Final Sunday transfer window round up – Beye
The transfer window closes on Monday and I think it is very unlikely we will see any links in or out of Villa Park in the Sunday papers. Of course if there are any be assured they will appear here.
One piece of loan news that Shane Lowry has gone to Leeds until the 31st March
No new updates tonight from the NOTW which has just gone out online
Sunday Mirror updated online and no new links
In fact checking all the major newspapers as predicted not a single rumour or link
SUNDAY
Again no links whatsoever so I think it is safe to say apart from Gardner leaving it will have been a very quiet window for Villa.
Finally at 18:00 a link !
An old one though saying Sunderland will look once again at Habib Beye as other right back options have failed, well there is faith in a player !
Transfer window closing, thoughts and ideas
The Transfer window closes Monday February 1st at 17:00
For all teams it has been a very quiet window, likely to be due to the current economic climate and frankly the bonkers world of football finance.
For Villa therefore it has also been a very quiet window with only Craig Gardner leaving for Blues and remarkable for Villa very few actual rumours. In fact it seems from MON we have heard to expect few moves unless we sell and I doubt the £3.5m from Blues is hardly enough to make a difference.
We also seemed to hear very strong rumours about Habib Beye leaving however with the news about Warnock’s injury can not now see that happening and of course recalled Shorey back from Forest whilst Bannan and Baker have had their loans extended until the end of the season.
So with NRC’s injury and Gardner going it leaves a space in central midfield, Delph will now certainly get more starts and can see little movement there, but as we have not scored in 4 PL games we should still be looking at the forwards.
There may have been a chance Carew could go but he became injured once again and the rumors about Heskey were unfounded rubbish. However I still keep hearing background rumours of an interest in Keane. With Gudjohnsen now at Spurs at loan he is such a similar player to Keane we can only presume Keane will leave. On this blog I have made no bones about my admiration for him and how well he would fit in at Villa Park, the deal can be done if ‘appy ‘Arry would let Keane either permanently or on loan to a close rival.
Another player we could look at is Moses at Palace, every highly rated and from the little bits I have seen of hm a very good prospect. However whilst we buy young talent is he any better than Delf and would he stop his progression as he is probably the better player.
Can we do a deal for Keane, Moses or any forward to put away the chances we create, well we will see in 3 days time.
Gardner joins the wastelands at St Andrews
The Birmingham Mail have just reported that Craig Gardner has joined the Blues for around £3.5m.
Good luck to Craig there, he will need it as an ex Villan and passionate Villa fan, any slip up will be over analysed and he will be blamed more than most.
I loved Craig’s attitude on the pitch but frankly he was not good enough for an aspiring top 4 club and had been overtaken by our purchase of Fabian Delph who over the future will prove to be a top class player.
Thanks Craig for your time at Villa and good luck at the wastelands.
Weekend Transfer Links – Gardner bid rejected
As you may be aware, Newsnow has now been blocked to linking to a few of the papers (please see the ‘right to link’ image on the left of this blog), thus a lot of the Sunday speculation does not get publicised. So therefore please keep checking this post for the weekend updates as they happen.
Usually on a Saturday night the NOTW is first up with any links and today we have none (it has been a quiet window for speculation). Instead the paper is reporting that there is little money to be spent and we have to sell to buy, this is a story been around for a while in other papers. MON is quoted as saying
O’Neill said: “I would like the squad to be stronger if possible but that might not be possible.
“Randy Lerner is very enthusiastic but he isn’t going to be reckless.
“Do I share his principles? I am a football manager. At every single club I have been at I have worked to the budget I have been given. I haven’t changed here.
“If we had to pay a bit more money for some player I would make sure he proved his value like Ashley Young has or I would make sure we would get recompense in some other direction.
So not exactly saying no money but we need to have value, MON goes onto to say the financial climate is very tight and teams have to ‘take stock’.
SUNDAY
No further links at all, trawled the newspaper sites and nothing at all, would indicate no incoming moves at Villa
As I just got back from the game I heard that Villa have officially rejected a bid from Blues for Craig Gardner but I am sure that this deal will happen for around £4m.
Carew swap for Keane, sounds good.
As I posted last month a Carew swap for Robbie Keane makes sense for all parties at this stage.
Robbie Keane is the type of player we have wanted at Villa since MON has been at the club and Carew is starting to give the appearance of wonderlust again.
So today the Daily Star has published speculation that a deal could be in the offering for Robbie Keane to come to Villa Park in exchange for Carew plus £5m. If this was in any way true then I would snap their hand off within seconds and ‘seal the deal’.
Carew’s time at Villa Park is up, contrast his performances now to just 8 months ago and something is wrong and we need Robbie Keane to push on.
This deal is an obvious one in waiting.
Players in and out – Sunday Transfer round up
“We are hoping to get a couple of players in because it is a long season ahead of us.”
This quote is from MON on Sky Sports today which for me is a contrast to the quotes he gave a few weeks ago.
“I wouldn’t see at this minute us being active in bringing players in January. Things change, but as we speak I don’t think we will be bringing people in unless somebody left the club”
So we go into the next few weeks with maybe a clearer indication of what could happen, maybe more outs than in but I am certain we are looking strongly.
There are further strong rumours of Gardner leaving Villa Park and his absence today seems to confirm these, I hope he has the sense to go to wolves and not the dark side ! Of course Shorey yesterday had his loan deal to Forest extended yesterday which will be likely to result in a permanent move.
MON also said yesterday that he takes no notice of the rumours linking Heskey with Liverpool however if he is looking to bring players in then you have to suspect that as per his previous statement that maybe the rumour is stronger than we and MON may lead us to believe.
Especially as links with Liverpool and Chelsea are in the News of the World and Daily Mail tonight.
The Daily Star has now linked Carew to a move to Liverpool.
Of course please keep up to date with all the rumours here.
Sunday Transfer rumours and made up stories
First off the block, the NOTW linking us with a defender – Marcel Schafer from Wolfsburg for £8m after we sent to scouts to recent games. Right then, tell me the strongest part of our team and the place we need no cover. Made up would you reckon ? By the way he is a leftback, we have a far better one in our team at present.
They then resurrect the Heskey link with Liverpool and a stranger one linking Heskey with a move to Stoke. I could see Heskey leaving only if we could get Kenwyne Jones
Kenwyne Jones to Villa makes perfect sense
It is no surprise to me to see Kenwyne Jones being linked to a move to Villa. You only have to look at him to see he ticks a lot of the MON boxes including the fact at times he can be very inconsistent (see John Carew).
He has pace, power, strength and can perform either the Gabby or Carew/Heskey role but at times seems to be under motivated which is MON’s strengths as a manager. He is also relatively young but despite this has the experience in the PL to succeed given the right service which he would with Downing, Milner & Young.
Now this is only a rumour but we have seen rumours this week linking Heskey with Liverpool and Carew with Fernbache so it makes you wonder if they are true as Jones is the perfect replacement for either in a move I have always advocated.
For updated list on all rumours please read here
Sunday Transfer rumour round up
This will be updated as the day goes on, to start with in the Mirror they are saying we will not be interested in any moves after this quote from MON
“I wouldn’t see at this minute us being active in bringing players in January. Things change, but as we speak I don’t think we will be bringing people in unless somebody left the club.
The NOTW is reporting we are interested in Robbie Keane for £12m
More details in the Transfer
Speculation Page
No further news today
Reflections on the Transfer Window
As the transfer window opened in May I posted the following two comments
Back again and lets look at the future
I got some things right but I over estimated how much we would have to spend in this window.
So how do we reflect on this window.
Lets get the negative out of the way, for me we have missed a massive trick in not getting Tuncay, we needed some flair in the attacking midfield position and cover for the forwards and I really feel he could have done the trick for us. Were we interested in him, I think so but have no answer why we did not make a proper bid ?
The positives are many
1) Dunne represents the leadership we have lacked since Laursen left and Collins increases a lot the strength in depth for the Centre backs
2) Beye will prove himself a very good player we have seen signs of that already.
3) Downing represents a very good deal and when fit gives us massive strength in depth
4) Delph is one for the future for me a possible england star for the 2014 world cup
5) Warnock is for me one of the top left backs in the PL with Shorey as backup we are now very strong on the left hand side.
In terms of the outs well enough has been said about Barry and Knight for £4.5m was a fantastic sell to be replaced by in my view a much better player
So this has been a good window, we have increased the squad depth a lot, look at the bench against Fulham, the question is whether up front we have enough strength in depth, as usual time will tell.
Transfer Deadline Update – Dunne transfer not yet confirmed – PL received papers with an hour to go
09:00 – Nicky Shorey due to go to Portsmouth on a season long loan
– Supposed Villa target David Bentley heading to Manchester City
– Richard Dunne due to have medical today
11:00 – SSN have seen James Collins at Bodymoor Heath
13:30 – OS confirms fee agreed for James Collins
– SSN saying deal has been done (except they confused reserve forward James Collins with the other one !!)
14:10 – SSN understand that Newcastle and Hull aare ‘battling it out’ for the signature of Harewood on loan
16:00 – James Collins signs official on OS
16:20 – SSN reports that Shorey proposed loan deal has hit a ‘snag’
- No news on confirmation of Dunne’s transfer
19:00 – As at this time the Dunne transfer has not been confirmed by the PL as the paperwork was sent in very close to the deadline
19:10 – SSN reports that the transfer slightly delayed as paperwork was sent with an hour to go and they need to go through it to confirm.
SSN – Villa bid for James Collins
Sky Sports News reporting that ‘sources’ have said we have bid for James Collins from West Ham
A bid has been made ?
This is as a few papers were saying and goes along with the Dunne deal being nearly completed and it would mean Davies can finally have his operation which may be out for 3-6 months and the cover is needed.
Collins has been a bit injury prone for West Ham but when fit has been first choice and is rated by the Hammer’s fans as a no nonsense solid central defender.
BREAKING NEWS – Fee agreed for Richard Dunne
Mad day just before an importnant match but OS just announced fee agreed for Richard Dunne and he will travel down for talks
Warnock to Villa within 24 hours ?
It has just been annoucned that Blackburn have agreed a £2m fee with Spurs for Pascal Chimbonda.
This must pave the way for Stephen Warnock to join us within the next 24 hours.
Distin hands in transfer request and possible bid
The Sun is reporting today that Slyvain Distin has handed in a transfer request at Portsmouth.
This will come as no surprise to anyone, because we know Distin has to move for his last big pay day and his career.
I said before he had agreed to joined us two months ago but Pompey refused to play ball (as is their right), hopefully we can conclude the deal quickly now.
EDIT : 12:00 – Sky Sports News Understand we have ‘made a bid’ for Distin
Liverpool preview and 8 days to go
Well just over 8 days to go until the transfer window closes and whilst it appears we are close to signing up Warnock, even I am a little worried at the centre back issue. I don’t think any Villa fan can quite understand why we sold Knight with no immediate replacement and then we see Davies really struggle with his shoulder injury with no reason why he did not have it operated on at the end of May.
So we come to tomorrow’s game at Liverpool with Davies very unlikely to play, team morale at apparently rock bottom and a large number of unresolved issues in the team formation and style. Never mind the uncertainty over the future of John Carew (toe and a virus in a week, really ?) and of course Nicky Shorey.
Can I really take any guess over the team and the formation we will play, frankly I have no fecking idea what MON will do, I just hope if Davies is injured we keep Beye at RB and play a proper centreback which of course is Clark.
In midfield I hope that NRC plays with Sidwell and Petrov and I hope that Young is allowed free to roam with Carew (despite great reservations over him) up front and if not Carew then Gabby.
This game will not decide MO’s future we all expect a defeat and in some quarters a heavy one but the standard of performance is vital we have to see an improvement for morale sakes alone.
This is MON’s toughest ever period in management I back him to come through it but the decline has to be stopped tomorrow in the performance and any result is a bonus.
Warnock to Villa this weekend
News came from Radio 5 earlier that Stephen Warnock has bee left out of Blackburn’s sqaud for todays game.
This follows on the back of news overnightthat we have agreed a deal for Warnock for the left back position as I think it is clear that Bouma is not expected back and we have been linked with a bid for Traore of Arsenal as well.
Very good signing when this happens we will have a quality left back in Warnock at the peak of his career.
Distin move closer ?
Remember I posted back on the 1st July that I had information that Sylvain Disitin’s move was close ?
Well the Times today are reporting with Liverpool having brought a Greek defender and that Lescott will move to Man City it now leaves the field open for us to get Distin, as Pompey can no longer hold an auction for his services.
Hops so, Disitin is a quality left sided Central defender and we need him !
Villa Bid for Matthew Upson
Move to Villa ?
Sky Sports News have just broke the news that they ‘understood’ we have launched a bid as below. I would welcome Upson as he fulfulls the requirements of a dominating centre back and is left footed
Skysports.com understands Aston Villa have launched a bid for West Ham defender Matt Upson.
Villa are in the market for defensive reinforcements having lost Martin Laursen and Zat Knight this summer and they are believed to have identified Upson as their top target.
Upson’s future has been the subject of constant speculation amid reports he could be sold to ease West Ham’s financial concerns.
The 30-year-old admitted last weekend he was unsure of his long-term future at Upton Park as the Hammers look to raise funds for their own signings.
Manchester City have also been credited with an interest in Upson, but it appears Villa have firmed up their interest with a £12million bid for the former Arsenal man.
Villa boss Martin O’Neill is thought to be a long-term admirer of Upson and will be hoping to land the central defender before the transfer window closes.
Andy Marshall Signs
Villa have announced the signing of 34 year old Andy Marshall who will replace Stuart Taylor as third choice keeper.
It would also indicate that Villa do not believe that the current young keeper Matthew Parrish is ready for first team football at this stage
Tuncay to seal move to Villa
The Daily Mail are reporting that we have sealed the deal for £7m for Middlesbrough’s Tuncay
£7m move
As I posted here this is of no shock to myself and is a welcome addition to the squad and I await with great interest on how he will fit into the squad and team formation.
This news is now likely to end any interest we do have in Sneijder or Van der Vaart
Who is next ? Tuncay, Wheater or Kilgallon
MON and John Robertson were clearly seen at the Riverside for tonights Boro vs Sheffield Utd game
No doubt in tomorrow’s press we will be linked with the three players below, all of them make sense
Tuncay – versitile along the front line, some good quality and for me a certainty to join including some ITK I recieved this morning.
Wheater – been linked all summer, the typical MON central defender but the sticking point has been the reluctance of Wheater it seems to leave but we may offer £10m and that will get Boro really thinking.
Matthew Kilgallon – Sheffield United Centre Back who is LEFT footed, heavily linked by Neil Warnock who brought him from Leeds and of course a mate of Milner’s.
So I expect at least new faces in the next 4 days, Centre back is a must and you have why both MON and JR had to be at the game ?
Habib Beye signs for Villa
Habib Beye signs from Newcastle on a three year contract for a reported £2m a year plus add ons
Beye Signs
For me a welcome recruit as a reserve right back who will have to play against Wigan and no more stand ins in that position, which is the best news.
There is some dissent on the forums about this signing but for the 2007-8 for many Newcastle fans he was the player of the season, he started last season injured and never recovered and many Newcastle fans blame that for some of the trouble they were in.
£2.5m to £3m for Beye is one of the Bargains of this window.
Further good news is that Senegal has not qualified for the 2010 African Cup of Nations
Welcome Habib
Habib Beye at Bodymoor ?
The Express and Star are reporting that Habib Beye is due at Bodymoor Heath for signing later today.
The news today that Luke Young will miss the Wigan game was probably a major factor in this.
At Bodymoor
Recent Comments