times after going back to Denmark I think.

[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.

He probably would have done  had he not had his pants dragged round his ankles.

Think that was later on in the season. This was one of his early debuts, might have been league or league cup.

Ref sees a player being held back  and his shorts pulled off. Opposition is Spurs. No penalty.

[kippaxvilla2]

Tommy Craig was gash.

[Dave]

He went through some pretty dark times after going back to Denmark I think.

Although also did very well in spite of it - think he was top scorer in the Danish league a few seasons ago.

[brontebilly]

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.

That's him, he was just dreadful. He looked like the kind of lad who got put in goal in school because he was big and awkward.

[JUAN PABLO]

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

PLayer of the season S Ireland , can you believe.

[JUAN PABLO]

David Hunt - worse player for me

[ADVILLAFAN]

Aleksandr Tonev. A genuinely 2-footed player, awful with both.

[eamonn]

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

The eejit got player of the season based on that one performance.

[AV82EC]

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

The eejit got player of the season based on that one performance.

He did but in the utter banality of that McLeish season I have to say I can’t remember one other game.

[Meanwood Villa]

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.

He probably would have done  had he not had his pants dragged round his ankles.

Think that was later on in the season. This was one of his early debuts, might have been league or league cup.

Ref sees a player being held back  and his shorts pulled off. Opposition is Spurs. No penalty.

That non decision still pisses me off to this day. It's a red card and a pen.

[Dave]

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

The eejit got player of the season based on that one performance.

I remember the arguments and disbelief at the time - I seem to recall it's that POTS was given to the player who had received the most Man Of The Match awards over the course of the season and everything was spread across the squad so thinly that the four or five that he got was enough to win the season version.

[VillaTim]

Ally Cissoko is another one up there

[Rigadon]

I would like to think that at least some of the players we signed over the years who were completely awful might've been good under Emery.  And that is why I'm probably more relaxed about us losing players as I've ever been before.  When we were losing the likes of Barry, Milner and Young to that lot, I can't remember thinking we'd be as good or maybe even better without those players.   If (maybe when, actually) Martinez and Watkins go this summer I am pretty confident we will be just as competitive as we are now. 

I suppose the difference between the Villa and, say, Man City et al, is that if we were able to keep those players and add better ones we'd be genuine challengers for the league.  I try not to dwell on that too much though!