The Daily Mirror have loads of stories tonight.
Carlos Cuellar will refuse a move to Rangers – LINK. They say he is not in training and back in Spain and the fee was a measley £1.5m
They say we still have an interest in Scott Dann but Stoke are in the driving seat and do we have the cash anyway ? - LINK
Then quotes from Mcleish saying all the Northern based players must move close to Villa, something fo course houllier tried and possibly led to all the bust ups – LINK
Finally NRC who was going to a CL club is now heading towards the glamour of Bolton – LINK
From the Mail we have this LINK for Kyle Naughton from Spurs who I would LOVE at the club, far better than Walker IMHO. However is it really likely if we have to keep both Beye and Young ?
So yet another ‘fun’ period in the recent history of Villa and got to say I hope that McLeish’s comments earlier were the truth and not a huge bluff. I want honesty from the club, we know where we stand and we can debate that without thinking about massive games of smoke and mirrors.
Aston Villa News 24/7
How games and mistakes do we have to watch our team lose to say they had their chance
For me it’s simple Randy or PF need to address the expectations, what’s the point of selling Downing if we aren’t going to improve squad? Our midfield is shit!!!
smoke and mirrors!! Ancelotti is our real manager in a big eck mask!!
I think its a case of one player out one player in, if Cuellar goes he will sign another, they are winding down the contracts of certain players. If heskey leaves he will also sign another player so on and so forth, we now have a squad of 24 players plus NZog(Downings replacement).
Cuellar is a good player and very popular amongst the fans but we now have Collins, Clark, Dunne and Lowry in the middle and one of those centre halves is surplus. Cuellar is on big money one year left on his contract so it makes sense for us to cash in on him now. I am beginning to see the picture at VP and it is all based around the 25 man squad, they do not want to be paying players like Ireland, Beye, Heskey big wages and then freezing them out of the squad a lot of these players will be gone next summer.
I cannot believe Lerner would be stupid enough to replace Young and Downing with N’Zogbia. We have no wide players for god’s sake.
I tweeted to MatKendrick last night “Sorry Mat but I honestly think the club are using you and other sources to spread disinformation to help their negotiations”
He replied with “Believe what you want”
I think I might have touched a raw nerve.
Wages have been substantially reduced and we have a bigger than ever sponsership deal.
While I’m giving up hope of a net spend, I can’t beileve we will spend just £13-14m of the circa £40m we have recieved.
Rl out now
If we really do buy only 1 more player I vote lerner out! What a fucking joke that would be! That said I do like lerner and believe he will buy more than atleast 1 more plaer! Its like you say ian Lerner needs to tell us abit about his plans and where the direction of our club is going. If he doesn’t then he is shooting himself in the foot as people are not seeing anough proactive activity at villa!
I wonder if this season will just be ignored with a longer term view of getting high earning shit players off the books then starting all over again with AM or a ‘decent’ manager? Quite a strong possibility I think. If that is the case then I would still have a problem with spending my money on a ST… Whilst the fans just put up with the whims of another owner – Ellis 2.
I think that there is a fair possibility that at the current time we will be looking to “start again” once we are able to shift some of the unwanted high earners at the club.
It looks likely that RL wants those that were unused last season to be given the opportunity to do more for their money this season and probably sees AM as more of a motivator that can bring more out of underperforming players that GH could.
It is frustrating that we are in this position BUT having said that I wouldn’t want us to be in a position where we are financially crippled either. If we can’t get rid of the high earners we don’t want then we need to use them I’m afraid
You only have to look at the right back position to see the waste of money going on Habib Beye 40k a week and Luke Young somewhere between 60 and 70k a week
Is it true that that ONLY outfield signing will be ONE wideman???
If it is then I’m sorry, but the moaners will be vindicated and we will struggle next year.
We MUST replace:
Ashley Young
Stuart Downing
Kyle Walker
NRC
Maybe even Bradley
So we need 2 wingers, a right back, at least two central modfielders, and if Cuellar and Heskey go, a striker and a centre back. That’s the reality. If the board don’t want to accept it, then they’re asking for trouble…
Downing = N’zog (when he signs)
Young = in effect Albrighton
(so missing a backup winger, suspect a young foreign player will be brought in)
Walker = Young and they hope Beye and possibly Lichaj
NRC = Delph/Gardner etc
spot on m8
IF that’s true it’s desparate…why not sign up Hitz for free??? And if Cuellar goes, Upson also for free…if we’re that skint
Upson = wages ?
The problem with Hitz is frankly he is not good enough, would I prefer Bannan or Delph, yes. No club could cope with the injuries we got last season and only allowed 25 anyway. Any backup players should be young in my view, we have more than enough experience.
Agree
I’m sure we could find some good loan players available under the age of 21 that don’t require inclusion in the 25 other than that we are really depending on getting rid of the deadwood that nobody else wants either.
Its not that nobody wants them its the wages that are the problem,Heskey would do a good job at a lower team as would Petrov, but nobody is willing to pay the wages
I fear that Ian is pretty much bang on the money there in terms of how the board and AM are thinking.
In terms of the players that need replacing, we don’t have the space for 3 or 4 more new additions at the moment anyway under the 25 man squad rule so we are a bit restricted there unless players do leave.
I don’t think we will get rid of Emile, nobody wants him really and I don’t think the Leicester speculation will come to much. If Cuellar goes then there may well be a backup centre half brought in but by the sound of things he is turning down Rangers and although I have heard of interest from Espanyol I don’t know if there has been a bid.
Centre mid……..I am of the belief that we need one strong midfielder but we have Petrov, Makoun, Ireland (depending on formation), Delph, Bannan, Hogg,Gardner…….where is the space for one??
This is far from an ideal scenario
I said at the end of last season we needed 7 new players to replace those likely to leave (thought Downing would but also Dunne, Warnock etc.) as it is now, if money is that tight then above N’Zog and a backup winger the vital player we must get is a strong central defensive midfielder and still hope for that.
So do I believe we having been desperate for one for years I just don’t think we have the funds for a good enough one so they will probably make do with what we have……………Really hope I am wrong on that
without a strong central midfielder I fear for us.
Makoun and Petrov are not it and no one else. At Blues he had Ferguson as that role and suppose between them Petrov and Delph could do that but I feel Delph is a massive hope for him.
I agree and for the exact reasons you state I can’t see us playing 4-4-2 successfully as we don’t have the steel in the middle of the pitch, especially if Ireland is going to be given ago.
More likely 4-5-1 with Ireland off Bent and two of the three you mentioned in deeper, or no Ireland and play all three. 4-3-3 maybe with Ireland in a wider role??
I dont think money is tight, but they are not going to sign anybody else until space in the squad is made, 110k a week is being spent on 2 right backs that were forced out or were not playing for the majority of last season, that is a massive waste of money.
How long is left on the following players contracts
Heskey
L Young
S Warnock
H Beye
S Petrov
This also leaves the winter transfer window as an opportunity to offload players like we did last year with Sidwell and Carew.
If we get the same injuried as GH did, we will be in DEEP S**T.
Totally fucked mate
I think AM will realise we need another 1 or 2 new players in after pre season on top of given and hopefully nzogbia.
if carlos goes, get corluka in and we need a bck up winger
Corluka would be a good option if Carlos goes as he can cover anywhere across the backline………..my main concern is still our piss weak central midfield
I’m thinking it will all boil down to the fact that we need to get rid of some of the deadwood to make space in the 25 man squad
What Villa have at the moment:
Goalkeeper:
Shay Given, Brad Guzan, Andy Marshall
Right Back:
Luke Young, Habib Beye, Eric Lichaj
Left Back:
Stephen Warnock
Centre Back:
Richard Dunne, James Collins, Carlos Cuellar, Ciaran Clark, Nathan Baker, Shane Lowry
Right Midfield:
Marc Albrighton
Left Midfield:
No one
Centre Midfield:
Stiliyan Petrov, Jean II Makoun, Stephen Ireland, Fabian Delph, Barry Bannan, Jonathan Hogg, Chris Herd, Gary Gardner
Forward:
Darren Bent, Gabby Agbonlahor, Emile Heskey, Nathan Delfouneso, Andreas Weimann
I know player like Bannan can play on the left and Clark can play left back.
Villa are going to have to sell some player ( no one is buying Beye or Heskey only MON was stupid in off to do that) or loan out some youngster if Villa wont to buy 3 or 4 more player unless there are under 21
Check out his comments in this story..I think they make perfect sense..
http://www.birminghammail.net/birmingham-sport/aston-villa-fc/aston-villa-news/2011/07/20/alex-mcleish-admits-charles-n-zogbia-or-another-winger-will-be-villa-s-only-big-outfield-signing-97319-29086077/2/
You can’t just say…hey, Habib Beye, you suck, you are not going to play but you can stay here and we will pay you…now Lerner give me another 12M for a new player.
Again..one more player is only valid until they release or sell a player, which they are clearly trying to do so they can get more players in..
how many of those players will be under 21 by Jan 2012 when i believer the ruling comes into effect?
I can see AM really bringing the clubs finances back into line … or getting us relegated and screwing us up completely. Obviously that will come down to Randy Lerner and how much financial room AM will be given to work in.
I can see the younger player like Lowry, Lichaj, Baker, Hogg, Herd Weimann getting more loan time this season, with Delph and Bannan featuring a lot more rotating with Ireland, Petrov and Makoun.
We will be no more than relegation fodder in a league full over ‘super spenders’. Survival is our vision by the sound of it. I honestly believe RL is trying to get the finances straightened up to sell the club off and focus more on the US markets.
He’s realised its a floored business venture and is looking to stem the flow of cash he’s losing
According to Mat Kendrick, we intend to field 14 quality first-team players and supplement them with players from the academy. If we’re being honest, that’s a reasonable approached.
The problem now is, we don’t have 14 quality first-teamers. We have the likes of Heskey, Beye, and Cuellar earning first-team money but contributing very little, if anything, to the first team. (I know people love Cuellar. But, fairly or not, he hasn’t done much over the last 1.5 years.) We also have someone like Petrov earning a decent wage that–sadly–isn’t justified at this point of his career. We can go back in time and point fingers and assess blame for giving Petrov that contract. But we’re still stuck with the contract. Until we can shed ourselves of such players and contracts, then I’ll guess we’ll need to act conservatively.
That said, I do think we need at least two wingers. Who will play on the wing if Albrighton or N’Zogbia get injured? Bannan? Yikes. Apart from that, although we’re missing a strong center mid, I wouldn’t say that we’re desperate to sign anyone else. (Time for Delph to sink or swim, and I think Makoun will flourish this season.) We may want someone at the back, but we don’t need anyone there. I’m happy to have Young and Lichaj at RB and Warnock at LB for now. People dislike Dunne and Collins, but I think Houllier really fouled things up defensively. Our defense played well toward the end of the season (and most of the season before that).