Summer 26 Transfer Window - hopes, speculation, rumours etc.

[Tuscans]

🚨 NEW: Aston Villa have met with the representatives of Bayer Leverkusen winger Kerim Alajbegović (18).
@MailSport

[tomd2103]

Onana's better than Ampadu, this is just silly now. Don't be a pub bore, man - you're not arguing and presenting evidence or whatever, you're just asserting your pet thoughts over and over again and taking no efforts to actually prove them.

Different type of players.  I've seen Ampadu play a lot for Wales and have always been a fan.  He's had a bit of a stop start club career, but looks a bit more settled at Leeds and is doing well there.  He is very much in the mould of Kamara as a player (not as good - though I personally think that Kamara is arguably one of the best defensive midfielders around) and would be a decent back-up option to him.  I think we missed Kamara after his injury and our central midfield didn't look balanced until Lindelof did so well there in the last few games.  Think it's imperative we add another player of that type to the squad over the summer.

Onana is the type of player who is at his best playing alongside that type of player.  A lot of his best petformances (the home games over the last two seasons against Manchester City stand out) have come when he's played alongside Kamara. 

[RamboandBruno]

If we have limited funds which we apparently have, I’m not sure central midfield is the priority. Wingers, probably a back up to Pau if Mings goes, a back up to Cash, possibly a new Keeper if Emi goes (hope he doesn’t), s back up to Digne if Maatsen isn’t rated.
But if we are looking at central midfield, surely we need to be aiming higher than  someone who has been a decent hard working upper championship/lower level premiership player all of his career to date.

[ROBBO]

Grealish back at Man City, there is going to be a lot of unwanted loanees returning to their home club this season.

[Dogtanian]

I think it says a lot about where Villa and Grealish are now, that there doesn't seem to be any noise about him coming back.

[Demitri_C]

Grealish back at Man City, there is going to be a lot of unwanted loanees returning to their home club this season.

Be suprised if he doesnt sign permanently for Everton.  Did well there

[brontebilly]

Grealish hasn't exactly done a great job of promoting himself to prospective clubs during his injury. Bit like Yorke they pretty much stopped up as top level footballers after winning CLs, known more as party boys than footballers. Reunion with Deano at Charlotte might be on the cards with Citeh trying to give him away.

Likely to be a lot of change in that Citeh squad over the summer. Stones and Silva gone, Rodri stalling on a new deal, some of their newish signings like Marmoush haven't worked either. Grealish and Phillips free to a good home.

[Demitri_C]

I like the look Nwaweri. He looks a player with huge potential i really do think he is the type of profile player we should be looking at

[rob_bridge]

Grealish back at Man City, there is going to be a lot of unwanted loanees returning to their home club this season.

Be suprised if he doesnt sign permanently for Everton.  Did well there

Aren't the wages pretty off putting.

He is 30 and strikes me as the party years will take their toll sooner rather than later.

[Dogtanian]

It's no coincidence that professional non-drinker James Milner played in the Premier League at 40 years old.

[paul_e]

Onana's better than Ampadu, this is just silly now. Don't be a pub bore, man - you're not arguing and presenting evidence or whatever, you're just asserting your pet thoughts over and over again and taking no efforts to actually prove them.

Last orders soon?

I've already outlined my main issues with Onana - availability, technical, leadership - top 3. Challenge them if you wish.

Others here may have seen Ampadu play a lot more often than I have. From my admittedly limited viewings for Leeds and Wales I've been very impressed, think he could be the ideal Kamara medium/long term replacement.

I'll give it a go and I'll start with a win for you because I don't think anyone will argue that he hasn't had too many injuries so yes, tick for availability. I hope you aren't just adding it for him though and ignoring the other players who've had fitness problems.

Leadership though puts us straight into a problem area because it isn't a one-size fits all definitive term where you can say a player is a food leader and everyone knows that will mean he does x, y and z during the game. Therefore you need to give some examples of things you think he should be doing and isn't and show where that is having an impact.

And then technical. I know why you're saying this, it's so you can repeat your 2can't play on the half turn" line that you think is some sort of magic bullet but by expanding it up to such a broad category you've made this rebuttal particularly easy because I can counter it by just saying his tackling technique is the best at the club by miles, so 1 example each, remove it from the list.

Feel free to rethink your post, cite specifics and evidence them with where they have actually occurred and we can go for round 2 if you like.

For my part Onana is a destructive ball-winning midfielder who is great at regaining possession and scores highly on all the core defensive turnover stats, is a massive asset in both boxes and who is an excellent option in transition (both ways) due to his pace and power. He is good at retaining possession, rarely misplacing passes, having a poor touch or having the ball taken off him and has a great rapport with the fans, playing a big part in why our squad is so likeable. He needs to add a few more goals to his game (because he has the capability to be hitting double figures every season) and needs to get through the injury problems.

[Dogtanian]

More rumblings that we are trying to lure Mingueaza on a free;

https://sportwitness.co.uk/aston-villa-move-decisively-for-free-transfer-villans-competition-tough-match-to-win/

Apparently, Juventus didn't want to pay 2m EUR for him in January, and now we are favourites.

It does make sense - we like a free, he can play CB and RB, and it appeals to Emery's famous sense of whimsy to play a centre-back pairing of Mings & Mingueza.

Rumours of a deal with front of shirt sponsor M&Ms are just speculation.

[Brazilian Villain]

It's no coincidence that professional non-drinker James Milner played in the Premier League at 40 years old.

It's also no coincidence that strict teetotaler Stanley Matthews retired from professional football at the age of 50.

[Keeno]

More rumblings that we are trying to lure Mingueaza on a free;

https://sportwitness.co.uk/aston-villa-move-decisively-for-free-transfer-villans-competition-tough-match-to-win/

Apparently, Juventus didn't want to pay 2m EUR for him in January, and now we are favourites.

It does make sense - we like a free, he can play CB and RB, and it appeals to Emery's famous sense of whimsy to play a centre-back pairing of Mings & Mingueza.

Rumours of a deal with front of shirt sponsor M&Ms are just speculation.

Yeah it feels like logically everything lines up here for it to happen, given its someone we've had longstanding interest in. And would fill exactly the spot that we're trying to cover.

[Dave]

He needs to add a few more goals to his game (because he has the capability to be hitting double figures every season) and needs to get through the injury problems.

Considering how good we are at set-pieces, how massive he is and how it took about 180 seconds of his Villa career to score from a corner, it seems ludicrous that he's not getting ten goals a season for us from that route.