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what has happened to the transfer section?

It's always a waste when quality players choose big money offers from lottery winners. Every time that happens, another part of football dies.

Indeed. You'd hope that the next big thing thinks twice before being offered cash at Chelsea and City (eg Lukaku twunt - he could have been ours instead he's on loan to WBA from a team fighting against us for CL spots.
 
Villa at £7m would be immense.

Quite un-Levy like though - signing an old CF on high wages rather than up and coming player

Not really sure that he's an AVB type of player is he? Villa's a bit of an old-fashioned CF, not in the sense of a traditional British no 9 but in the sense that he's a poacher who does little outside the box. Surpreme finisher but players like Lineker, Owen, Defoe etc are less like the 'modern' type of CF who I thought we would be after - plus most of hte names we're linked with (including Leandro etc who we've been after) are bigger players with some physical presence - Villa isnt. Not sure I buy these stories
 
Quite un-Levy like though - signing an old CF on high wages rather than up and coming player

Not really sure that he's an AVB type of player is he? Villa's a bit of an old-fashioned CF, not in the sense of a traditional British no 9 but in the sense that he's a poacher who does little outside the box. Surpreme finisher but players like Lineker, Owen, Defoe etc are less like the 'modern' type of CF who I thought we would be after - plus most of hte names we're linked with (including Leandro etc who we've been after) are bigger players with some physical presence - Villa isnt. Not sure I buy these stories

I think he is comparable to Falcao in quite a few ways.

Villa is also a very hard working player who will do a lot of pressing and hassling for the team.

Seems like a pretty good fit to me.
 
The original JJetset @jetsetyid

Guess who talked H out of buying Suarez as they watched him together?
Mr safe, Ol 'Davey Moyes
#bellend


Quite happy we skipped that one myself.
 
The original JJetset @jetsetyid

Guess who talked H out of buying Suarez as they watched him together?
Mr safe, Ol 'Davey Moyes
#bellend


Quite happy we skipped that one myself.

Forgetting his antics for a minute - him and Bale supporting an in form Adebayor (lolz)

What front 3 that's be !
 
Quite un-Levy like though - signing an old CF on high wages rather than up and coming player

Not really sure that he's an AVB type of player is he? Villa's a bit of an old-fashioned CF, not in the sense of a traditional British no 9 but in the sense that he's a poacher who does little outside the box. Surpreme finisher but players like Lineker, Owen, Defoe etc are less like the 'modern' type of CF who I thought we would be after - plus most of hte names we're linked with (including Leandro etc who we've been after) are bigger players with some physical presence - Villa isnt. Not sure I buy these stories


It's difficult to tell as AVB has only been in the game a short while but I think he is the type of player that AVB is a fan of. At Porto he had falcao, at Chelsea he preferred Torres over Drogba to begin with, and we had a similar situation here with Defoe and Adebayor at the start of the season. I get the impression that at both Chelsea and here he looked to both Torres and Defoe to play the Falcao role, which is basically to be a little more direct and play on the shoulder as opposed to the likes of both Drogba and Ade who play with their back towards goal.

Would love it if we could bring in Villa but I agree the transfer is unlikely. Then again we do have Bale and i assume his reputation alone now will now attract a higher caliber of player to the club. That said, Dortmund could possibly be a destination for Villa when you take into consideration that Lewandowski is most likely to leave.
 
I think he is comparable to Falcao in quite a few ways.

Villa is also a very hard working player who will do a lot of pressing and hassling for the team.

Seems like a pretty good fit to me.

Maybe. In my mind Falcao is better in the air and does more than just score. Cant see Levy sanctioning it though
 
I think he is comparable to Falcao in quite a few ways.

Villa is also a very hard working player who will do a lot of pressing and hassling for the team.

Seems like a pretty good fit to me.

We need more than one type of striker. I think Ade can hang around and play the more physical striker and with Villa it's about someone making the best of the opportunities.

Would see Villa being invaluable against the lesser teams who we struggle to break down and put away.
 
Maybe. In my mind Falcao is better in the air and does more than just score. Cant see Levy sanctioning it though

Falcao is probably better in the air, but I think you underestimate Villa. He is primarily a goalscorer, but he's a solid all round player too, certainly no Darren Bent ;)

For Levy it will of course come down to transfer fee and wages as well as how highly AVB and the management/transfer team rates him. As it should. Levy won't go all out and blow our budget on Villa, but if the right deal is there to be done I think Levy will go for it.

We need more than one type of striker. I think Ade can hang around and play the more physical striker and with Villa it's about someone making the best of the opportunities.

Would see Villa being invaluable against the lesser teams who we struggle to break down and put away.

I agree. I would honestly prefer us signing someone a bit more physical as our first choice striker for next season as I fear we will still be somewhat easy to force into playing long balls.
 
It's difficult to tell as AVB has only been in the game a short while but I think he is the type of player that AVB is a fan of. At Porto he had falcao, at Chelsea he preferred Torres over Drogba to begin with, and we had a similar situation here with Defoe and Adebayor at the start of the season. I get the impression that at both Chelsea and here he looked to both Torres and Defoe to play the Falcao role, which is basically to be a little more direct and play on the shoulder as opposed to the likes of both Drogba and Ade who play with their back towards goal.

Would love it if we could bring in Villa but I agree the transfer is unlikely. Then again we do have Bale and i assume his reputation alone now will now attract a higher caliber of player to the club. That said, Dortmund could possibly be a destination for Villa when you take into consideration that Lewandowski is most likely to leave.

Yeah - I think AVB's ideal forward is someone whose game is much more about movement, intelligent runs and finishing, than it is hold-up play. Realistically Soldado and Leandro are the sort of (poor man's Falcao) players who fit this bill and are within our price range (under £20m).

I think however Villa is too small to play a lone forward in the EPL (much like Defoe, although Defoe doesn't really fulfill the movement, intelligence or finishing criteria either).

We need more than one type of striker. I think Ade can hang around and play the more physical striker and with Villa it's about someone making the best of the opportunities.

Would see Villa being invaluable against the lesser teams who we struggle to break down and put away.

I agree with keeping Ade as a more physical option - someone for when we can bully defenders or need help to relieve pressure (i.e. our possession game isn't working).

Ideally we'd line up next season with 3 CFs - i) poor man's Falcao in his prime, ii) Ade and iii) teenage potential next Falcao
 
Schalke midfielder Julian Draxler has ended speculation linking him with local Bundesliga rivals Borussia Dortmund and the Premier League by signing a two-year contract extension.

The 19-year-old Germany international's new deal runs until the summer of 2018.
 
Stoke City have agreed a deal for Australian starlet Alex Grant from Portsmouth, Sky Sports understands.

Grant came through Pompey's youth ranks after being snapped up from highly-rated Aussie outfit ECU Joondalup.

Having made his debut for Portsmouth early in 2012 - he then enjoyed loan spells firstly with Eastleigh and then this term with Havant & Waterlooville.

His current deal was due to expire this summer, but the English-born Aussie youth defender opted to move on.

With news of Grant's availability, a host of Premier League and Championship clubs were sounding him out about his progress.

Now Sky Sports can reveal that Grant has agreed terms on a two-year deal with Stoke, who have moved quickly to secure his signature.



Also strong rumours that Steve Bruce is chasing Dean Whitehead. For all our frustrations, it's nice to be a level or two above chasing that sort of player.
 
I thought Tello has been pretty inconsistent - certainly ranked below Deulofeu's level in ability. Then again Pedro and Sanchez have not covered themselves in glory this season, so I guess Barca will give him a go.

He's very young, most players of his age are inconsistent. I don't watch Barca's B team so I haven't seen anywhere near enough of him to have a decent opinion, although Barca seem to always speak highly of him. Well, Guardiola put Tello into huge matches last year and always seemed to have faith in him.... This year Barca decided to make a number of selection errors in high profile games rather than playing him. (Iniesta and Fabregas being played together in a string of games despite it not working and Barca playing awfully. Various other people getting chances in the wide positions but being unable to offer the width or penetration Tello does, etc.)

As you say Pedro and Sanchez haven't been at their best, but even Villa (despite scoring with his last touch in his last game) has been extremely out of form. I think Tello is probably their second biggest goal threat at the moment. (Deulofeu hasn't really played enough to be counted and as I said, I have no clue how good he really is.) Tello is probably Barca's fastest player. I'm shocked at how under used he has been, but relatively recently when Barca put out second string sides which had lackluster performances, Tello seems to be the only player that consistently plays well.





I agree that Spaniards should be welcomed here. I think Isco is well out of our range now, but maybe Getafe's Abdel Barrada for CAM (23 year old with pretty decent figures - 6 assists, 2 key passes and 40 passes per game in a low-possession team...and bid for by Southampton, who I think have an eye for talent), Muniain (meh season but talented and still just 20) or Griezmann for wide playmaker, Benat for deep playmaker? Soldado for striker? I think they're all attractable if we had the funds, and good ages - Soldado's two years older than Aspas, who we were looking at in Jan, but the former is more of a real goal-scoring no. 9 while Aspas is more creative and kind of a loose cannon.

It's a shame we didn't go in for Isco before his new contract, although I suspect almost every big club are thinking that. I like most of the players you mention.


The Spaniards certainly come across as better on the ball when they move here - Mata, Cazorla, Silva, Michu all unmitigated successes. OTOH, it's worth noting that the likes of Gio and Carlos Vela are doing REALLY well over there right now, so it's not guaranteed those skills will always translate here.

We didn't really give Gio many games though. He got MOM in one of his last games for us, a cup game... I think he created and scored in a cup match. I think he only got about a dozen games for us, he got about twice as many games for Barca's first team than he did for us, despite him only being around Barca's first team for a short time and being with us for years (admittedly with loan spells all over the place).


That said, Vela is basically scoring 1 goal every other game for a side almost exactly in Arsenal's position... Gio is at a relegation threatened club and is usually their bright spark. I'm not sure their skills didn't translate exactly... Gio could play for Villa, fit right in with their style of play and be awesome for them... Vela might still score goals here... As far as I remember, Vela was an idiot off the pitch and missed a bunch of games for off the pitch reasons.... Harry didn't like Gio partying and missing training.

I think Gio would have got more games under AVB this season than he had under Harry, particularly when Lennon was injured (and that horrible game when we had no pace in our team at all)... But I'm not particularly worried about them not being huge success stories here because the Mata, Cazorla, Silva type players are ones that do see their particular skills translating extremely well over here and those type of players are the types of player England very rarely produces but Spain seem to churn out constantly. La Liga players tend to be technically better than PL players and that's all I'm asking for really.


Quite un-Levy like though - signing an old CF on high wages rather than up and coming player

We're probably just making sure Arsenal don't get him for hardly any money. They keep getting linked with getting him for 10 million euros, which is too cheap... If they want him, they can pay more than that.

That said, I was watching Barca's last match with a gooner and we were both taking the tinkle out of each other for being linked with him. Whoever gets him has to get him back on form, this was his last match. brick camera angle for the chances though.

[video=youtube;D-s4Ia-4mZg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-s4Ia-4mZg[/video]
 
I have said it would be good to have Townsend back as a pace option. Obviously we'd love a Mata, Silva, Cazorla type player. How would you feel if we went in for Maloney? I think he's a very decent player
 
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