Two more speculation pieces tonight.
The first is we along with 6 other clubs are linked with Charles N’Zogbia at £7m, which seems far too low even for a Mirror piece !!
The second links Michael Bradley with Roma, he kinda counts as a Villa player, not that we have seen him much !
Aston Villa News 24/7
We wouldn’t be favorites for N’Zogbia even if Wigan are relegated IMO. And 7m definitely is too low, I’d expect about 10-12m at least. Still don’t see why we loaned Bradley. As I have said before, he is the one GH signing I just don’t get. On another not, I was reading the interview with Porno King Sullivan and he confirmed that we were in for Bridge in January and were prepared to pay all his wages. So hopefully that will silence those who keep saying GH didn’t try and sign a LB in January.
yeah, got off lightly there as well !!
most people I know breathed a huge sigh of relief they got Bridge
I wouldn’t have predicted he would have been as bad as he was for West Ham. Seemed like a solid 7/10 LB. In January, it is difficult to sign players as well, so fringe players of other clubs are sometimes your best bet.
Bridge is like Joe Cole – one of the boys that the London papers have blown up to be ‘big stars’ but who’ve rarely done much after some early promise.
We’re lucky not to have either of them.
IMO the same goes for Scott Parker.
bit unfair on PArker, he has been good but over rated because of the shit side he was surrounded by
Oh add Bale to that list of vastly over rated London players
Bale isn’t from London is he?
last time I looked the wonderful, fantastic club that is Super tottenham hotspurs came from London
No, but you only have to come into a London club at 20/21 to be The Next Big Thing.
Imagine if Albrighton had come through the youth team at WestHam or Arsenal – he’d have been a dead cert for full England cap by last Christmas and probably had his own line of designer clothing in the shops..
maybe the managers would have played him more
Like Wenger has done with Walcott and now Wilshere…then wonder why they’re ‘burned out’ and ‘need a break’ and seem to suffer endless recurring injuries?
Mind you, I think MON did pretty much the same damage to Agbonlahor.
Chances are that Albrighton will get plenty of starts next season..
I think Albrighton and Clark have had enough starts and appearances this season to help their development. I think maybe Bannan could have featured abit more, but then at least he was loaned out.
The reason Albrighton has not played much in 2nd half of season is that he has been shocking! Truly dreadful against Wigan – did not look interested, no tracking back and crosses were appalling.
To balance that out, he was however our best player early in the season.
Not a patch on Downing or Ashley Young – and he has been cr*p most of season!
Oh right, I see what you mean now. I thought you meant people who are actually Londoners.
To be fair IanRobo, I agree with Ardent Villain about Scott Parker. For me personally he is another Steve Sidwell, can do a good job at a small club but when the pressure is on to perform, he fails….look at his time at Chelsea.
If….and I say if we went for Scott Parker, it would be some what of a major gamble and would rate as highly as the gamble we would be taking by signing his team mate…the new calamity Robert Green.
the reason I would not go for Parker is that he is too injury prone for the wages and transfer money
n’zogbia for me is a big fish in a small pond and £7mil for me is steep IMO , he’ll be looking to move to ‘bigger’ clubs than us, he said in january lyon or marsielle didnt he?? as for bradley havent seen enough shud loan him til january 2012 and get him playing in carling cup etc, few sub appearance and see how good he is….
I doubt he’ll want to stay after the limited chances he has had. And who can blame him?
yh i can see what your saying but he seems fairly determined to prove his worth over here :/
Yep. I’d rather he didn’t stay though. It would only limit the chances of Delph, Bannan and Gardner.
hmmm true that
Why would it matter if Bradley turned out to be better than those players?
Also, Bradley is an entirely different player than Delph, Bannan, and Gardner. So I can’t fathom that he’d ever play at their expense.
I think he and Delph would be competing for the same position. I think Delph at Arsenal showed he will not be played in a advanced role like he was at Leeds. Next season is probably the make-or-break season for Delph as well. So it is important he gets a run in the team.
I think N’Zogbia would be a great replacement for Young if he does go not saying he is better but he could still do a decent job!
As for Bradley it wouldn’t suprise me if this was Lerner’s doing wanting to bring is some American talent into a club, I’m sure theres a good player there he was great at the world cup but for reasons unknown he can’t break in the squad.
I don’t see why everybody feels he will be Ash’s replacement. Surely his replace will be somebody who plays in the hole, since that is where he has played for the majority of the season.
You may be right about Bradley. Who can forget that he was linked to us even before GH arrived when his father was one of the favorites to take the managers job.
This could be the reason MON didn’t get on well with Lerner? I really don’t think Martin O’Neill signed Brad Guzan because he wanted too. I don’t think MON even wanted Eric Lichaj in the squad. It seemed dead certain that we were signing Paul Robinson from Tottenham for weeks, SSN were certain of it, then suddenly we got Friedel in. (I’m not complaining about that though).
But maybe Randy Lerner wants to give some players from his home nation a chance? To be honest, I’ve no problem with that. If we got some great USA players in then I’m happy. I rate Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley, Bradley just hasn’t got the chance he needs though. Hopefully he starts this Sunday against Liverpool.
are you saying it is OK for Chairman to decide on players, there is a theme growing here and the other post tonight.
I can not believe that some posters are happy to say it is OK for Lerner to buy players above the manager’s head ?
I think he means the Owner may have recommended them to the manager.
Nah, Randy wouldn’t be deciding on players but just like ‘V[illa] for Vendetta’ points out below, I think it’s starting to look a little obvious that Randy is suggesting names for the manager to look at. I wouldn’t be surprised to see us scouting some USA talent at the moment. It could even be players of a different nationality playing in the MLS. Look at the trial we gave to Omar Cummings. That could have been someone Randy has seen doing well and gave Houllier a little nudge to go check up on him.
Agreed. It isn’t something I actually realised until I gave it some thought just now. But it can’t be coincidence that since our American owner arrived we have been involved with many American and American-based players.
Najar and Agudelo… Would be two great additions from the MLS.
I think you will find that the growth in football in the USA will naturally find more americans plying their trade in the more lucrative european markets………
Eh, I doubt it. Lerner doesn’t strike me as the type to mingle like that.
Bradley is a quality player. Indeed, I consider him to be a better than Reo-Coker: all of the energy and defensive ability, but with the ability to get into the box and score. But I think that, given our precarious position in the league, it wasn’t the right time to try starting someone who is an unknown in the EPL.
You could accuse me of bias because I’m American. But Bradley is one of only four Americans that I’d want for Villa. (Dempsey, Donovan, and Howard are the others–and those can’t reasonably be argued against.)
I should add Holden to the list. I’d definitely want him in our midfield, and Bradley is every bit as good.
VfT – Agree with you that Bradley hasn’t had a chance to show anything here yet; he seemed very promising in the US team at the last WC, albeit that the competition there was a bit ‘odd’.
I’d like to see him stay at least until January and get a few starts, some more time off the banch, etc., before anyone writes him off.
Don’t want N’Zogbia anywhere near Villa Park! He’s a good player for a small club but if he couldn’t make it at Newcastle, why would he make it at a bigger club like Villa? It’s a stupid idea.
Sidwell & Shorey did well at Reading, Turner did well at Hull and look at them now. I’ll gladly stick my neck and say that if any major club makes an approach for Mulumbu, Odemwingie, Adam, N’Zogbia or Ba will be wasting there money. None of them have what it takes to make it with a team in the top 6 or 7. They just don’t.
Charlie Adam wouldn’t get into Tottenham’s starting 11, N’Zogbia wouldn’t get into ours and Mulumbu wouldn’t be starting games for a side like Everton. They are best suited at the (without being disrespectful) lesser team of the Premiership like Blackpool, Wigan, QPR, Norwich, West Brom etc.
I don’t want N’Zogbia at Villa, Blues nearly signed him in January for £10M so if we didn’t want him then to stop Blues getting him, we won’t want him now. It’s a rubbish link and thank God for that!
Whether you like Ashley Young or not, there is no way Charles N’Zogbia is the man capable of replacing him next season. We’re much better than that.
how do you know the likes of ba, adam arent top 6 material :/, put em in there and see, id say adam would easily
I agree. Most of the players that do well for ‘lesser’ EPL clubs don’t make it for the big ones. But there are always some that do. Think of Valencia who was in a similar position to N’Zogbia now.
That’s true, but it also reminds me of players like Wayne Routledge. It’s a gamble, and with Villa trying to sort out the wage structure of the club, N’Zogbia would be a risk. He might not be able to make the step up and could ask for £50k-£60k a week wages now.
I think when deciding who you should sign from the ‘lesser’ clubs, you need to look back over the season and realise that people like Adam and N’Zogbia haven’t performed well against the top sides, only the small clubs. Where as someone hidden in the smaller clubs (there’s always one as you say that will make it at a big club) has performed consistently well in the big games. e.g. Odemwingie
I don’t think he will be coming anyway. Adam is much more likely then him.
I don’t know for definate, (I’m not mystic meg after all haha) but I’ve seen it so many times before. For example, I’ve seen Adam play the last 2-3 months and the amount of times he’s lost the ball leading to Blackpool conceding is fairly high. He doesn’t track back like a central midfielder should (reminds me of how Ireland has been for us when he played) and not to mention the awful tackle on Gareth Bale. I just think although these guys have done well this season, I would expect only one to follow up that success with a similar season next year.
We see it every year, every team has 1 or 2 players doing exceptionally well playing a huge part in keeping the club in the Premiership, but then they move to a big club thinking they’re good enough with big expectations on there shoulders, and they flop. With the price tags on some of these players now like Adam & N’Zogbia, I just don’t think it’s worth the money buying ‘stars’ from Premiership clubs anymore when foreign talent is just as good and more often than not, cheaper.
I would agree about Adam. Reminds me of Sidwell in Readings first season in the EPL. He needs another good season to convince me he has what it takes. But with N’Zogbia he has been Wigan’s best player (with Rodallega) they both arrived. So he isn’t a one-season wonder like Sidwell or Shorey.
N’zogbia in the Premiership this year though has only scored goals against Newcastle, Blackburn, West Brom, Everton and Villa. It’s hardly clubs that have had impressive seasons. I just think he’s one of the players that would be good to use against the small teams to give Downing or Ash (if he stays) a rest. I don’t think N’Zogbia will ever be big enough to play regularly and score consistently for a team going for the top 6 each year, looking to compete in Europe each year too such as ourselves. He’s a bottom half of the league player for me. Where as someone like Odemwingie has been scoring for fun all year against the likes of Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea. That’s the difference I think between someone who will make it at a team like Villa and someone who will be another Sidwell or Routledge.
He does play well in some of the big games though. He isn’t a striker so it isn’t just judged on whether he scores or not. You should also look at who he has made assists against.
42 – agree completely. There’s always a trend to over-value ‘average’ players on the basis of one good season [or World Cup, for that matter]- andthen realise that in the longer term, they are in fact just ‘average’.
I believe that a decent scouting system wouldn’t just be looking abroad, but should still be able to identify potential quality in the lower leagues as well; it’s too lazy just to look abroad.
I think that is a bit harsh mate as Newcastle didn’t really give quite a few of their younger players a fair chance. Milner was never a week-in week out regular for them either but nobody would question his quality. The reason I wouldn’t want him to replace Ash is because we need somebody who plays in the hole to replace him, not another winger. We have Albrghton and Downing on our wings next season.
agree with you there mate, now n’zogbia can cross better than young can and has better end product you talk bout overrated players for me young is average
He had two great seasons, and his previous two have been decent. Will never be world class as MON said. But still causes problems on his day. Would probably be a good buy for Pool. Although it looks like he is engineering a move to the Red Mancs.
N’Zogbia great choice for me, I like him since he was in Newcastle and can be play LB , last week he rescue Wigan and score great two goals . 7m is low . please sign him another bargain like Downing .
I don’t think he will be actually going for anything like 7m. And I would say at 12m Downing is a bargain. Just value for money.
would not*
Am I one of the only people that really wants Bradley to stay on?!
He is a quality player and just needs time to break into the team, which he will! He can play a lot of different positions in midfield and can also score goals, I see comparisons to Ian Taylor (dont slate me on that)
this season was terrible for any new players trying to bed in, especially with no PL experience.
Randy, sign Bradley on a two yr deal and let Reo go if he continues holding villa to ransom.
He’ll be snapped up, I’ve no doubt about that. Gary McAllister has said he’s shown in training he’s got a lot of potential but he hasn’t had many chances because Villa wanted to rely on the experienced players to guarantee safety. I watched him warm up against Wigan though and even then he looked impressive. Great finisher!
I think he will sign and if NRC leaves then I’ve no doubt we’ll take him. We need atleast one of them to stay if we can’t get Fofana to join.
Agreed. Don’t get why people fear for the likes of Delph, Bannan and such. They’re good players but Bradley’s only 23 and could develop into twice the players both Delph and Bannan are (unlikely) but he’s far from old. Hope he does sign up.
I think Wigan have a few players that would improve us. Both Rodallega and Nzogbia are very good players both with an eye for goal. McCarthy in midfield also looks a good prospect. If they go down, then any of those would be a good shout. As for West Ham, I really think Collison is worth a bid. Depending on who else goes down, players like Samba, Adam, Jarvis will also be available at a good price.
Would prefer Noble if anyone we could get from West Ham as Parker’s a doubt. The rest wouldn’t be too bad, though I don’t think any of them want to be “bit-part players” other then Samba. Not sure if Adam would start, depending on formation and whatnot.
Prolem with noble is that he’s been poor for a while now, on the whole. I used to rate him so hopefully its just a blip that can be put down to injury. Though blips dont tend to last a season and a half
Rodallega I would take in theory. Although it would mean continuing with 4-4-2 which I don’t think suits our team. Bent is great as a lone striker and I think he plays better without a strike partner.
Bradley freshened up the squad, for that I’m grateful, but as a player he is woefull.
Nzogbia has a terrible attitude but is a class player and would bring a new dimension to the squad, sign him up!
Up the villa!
Just read the sun, looks like Defoe may be up for grabs!!! Do the deal houllier
Milner mulumbu Nzogbia foster cahill Defoe in
Carew pesky heskey young Friedal Dunne out
Nice
Why would we want Defoe when we already have Bent?
No idea. If we get a new striker it has to be something different to what we have now (or will have by the summer).
Bent, Gabby, Fonz and Weimann.
Heskey is probably going, so maybe a new striker should be in a similar mold to him.
IF bent got injured or knackered (too many games) Defoe would be perfect who else would score the goals!!!!! We’d be down if it weren’t for Bents goals we’ve been lucky he stayed fit!
That’s why on earth we need Defoe.
Scott Parker and Ben Foster please, that will keep the English line going then Houllier can add what ever foreign players he wants.
Positions we need.
GK- (hopefully Ben Foster)
RB (hopefully keep Walker)
CB x2 (if Collins goes)(hopefully Raphael Varane and Mangane)
LB (hopefully Enrique )
CM (hopefully Scott Parker)
Back up LW (Some under study for Downing)
Back up RW (hopefully Hector Bellerin)
ST
Out
Beye
Warnock
Dunne
Maybe Collins
Heskey
Bradley
Pires
Maybe Petrov
A.Young
Maybe L.Young – but he has shown some passion as of late
Friedel
Guzan
Carew
Ireland
Force through
Hogg
Bannan
Gardner
Lichaj
Herd
Delfounseo
Must Keep
Downing
Reo Coker
Bent
Makoun
Cueller
Clark
Albrighton
Agbonlahor
Foster would also be my choice if Friedel does go. But it looks like Spuds may be in for him. Same with Parker. It is unlikely also that Parker will want to up sticks and move away from London at his age. Enrique will also move to a bigger club then us (at least one in Europe). Collins will be staying, even if GH stays. And I don’t think that Hogg, Herd or Lichaj are good enough to break through into our first team.
As normal we will get players coming in who we didn’t see coming. No point speculating. At least it won’t be overpriced average shite like 70% of what MON brought in.
I would love to see Nzogbia at our club as he has great vision and knows how to bang goals and think he would be great behind the striker ..hopefully with young still at our club.
Bradley for me is no where near good enough for villa and i watched him play for villa reserves and there kids ran circles around him in a game that we won ..strangely saloufi was excellent but never gets near the 1st team
regarding my last comment it was the game against liverpool reserves
I think we should keep walker,get saphic ( LB slash CB)
Let nrc go and maybe sighn bradley. We might go back for fofana but we dont need any cm’s. we have plenty already.
nzogbia would be great along with ba
Albrighton hasn’t consistently shown so far he’s capable of performing in 38 premier, cups and U-21 matches. Think next season is a little too early for him to nail down a first team spot and provide the level of quality we’d want from him. Nzogbia is a big yes from me and at 7-10m we’d recoup most of what we invested if he didn’t come off and we were to sell. On the other hand if he performs, his value rises considerably, he’s still only 23 and having been in the UK for 7 years so qualifies as an ‘english’ player making him more appealing to the big 4.
To all those suggesting Randy is buying the US players, do you really think MoN would have stood for that?
We signed Bradley because we had an absolutely horrendous injury list. You know, the one everyone has forgotten about which had us staring at relegation! Luckily, we got players back and had to rely on them to get us back on track. Foolish though it may sound, I’m gonna stick my neck out and say GH wd have got a top 7 finish if it weren’t for the injuries!!