Aston Villa Banter Archive May 24 2015

24 May 2015 22:07:19
Anyone notice as soon as Agbonlahor is back in the side, poor results and little contribution.
I have said before, with him in the side it is like playing with 10 men, Get rid I say,

24 May 2015 23:40:01
Not sure its entirely Agbonlahors fault but I think we played much better with 5 in midfield. We know he's not clinical enough and we should use him sparingly against opposition with slow defenders or if we need to play over the top. He could make a good impact sub with his pace if we can tire the opposition out.

Good luck tying to find a club to buy him though!

24 May 2015 01:43:05
Question - Would anyone at this stage be too aggrieved if Benteke was sold. On his day he is world class and after three years of being dragged through relegation scraps its obvious that he should be playing at a higher level. I think if we can get around 35-40 million for him (and in the current market that's a steal) we should thank him for his services and let him go. I think we would make better gains by selling him now and overhauling he squad than to continue to rely solely on the goals he can provide. If it was me In charge I would go for Charlie Austin AND Danny Ings as both would be attainable targets - not good enough to play week in week out for a topside, would be attainable in terms of transfer fees and wages and might well be swayed by Villa's exemplary record of producing England internationals. Just a thought as a Benteke transfer saga is almost a transfer windowly occurance and he should have the ambition to play in Europe on massive wages - just so long as its not Liverpool, their too 5#!% or him. Would love to hear some thoughts on the matter and who should we be looking at to replace him if he goes (Please not Adebayor!!!)

24 May 2015 12:30:18
Hi AndyVilla.

I think you are spot on mate, Charlie Austin would be my target anyway, I think him and Benteke would be a good pairing.
Not sure about Ings,I think Austin is a more natural finisher.

24 May 2015 15:17:34
Ings just scored against us!!! :(

24 May 2015 18:31:50
No, I wouldn't consider selling Benteke at all
We heard the same arguments for selling the likes of Young, Downing and Milner.Look where selling those guys has left us (ie we lost Milner and gained Ireland)
We have a top class performer in Benteke and we should be looking to add more of his calibre, not flog him and spend the cash on inferior players

24 May 2015 20:26:27
Thanks for your thoughts Mendax.

Perhaps I wasn't so clear with my explanation. I don't want the club to sell him and I totally agree with your point but realistically he has been our only real goal threat for three seasons now and surely he must have higher aspirations and scores of clubs monitoring him. If, like the rumours suggest, we win the FA cup and qualify for the Europa league he wants to stay then that's fantastic. But unlike the transfer debacle after his debut season where he supposedly wanted to bail on us straight away (Which would have been disrespectful after PL gave him his big break) we really haven't made any progress and if he wants to go we should let him as I believe it would be counterproductive to keep a want-away player.

I guess a lot of our transfer business will depend on if Randy Lerner can sell up or get new investment. If we have significant transfer funds to spend to add quality players then yes we should keep him if at all possible. If we another season with no investment we might well be better off cashing in on him.

24 May 2015 20:45:46
Andyvilla
Yes Ings did score today but let's face it you hardly have to be a world class striker to score against us do you !!
Ings is ok but I just prefer Austin, and paired with Benteke I think would be good.
And please don’t say they are too much alike, they are totally different in style and technique.

24 May 2015 21:43:06
Id love us to get Austin and keep Tekkers but a lot will hinge on a potential take over and it may force us to act later in the window. With QPR going down and facing hefty fines they might want to sell assets straight away and Austin will have a lot of clubs interested in him so we might well miss out. If I had to take one or the other I would take Austin over Ings as he is more of a complete forward but I think they would make a solid pairing.

24 May 2015 22:03:33
yeh we are not far away are we, you ings and Austin and me Benteke and Austin.
I do agree about the time factors though.

26 May 2015 19:05:42
I know what you are saying Andyvilla but the fact that he has been our only real goal threat in the last 3 years would suggest we actually can't afford to let him go.
We have bought a lot of players in that period and none have been a consistent threat ; How can we risk squandering another 30-40 million quid on gambles ?
Forget about Benteke having higher aspirations, surely we as a club must have them.
Keeping Benteke would be a signal of intent and has to be our attitude

27 May 2015 02:35:23
Don't get me wrong I would much rather we keep him, but going back to my original point I wouldn't be offended if he wanted to go elsewhere and I think he will if we don't win the FA cup. When he handed a transfer request in after his first season that was a bit #$%* on his part, but he probably did deserve a pay rise and that's what he got. And if he is offered a chance to go and play in the Champions league I don't begrudge him that opportunity after what he has given to us over the past seasons of misery.

You say we shouldn't risk 30-40 million on gambles to rebuild the team but you've seen what spending 10 million on a few gambles gets you - Joe Bennet, Luna, Helenius, et al.

The dream is we finally get the takeover sorted and have 30-40 million to invest without selling players - but I'm not holding my breath, we all though PL would be the turning point at first.

27 May 2015 20:45:12
Trouble is mate, we effectively spent £18 million on Nzog and Ireland
My point is, Benteke is a gamble that paid off (not all transfers do) and we need to capitalise on that
I have to say I tire of the narrative that says I wouldn't begrudge this player or that going to another club because they've been here for a few years and they now deserve the opportunity to break their contract as it pleases them
Benteke was happy to sign a lucrative contract here and if we see him as fundamental to our own progress we have to, at some point, say "sorry big fellah, but you're going nowhere"
Seems to me that we talk too much about individuals in what is a team sport
At the end of the day, a guaranteed 60-80 grand a week is no real hardship is it

29 May 2015 00:47:54
Its obviously a very polarising issue but its a fact that players rarely ever stay with one club for an extended period and other than PL taking a chance on him and bringing him to the Prem he has no ties to the club emotionally. He's not a fan and the manager he signed for is gone. If you were in his position (try to put you're own fandom aside as its not something Benteke shares the same way) and someone offered you a huge pay rise could you honestly say you would turn it down? I dislike the way the transfer system works and how easy it is to break contract but remember that however lucrative a contract the player is on, that's what the transfer fee is - paying off the remainder of the contract.
I would much rather that Benteke stays with us and the club turn down any offers for him - but being realistic he will go eventually for a higher level of football and I won't be mad at him for doing so. Like I said before after his first season when he wanted out, that annoyed me, but I imagine he was promised we would improve when he signed his improved contract and that simply hasn't happened.
If he leaves and we see him playing in the Champions League in the future we can be proud in knowing that we were the club that made him and it could prove to be a good advert for the club to potential future signings.
Thankfully we seem to be in a unique position that we have players like Agbonlahor, Grealish and Gary Gardner that are fans of the club and have a huge allegiance to the cause.
Just as a side note I want to thank you guys for the discussion and its great to know what real fans think.