Aston Villa Rumours Archive July 01 2013 to July 31 2013

31 Jul 2013 15:41:56
Sky reporting fulham as firm favourites and have put us as in the running for left back aly cissokho although I feel Luna will do well, I would rather use money towards wijnaldum

Josh
(posted about bannan deal braking down)

*Fulham firm favorite for bent. oops

Josh

Why are villa not taking caulker he would be perfect at the back as pre season has shown although very good going forward we still can't defend ticks all of lamberts criteria young and obviously hungry to play if he is going to sign for Cardiff I feel we have missed a trick here

We aren't going to be in for cissokho because we have bennett and luna, also caulker is apparently going for around £8million which lambert won't spend on a player like him (btw I do rate caulker highly), the only player he'll spend that much on is our marquee signing e. g. Wijnaldum or Kiotake (forgive me, I forgot how to spell his name)

Rumour has it that Wigan are interested in Stephan Ireland, part exchange with Villa to pay Cash as well for James McCarthy ed any truth in this

Well seeing as wigan want 20mil for mccarthy we would have to pay 19mil plus ireland then because no way that lazy boy is worth more than a million. so this 'rumour' has clearly been made up

30 Jul 2013 23:41:16
Ex Arsenal man Havard Nordtveit is apparently a target for Paul Lambert according various reports, also we're apparently closing in on an unnamed player from FC Twente, guesses are it could be Tadic or Castaignos so far, both strikers mind - replacement for Bent?

Helenius is bents replacement

Tadic is more winger/attacking midfielder so he would be the more realistic target as I don't think another striker is needed. weimann, benteke, helenius with other players like gabby who can play up front if needed. tadic is strong and skllfull would be good for us but I must say i'm getting caught up in the Wijnaldum hype and hope we manage to sign him. as far as I know thers no definite proof we are even going to approch either player. this waiting to offload players is killing me. guess some of the players (bannan, hutton, ireland etc. ) are just upset to realise they aren't good enough for top flight football. bent is a great signing to any club for 6 million don't see how that still hasn't been done

kev

Havard Nordtveit will NOT be sold, he is just establishing himself at Borussia Mönchengladbach, so there is no way he will leave.

Tadic is a £10m - £12m player and we simply won't buy him, as good as he is and as outrageous as his left foot is, we can't afford his weaker right foot

30 Jul 2013 19:27:46
from inside villa park rodwell done deal lone with view to buy for 10 million next summer. will be in general press by friday.

Kingvilla

Can anyone else confirm/deny this rumour? I don't see why we need another CM, but don't get me wrong I like the guy, think he's got a lot to offer

I'd be happy with this as long as he stays fit, but I'm already happy with our midfield, can't see 10 million being enough as city paid 15, and doubt lambert would take a risk on his fitness

So no Steven Defour or Van De Vaart as you were equally confidently predicting a few days ago then?
I think you are having what you believe to be a laugh at real fans expense mate

Kingvilla.

Not sure as I would go along with this one, after all he is not the AMF we need.
He is a strong powerful player, but does not score that often.

If it is true so be it, but would not be my choice.

villadave

Sorry but just don't see the fuss about Rodwell when he is actually fit enough to play

Yep me too mate rodwell is so NOT what we need.

So its friday and?.

30 Jul 2013 02:09:43
Ed, any truth in Wijnaldum being aston villa final purchase, although a work in progress he apparently has outstanding ability branded the new ronaldinho at 17yrs old, yet to fulfill that promise maybe villa park is the place to do it, also fits PL age & wage criteria appox £6 - 7mill {Ed001's Note - I was told you were needing to sell before any more moves would be made, or at least get players like Ireland and Bent off the wage bill in some way. Wijnaldum is an option that was scouted throughout last season, to take the position N'Zogbia filled towards the end of the season behind the strikers. So it is certainly possible you could move for him, but I know of nothing being done yet, I will ask around though.}

Wijnaldum is no Ronaldinho but he's already a very good player an will get better. He'll cost more than £6m-£7m, more like £10m-£12m

>Scg87

I think we should get wijnaldum in asap because what I've seen of him he looks a really good player and got real potential

avfc 4 life

Ed, I like your sources, at least there's a few of us who can really tell and know what's going on. I'm being informed that for now, noone is coming in imminently, however this will change if and when Bent leaves the club. In addition to Bent, Bannan, Ireland and Given will be leaving before the window is up, however certain snags and issues have arose. Given is wanting top flight football still if he can get it and I understand that - he's always been a true pro! But Bannan and Ireland are wanting far too much money and think they are better than they really are, no desire to want to go and play again and kick start their careers. Asking for far too much from both suitors and AV. Hutton is another one and it finally makes us realise how personic MON was with wages and player status's. Life under Lambert at Villa is sensational in respect to this and where we have come and I am aware that he has targets in mind and very much in position to act upon when the clearance begins. Bent will leave this week I think, seems to be going down the right track again. But Hutton and Ireland (Bannan not too fussed about - on 20k a week) are proving stubborn unprofessionals. We'll see. Again though, linked with Wijanldum and these are correct, something could very well happen here as scouts have been keeping a close eye on him all pre season.
Azza

Villa keen on hi-jacking soloman kalou deal with west ham. could be a perfect number 10 for Under £3mil, wages £30k?

If we can manage to get wijnaldum our sqaud will be complete and ready for the season. very impressed with lambert and all of aston villa for making great bargain signings. I've watched all preseason and although its little to go on each signing looks a great player. I don't think we will even be looking at the bottom of the table this season!

Bad news as the little rat barry bannan fails to agree terms with blackburn. I am not surprised as I think all of our outcasts will be happy to never get a game again for us as long as they get their nice wage. w***ers the lot of them.

mallorca also halting their pursuit of alan hutton another greedy b***ard.

no more incoming transfer activity unless these money grabbers get shifted and its looking increasingly unlikely that we will.

and whoever is using my name please get a different one, thanks

AVFC 4 LIFE

Id take Kalou but I heard a rumour he wanted 80k a week to go the Albion, so couldn't see us getting him on 30k. tv are also reporting he has been backed into 1/4 to join Valencia (obvious choice with the weather and lure of European football)

Gilly

Azza

I'd love to believe you that we are after Wijnaldum but my faith is a little shaken by the fact that MON signed none of the players you talk about in your post!

I apologise mate for the misprint! I should have put McLeish in there alongside MON, specifying it was down to these two that we had very average players on massive status and wages! Accept my apology, its been a long day! Wijnaldum is not a definite future signing, but a promising link for sure! I know PL is keen, but like I have always said, we shall see! Apologise for the misunderstanding again, whoever you are.
Azza

I cringe that people still slaughter MON. Yes he made some dud signings as most managers do but he made some great signings too! I doubt the same people questioned his signings when we were challenging for cups and qualifying for Europe. It was necessary at that time to pay decent wages for us to push on and improve from the DOL days

When will fans just talk about the present and the sterling job Lambert is doing.

It's the here and now that matters.

Ultimately mate, MON never got us higher than 6th, a feat that the much maligned O'leary managed in his first full season after spending about £4 million
It could be argued, from that perspective, that MON spent a fortune to stand still and damaged the club for several subsequent years in the process
Oh yeah, and the football at home was bloody awful
I agree with you on one thing though, it's the here and now that matters most
Let's not rewrite history in the process though

Mendax

I may be wrong but are you stating that the job done by MON was on a par with O'Leary on the basis that the best finish either manager achieved was 6th? If this is the case I strongly disagree.

Great European nights, Wembley appearances, beating Manchester United at Old Trafford, destroying the Blues, 7 away victoties on the bounce, figthing in the top four for the majority of the season and recruiting players such as Young, Milner, Carew and Friedel. For me these are just a few things why MON more then outweighs O'Leary in the jobs they did for us.

And to suggest we stood still from O'Leary to MON is again ridiculous as highlighted above.

I could argue all day about this as I truely believe MON did a fantastic job for us and fervently believe Lambert, who has a lot of similar traits to MON is a star manager in the making.

MON done a good job at villa spending a hell of a lot of money, so we achieved the minimum of what was expected, I wouldn't be overly critical but I do think with the money he spent we should have got top 4 atleast once. An I do wonder why he gave huge wages to players who were old enough to be grandads lol eg Beye an Heskey

>Scg87

29 Jul 2013 09:14:41
Fulham are back in for Darren Bent. Newcastle are still pondering a confirmed move for him as they are believed to be favoring Gomis and Remy. However, Fulham have struggled to sign Osvaldo of Roma, and so switching attentions back to Bent. Expect an offer of around £6m to come in very soon for Bent with a positive outcome this time round. Darren is 'frustrated' and he wishes something to be sorted asap. Fair play to the lad and good luck I say. On other issues, PL has identified an AM as his main transfer target now, with Wijnaldum and Will Hughes his two top ideals. We shall see. I think we can expect to see a new RB and another CB also to arrive. RB, as I've been saying for a long time now (Kingsvilla?!) I think will be Serge Aurier (not Aurtor Kingsvilla!). Exciting times at avfc!
Azza

I thought aurier was going to spurs

28 Jul 2013 09:02:28
Some rumours are suggesting Dempsey might be coming to AVFC in an 8m deal

So by Levy´s rules we should expect to pay 5/6mil max then ;)

Leroy

8 million for that clown Dempsey?
Someone has been drinking the meths again.
Clarrie Blue.

Great results again boys against new football league members newport county 5-2 defeat. ridiculous

It was an under 21 game, hardly anything to get worked up about. No 1st teamers played

So plenty of promise coming through the ranks then (not)

Some Villa fans are as bad as tv FFS! It was an academy development squad game and the highest named player was Jack Grealish. Petrov managed the team and no first team players went! It was on the avfc website as a development game for months. Just stop with the negative and false comments. Clearly no faith in the avfc system. It was boys versus men at Newport and if you actually watched the game anyway, despite a crazy 15 minutes in the second half, Our young lions were actually very good! Very good. Promising for the future that's for sure!
Azza

I don't care what anyone says, if our best youth players are getting caned by awful, part time opposition, then there's not a lot to look forward to is there?
how is stating that we lost 5-2 to newport 'false'? its exactly what happened and as I said in 1st post its ridiculous we should be killin such rubbish teams, even with our u21s.

Most of the players on the pitch have never played a competitive professional game in their life, seriously you need to give your head a wobble and learn about football! I bet you weren't complaining when they became the champions of europe a few months ago!

Totally agree ethAVFC. the above you comment needs to watch football and learn the game properly!
Azza

To condemn a whole generation of players off the back of one result is absolutely ridiculous
Clearly you have not been watching football long enough. If you had, you would know that players, Eevn Messi and Ronaldo, can be inconsistent and young players particularly so

27 Jul 2013 07:00:50
Paul lambert to look into signing defensive midfield players steven defour or miguel veloso to add a bit of steel and experience to a young villa side. Veloso is thought to be the more realistic target and would cost the villa around 12-15 mil mark. I've also herd a little rumor that we after serge aurtor a young ivory cost right back who is highly rated and would come as direct competition to matty lowton.

Kingvilla

Both these people wer targets for villa a few years ago. hope its true!

kev

Both players respectively are champions league level players and would he a massive coup if we were able to obtain one of there services, as for the youngster, if PL thinks he's got potential, then the kid has got what it takes. In Lambert we trust.

Days are gone when we spend 12-15m on one player so can't see much in this tbh and with ireland nzog bent bannan stil on the books I think pl will maybe be allowed to get one more lad in but can't see him paying more than 3-4m

Why do we need another defensive mid? We have westwood, Delph, Sylla, gardner, herd and el ahmadi, who are all are capable of playing well at defensive mid. If anything we need an attacking mid to link up the play.

It seems that we'll be stuck with bent after Newcastle tabled bids for gomis and remy in the last 6 hours! Along with Fulham out it's going to be difficult to get shot of him now!

Both good players.

Defour is not a DM

Veloso can play as a DM, CB an fullback so would come in handy

Personally I'd rather we sign a proper DM. Delph is never a DM. Westwood might be a deep lying CM but he doesn't have the qualities to do a DM job. Gardner is better going forward. Herd an Karim are just not good enough to play as our DM.

We need a DM who's a physical presence, aggressive, wins tackles, reads danger, can play a pass an who leads by example, sylla may well do that in the future but I don't think he can do that consistently this season.

Almost every game last season the opposition had to much space an time on the ball to do what ever they wanted to do, unless we solve that problem then the same thing will happen this season.

>Scg87

Since whens defour been a defensive midfielder?!

Both unrealistic targets regardless.

Finch

Not the best info I've heard as they would be way too much in terms of price so no go their. and the ivory coast you mean is serge aurier of toulouse he would cost at least £8m, c'mon be serious dude.

Westwood &, Delph I tend to think of as all round midfielder players who are not awful midfield players but not great either. Sylla is raw and seems to be improving and yes I would agree, he is a defensive player. Gardner has been injured for a year, has little experience and is an attacking midfield player. We should use him sparingly this year to make sure he can become the player we believe he can be. Herd and El Ahmadi are just not good enough. Herd is too reckless and El Ahmadi looks like he has been on the crack pipe 10 minutes before he comes on the pitch
In an ideal world I would get rid of those 2, plus Bannan and Nzog and buy a top class defensive player and a goal scoring creative player
We have quantity of midfield players, what we lack is quality

Sorry Mendax I disagree with your opinions on Westwood and Delph. For me both are quality and are justifiably our first choice pairing.

I do believe that a No 10 player though is required

Hi Mendax.

I have to agree with most of what you say.
But I have to disagree somewhat concerning Westwood, I think Westwood is a very good player and getting better all the time.

Now he has found his feet in the prem I believe he will go on to be a very important piece in PL team.

He is important now, and I think he will become part of the England set up within 18 months, if injury free.

villadave

Celtic have reportedly registered an interest in Darren Bent

Blimey, this is a turn up for the book, Scg87, Finch & Mendax posting together, brings me back to a few months ago when all we seemed to discuss was the xmas period, PL's ability, relegation and the best midfield options and we still don't know the best options? but as then, for what it's worth, I think Gardner deserves a crack at it. Hopefully this term, less counter attack and more possession. P. S> keep up the positive posting guys.

We are the best counter attacking team in the league so if we sacrifice a bit of posession then so be it but I agree we need to bring in a number 10 type player who can offer something a bit different

I disagree with myself as well actually!
What I meant to say was that neither Westwood nor Delph were not awful "defensive" midfield players
I actually like both of them, I just don't I wouldn't want either of them playing a purely defensive role

Mendax I understand what you mean, I don't really like it that westwood sits in front of the defence, because let's face it he's not exactly going to provide any extra coverage for the back four. i'd prefer sylla to sit in front of the back four, and for westwood to go forward 15/20 yards. It would mean westwood has less room to play a massive variety of passes but at the same time he will be able to play his passes straight into the forwards and in all honesty, he could link the midfield to the strikforce very well. Perhaps providing the missing link that would come with the all important attacking mid we all desperately want.

Mendax.

Not to worry mate, I disagree with myself every day.
What you have followed up with sounds better.
But we still need that AMF like Dempsey used to do for Fulham.

villadave

Totally agree with Scg87, Our frailties for much of last season lay inbetween the defence and midfield. Sylla who is on the back of my villa shirt this season changed that for us, I believe he can go on to be a top player in the prem but would like to see some competition for his place and unsure that johnson/clark (who I see as our only other options) will be able to step up to fill the void.

One thing that's really bugged me in preseason is that we'r still conceeding from corners. Preseason or not that's not a good sign considering the quality of delivery from a prem team is far greater than the likes of wycombe or luton respectively.

I actually think KEA has something to offer and hasn't shown his full potential as yet.
Westy could go on to show how good a player he is in an england shirt and delph IS improving.
Gardner and Albrighton need to get 100% fit.
Bannan and Ireland need to get the lamb chop out of the club, I think i'd keep the zog as a game changing sub.
And with the additions of Bacuna as I see as perfect competition for delph and Tonev for when the formation needs width we have a solid midfield but not a great one.

Finch

25 Jul 2013 17:46:44
Lyon have confirmed they have received 3 bids for Gomis, are we one of them? Would be an amazing signing, just image benteke and gomis-scare all the defences

We are intrested but have yet to place a bid

Gomis, Weimann, Gabby, Tekkers, Helenius - as amazing as that would be, doubt Gomis would want to be a bench boy a bit.

Villa should try and hijack cardiffs bid for etienne capoue, he would be a gem in the villa team

Would hate to see us waste money on another striker we need to think defensive or creative not another big centre forward

Sylla or Capoue it would end up on a match day & I think Sylla would play in all honesty infront of him!

Hopefully its not Lyons Gomis we'r looking at but their dmc fofana who would cost around 5m.

Finch

Finch,
I agree with you here, Fofana is class! Would fit into the PL system too! Hopefully PL notices this and makes a move. for £5m it's a snippet as well.
Azza

Azza glad you agree! My estimation of the player might be off 1 or 2 mill but he's an absolute beast of a player, can tackle, pass, high stamina and is young too. Reminds me of viera.

Finch

Remember Fofana had a good game against spurs but forgot about him, if we pick him up that would be some good business

We nearly had him in 2011 under houiller but the deal fell through medical reasons I think

I was going to say that, I remember we didn't move for him because he wanted money and we already had a host of lads, Hogg, herd, bannan, Delph, gards, johnson, who were breaking through and needed games. I always thought we didn't go for him because we already had players who were his age in his position. Still I'd take him now because Hogg went and bannan will hopefully find a new job. Good link

We failed to get him 1st time so we got makoun instead I remember now

25 Jul 2013 09:09:30
Steven irelands bentley about to grace Doncaster thank f--k for that

They won't be paying for 100% of his wages so not really any different for us

Aston Villa look set to actually terminate Stephen Ireland's contract with a £1 million pay off to please all concerned

Also still failing to get hutton out on loan. couldn't get a deal done with almeria in spain. they probably didn't fancy payin his unjustifiable wage. when ARE we going to get these wasters (ireland, bannan, hutton, etc. ) OUT of VP? needs to be soon or we can kiss goodbye to anymore potential incoming players.

Come on PL time to get rid of all these hasbeens and bring in some expensive players 8-12m like Cardiff City or we are definitely going down

Blackburn are interested in Bannan but need to ship out Dunn and Givet before they make a bid

More misery!

Who cares what Cardiff are doing?! Get a grip!

Bannan just not good nothing against the kid but the others are just money grabbing mercanaries who would rather stay and collect their wages

To the guy on about cardiff, what do you want us to do? Buy expensive players on high wages like QPR, because that clearly works so well. What we're doing is in my eyes so much better than paying £15m for average players. Take bent for example, we got 5/6 very good players last summer for the same amount of money we spent on bent? Who you rather have in your team, lowton, westwood, benteke and sylla or darren bent? If you're unwilling to wait a few years for success then find another team to support!

Well said ethavfc!

Regarding, Hutton I know a deal has been agreed with mallorca but its his agent making the deal stall and making a better pay out for them both. Either way he's definetly on his bike

Finch

Baggies, Hull & Cardiff to go down!
Cardiff's squad is still made up of Championship at best players!
Ooo Christian Benteke!

Baggies won't go down, I hate to admit it but I think they'll have a good season! Sunderland to go down for me f**k paolo di caniooo!

I think stoke will go down they have been awful for a long long time now hate watching them play and if it wasnt for begovic huth and shawcross they woulda gone down a couple of seasons back because the rest of their team is terrible. palace, stoke and either hull or sunderland will be relegated I think
Villa should finish between 8th-12th

AVFC 4 LIFE

21 Jul 2013 19:56:00
My mate lives in France an is convinced villa made an enquiry with regards too Gregory sertic two weeks ago.

Finch

Looks like a pretty solid player, but how attacking is he?

Paul Lambert went after him when he was at Norwich so there could be truth to that. would rather a real attacking midfielder or defensive this guy seems another winger

Kev

You're right kev mate he is a winger that would add nothing at all to our squad. agree we need a real att mid and a big strong commanding def mid.

AVFC 4 LIFE

Put it this way:
Against Luton, only strikers we have fit & available are Drennan & Burke basically. we need another striker!

He often plays in the middle of the park for Bordeaux. Like I said I'm putting up a genuine rumour and putting my name to it.

Finch

Respect Finch.

Not my first choice, so hope this is not likely.

Leroy

I think he should really concentrate on a defensive midfielder to help out the defenders and control the midfield. unless sylla becomes a much better player as pre season looks to be showing. can't figure out the formation for the game against arsenal should be interesting to see our new starting 11


kev

Sylla looked fab against Wycombe! Absolute beast of a player!

Well it looks like Clark or Johnson will be cover for this season unless we sign a dmc. Sylla for me was a big influence on the team last season so ideally would like to see another guy signed up.

As for the arsenal match iv a sneeky suspicion we may play 4-5-1 and flood the midfield. plus wev no fit strikers either!

We have Burke. All our players par N'Zog will be fit for Arsenal.

Benteke is not injured and will be match fir for Arsenal. There is no point signing a new striker just because we have a few minor injuries.

As for starting line up

Guzan
Lawton
Vlaar
Okore
Luna
Bacuna
Westwood
Delph
Weimann
Benteke
Gabby

433

Gabby will be fit, helenius will be fit, bowery will be fit, benteke will be fit, and weimann will probably be fit, so yes we will have strikers. I think all the pre-season injuries are just precautions, better to take them off when they sprain a little finger than to make them play on and risk breaking a wrist. However I still think we should be packing the midfield to some extent, the last time we did that at the emirates we won 2-0!

I think that gardner has to feature in tht midfield. I like westwood but gardner could be the new steven gerrard from what I've seen

kev

We need a new striker because think last year how many injuries Benteke had? None! With Bent also leaving soon enough - I also agree, we need 1 more striker

I'd play gardner more attacking if i'm honest, played cdm, cam and strike for the u21's and look very good going forward. He'll be 3 times better than his brother.

If Benteke is injured we have Helenius and Bowery to come in and if by any chance the three of them are all missing both Gabby and Weimann can fill in the centre forward role with Tonev, Albrighton or N'Zog (presumably still here) coming onto the wing.

We don't need another striker!

We do not need a striker, helenius has replaced bent, gabby and weimann can now play as strikers as we have signed at least one actual winger and bacuna can play there as well. We have 5 first team strikers (if bent leaves) so if we play 4-4-2, only when 4 strikers get injured/suspended at once (highly unlikely) we will have to call upon the u21's. but that's like saying 'lets buy a mansion just in case we win the lottery'. We have less central defenders than we do strikers, why does nobody care about that?

We've got 4 central defenders, how many do you want? With regard to strikers, I would argue we only have 2 viable options (assuming Bent leaves), and one of those, Helenius, is completely unproven. Gabby has proven year after year he is not good enough upfront, wiemann can't play with his back to goal (if lambert wanted strikers who play on the shoulder, he would keep Bent), and Bowery is nowhere near Premier standard yet.

Guzan
Lowton vlaar clarke luna
Sylla westwood
Weimann gardner agbonlahor
Benteke

Steer okere baker herd tonev baccuna helinus

You've lost the plot haven't you? Gabby is a much better player through the middle, he's never a winger. And as for the 'helenius is unproven comment' what would your suggestion be, buy another bent, ireland or given on silly for poor ethic or buy players like benteke, lowton, westwood and sylla who are as you would say 'unproven'. Weimann doesn't need to play with his back to goal if he is next to benteke, we all know benteke would be a target man and is very capable of bringing the hall down an laying it off to players with their fronts to goal and finally as for the bowery remark how do you suggest we get him to prem standard? keep him 5th in the pecking order or sign another striker and make him 6th reducing the chance of playing time. Also my point still stands, we have 4 defenders for at least 2 starting 11 positions, and 5 strikers for a position that might only be available for one player in the starting 11.

Good result boys 2-0 defeat to non-league luton not a single pre-season victory against sides at least 2 divisions below.

Get a grip the side put out in the first 60 minutes was more like the reserves and don't forget all the players rested with knocks are still to come back. Unless you have something constructive to say then shut it.

Yes and who was playing? Donacien, webb, carruthers, burke, johnson, robinson. Why don't you wait until we have played a full strength team and kicked a ball in anger before you judge us. All the young lads where trying to impress and were dancing with it in the box instead of passing as they wanted a goal for themselves, we were just moving the ball round the pitch, getting the running done and learning how to talk to each other. I for one would prefer to lose to lower league teams like luton in pre-season than man united in the premier league. Are you seriously suggesting last nights result had any reflection on the game against arsenal? Will we be starting a nearly conplete second string team? Will we be running at about 25%? Tell me, why would we be rotating the squad, giving everybody time on the pitch, and letting 6/7 of our under 21's play if it meant anything? Seriously you're better off locking yourself in a room until pre-season is over as you're worrying too much. Man city and Manchester United have lost in pre-season too, will they have awful seasons. Honestly mate I don't mean to be rude but you seriously need to relax and wait until we are playing for something important.

I really can't believe we are judging the team on a few pre season games. Did you not see the back four last night? No Vlaar, No Lowton, no Okore. We have a squad currently impacted by 8 niggling injuries.

Lets judge the team shall we are playing meaningful games and when we have a strong first 15/16 available

Stop moaning. No one who contributes to these pages want to see out beloved Villa lose. It was only a pre season friendly. We have a number of significant injuries and six players to blend into a new squad and our star player who hasn't played much since the end of the season. Prer season is about just getting fitness levels up and getting the team to blend. Manchester United have lost two games ore season-does that mean they are falling to bits and will be struggling all year. no it doesnt. Judge us after half a dozen games of the new season and not before. fed up doom mongers on this site. get behind us for once.

I really couldn't care less what are results are in pre-season. as long as the players are training well and getting fit for the arsenal game, the results we get with a weak, rotated team won't have any impact on the season

Seems everybody in this page has the same view on pre-season except this guy that has moaned after every single pre-season game (i pressume its the same person as nobody else can be that negative). Shall we all give him a big group hug for his troubles?

EthAVFC, I agree agbonlahor is no winger, but that doesn't make him a good centre forward (1 goal every 5 games - not good enough). How do I suggest we get Bowery upto to PL standard? He is so far away from PL standard, he shouldn't be learning his trade in our first team! Loan him out seems fairily obvious to me, he ain't going to learn anything being 4, 5 or 6 choice striker in a 1 striker system. This leads me on to my point about Wiemann. I agree entirely that he could play alongside Benteke, but as you say later we are talking about a system that only employs one striker! I don't advocate buying another expensive player, all I am saying is, that if Benteke goes down in the first game, in my view Wiemann, Bowery and Gabby can't cut it up front on their own, so that just leaves us with Helenius, who is unproven. Big risk going into a season on that basis. With regard to CD's, how many other teams have more than 4?

I can assure you if benteke was injured there's a very good chance we'd play two up front, but let's not forget gabby had his best season playing as the striker in a 4-5-1 formation. Forgive me if i'm wrong but you also appear to be saying our all time leading goal scorer doesn't score enough goals? And with regards to CD's I guarentee 15/16 teams in the premier league have more central defenders then they do stikers!

The 12th man and Kentish Villan are the only ones talking semse about the "injury" situation. They were taken off as a precaution, much better to rest first team strikers for friendlies when they have a knock than play them and risk making the injury worse, have some common sense!

Agbonlahor had to play as a winger under Houllier & Lambert has sorted him out by giving him extra room on the flanks to run in. Correct he is no winger, but he is now a lot stronger so can play the #9 sort of role.

Agree with both the above comments. As regards gabby, would we all agree his best game was against norwich last season? The game where benteke went missing and gabby played through the middle for 60 mins. Trust me, gabby would rather be running straight at goal between the two 6ft3 usually really slow centre backs than running towards the corner flags and looking for somebody in the box.

21 Jul 2013 01:19:30
Zdravko Kuzmanovic now being linked, also Fulham are looking at Bent apparently.

Highly doubtful due to high wages and he's getting on a bit now. would probably want european football too which we can't offer, until next season anyway.

AVFC 4 LIFE

Before every1 says 25 isn't old, I know that, jus comparing him to the other signings we've made lol. up the villa boys, europe next season

I don't think this will happen but the obsession with age that many of our fans have now developed is just getting silly
I am sure that Lambert is not stupid enough to discount a player because he is the wrong side of 25!
The modern footballer, with good diet and training regime is going to be able to play at the top level until 35, no problem
Lambert will know that better than anyone

Agree mendax, I rubbish it when people talk about lescott and huddlestone because they're just has beens and rejects but we got vlaar when he was 26, and el ahmadi and guzan too. His criteria isn't 'has to be below 23' its actually just 'has to be very hungry with plenty of room for improvement' if there was a 30 year old that suited us and was hungry with room to improve then he wouldn't hesitate to sign him!

18 Jul 2013 19:27:49
Benteke told fans today when asked if he was going to stay now, he said "It is a strong chance I will be staying at villa"

Dream on

How do you know this? Pray tell

Well if my wife asked me if I was having an affair I would say NO,

Even if I was.

True

villadave

Yes and he's gona be playing upfront with pele hahaa. got to love some of the bs people write on here

We will see. he may stay but a massive apology followed by a great energetic and commited start to the season would be needed if he wants to be accepted by the fans, management or executive of the club.
I hope you have puckered your lips Chris.

Absolute rubbish!
I watched a video from smart phone online when benteke left bodymore Heath and he did not say a word to fans. He signed autographs when driving away and had a very big smile when one fan mentioned Tottenham!

I've also seen the video, he mutters one word hen a fan asks for a photo and then just keeps smiling like he was actually listening to them. They sounded a bit desperate though!

Had to laugh villadave. thanks for making the mood a little lighter :)

"Christian Benteke has pledged to train hard and give his all for Aston Villa despite the uncertainty surrounding his future with the club. "

"When we first approached I asked the question 'will you be staying?'

"He looked at Sylla, had a very big smile then said 'I will'. I'm unsure if the smile was that Sylla knows he's leaving or that he convinced Benteke to stay. "
So - he did say a word to the fans!

If he stays it won't be because of sylla or villa it will be because spuds won't pay and that will be the only reason

Spuds lookin at soldado too now. surely they won't get both and seems as if they are more interested in the valencia star than benteke. we are miles off sorting any kind of deal yet whether we keep him or get rid. who knows?

IF you want to know what negotiations are like - look at our sightings page!

Credit has to go where credits due. A lot of people didn believe this chap but he was right. Jog on spurs! Up the villa

Well well benteke signs new deal. I literally cannot believe it. F U Spuds ha

There you go then lads! told you it was happening & it has - Benteke new deal until 2017, he just wanted to push for more money I guess!

Benteke signs a new contract, gutted tbh not because I wanted him at spurs but because it was nice having banter with another club for once. Couldn't he have waited another week or 2?

Best of luck next season to all Villa fans loved all the abuse and positive comments from you guys. PL is doing a great job and in a couple of seasons we may be fighting it out for a top 4 spot.

Much love Villa fans
P. s you might want to apologise to OP as apparently he was spot on.

Thank you! it was via an old friend of a source I heard a new deal might be on the cards & he was staying. I should probably get a sign off name now, I got Steer right too - i'm on a roll!

Looks like Dave's cheating on his missus then.

With bentekkers back on side I feel we just need one more signing (attacking mid) and we could be a top 10 team next season.

Utv, lambo is a legend.

Finch

With benteke staying, and bale wanting out -the spuds will be ordinary

Villadave we've all told your wife were not having affairs behind her back.

And this is my new name on this forum (I was the one whom said benteke was staying & about steer in the first place!)
Lambert is apparently set for a little bit of a pay bonus for securing Christian Benteke according to what I am hearing!

I think Lambert has promised some big name transfers in order for benteke to stay. More to come in the next few days

Erickson. ?

Now that all is sorted who do you think should be this all important attacking midfielder? kiyotake rumours went dead. I like hiroki yamada young and cheap

He deserves it, if he can get him to stay next season, and then some too, i'll give him my family to work as his personal slaves.

I really doubt whether Lambert needs to add some more big names to the squad because that isn't our style anymore! What I am hearing is a few more potential gem's from Europe, reportedly a striker & a playmaker.

The eriksen that jus moved to milan? don't think he woulda come here regardless

Lambert is a legend, he could talk your wife into bed. Good work Paul. {Ed001's Note - I heard he is that good a talker, he could convince you to bring him brekkie in bed the morning after he slept with your wife.}

Can u give any names of those 'gems' u mentioned please dutchvillan?

Nothing solid right now sorry mate, he is looking even further into the Eredivisie & possible recruitments there but no solid evidence on names right now mate - i'll keep you updated with what I hear!

Appreciate the reply dutchvillan. shame no names in the offing but i'm sure we will hear something soon. cheers mate

AVFC 4 LIFE

All though he has signed a new contract means nothing come January, Spurs will be back when Bale goes to Madrid, And Villa will get around £35mil for him, the club are happy to let this happen.

If levy refused to pay £25m, what makes you think he'll then pay £35m!

Now he has signed a contract he will have 3 years left, and he will have played 2 seasons in the prem. £25m is a risk after a year as he could be a one season wonder, but if he has another good season in the prem and doesn't get second season syndrome he has to be worth £30m.

My point exactly

18 Jul 2013 10:36:20
Barry Bannan seems to be closer to the exit door with noises coming out that Leeds are preparing to sign the young Scotsman for £1.5m with the option of Villa to have first refusal on the player in the future.

Enda Stevens looks set for a loan move to the Championship in an effort to give Stevens some game time.

Darren Bent is expected to complete a £6m move to the Toon come next week.

Clap clap

He's got what?

A midget in a suit case called Bridget

18 Jul 2013 09:01:55
Paul Lambert is said to have checked in with Lyon about the availability of not only striker Bafetimbi Gomis, but also French international forward Jimmy Briand.

It is said that Hull and West Brom have already taken exploratory calls about Briand, but the player has insisted that he is not looking for a move away from the French giants.

Gomis has his own admirers also, with Premier League outfit, Newcastle inquiring on the French international recently.

Newcastle are still keen on a move for Aston Villa hit man, Darren Bent, yet have so far baulked at the Birmingham clubs� valuation of the player, despite that valuation having decreased from a said 8 million, down to 6 million in an effort to help find a home for the embattled player.

It seems increasingly likely, that the striker merry-go-round may kick off when and if, Villa star striker Christian Benteke gets his way and Aston Villa grant him his big money move out of the midlands.

Tottenham are seemingly at the front of the queue but have yet to officially test Villa owner Randy Lerner�s resolve on his 25 million valuation of the player.

Multiple reports have come to surface, that a behind the scenes deal is being worked on that would see the Belgian player handed a 5 year deal at Spurs with a whopping 85k weekly earning packet, more than trebling his current 20k per week deal at Villa.

According to those reports, the additional fees are a stumbling block as Aston Villa are playing hardball, insisting that a sell on clause be included in the deal that would see them take a 25% stake of his next transfer fee.

Its not difficult to see the reasoning as to why Aston Villa value this sell on clause, as they are not the only club to fall victim to the player and more so, his agent Eris Kismet�s forceful tactics and may believe that even if a contract is agreed with a new club such as Spurs, he may soon have his eye on yet another move in the not too distant future.

Fed up with all this Benteke talk!
The papers want to sell papers so they add in any "information" from "unknown sources" (aka. B. S) they can think of!
Ed, can we ban all Benteke talk here please!

I understand a deal has been struck with spurs, fee agreed, wages agreed, sell on's not what randy wanted but they are ok? Just the niglie things to sort out at the moment! rather like two dogs have a sniff going away then coming back! About 10 days I think?

This very detailed report seems to be a compilation of the last 4 days press and nothing more.

Sorry but we are all waiting for something new.

villadave

Yet another re hash of tedious nonsense dished out by Spud ITK's. No one knows what is going on other than RL, PF, PL and the Judas himself.

Genk have a 15% sell on clause already on Benteke.

Lol

So apparently noone knows what's going on and all rumours and b. s and yet people keep flocking back to a RUMOUR site.

Fairly daft really.

Id just like to know what people think are untrue about this rather detailed compilation above?

- Lambert has been reported by a couple of sources, as checking in on Gomis and Briand

- Bent has been discussed as heading off Newcastle way - with the price seemingly the sticking point

- There have been a stream of apparent in the knows that have also confirmed that an agreement has been struck for Benteke with prices ranging from an initial 18mil (with a copious amount of add ons) to 23mil straight with a sell on clause.

This Benteke saga seems to be bringing out the nastiness in Villa fans, snapping away at one another.

I think they should get rid of the guy. he has talent, but Lambert has spent time and effort crafting together a solid unit of players.

It seems that each young player has nothing but positive things to say about the club with words like "honour", "unity" and "pride" being mentioned by Villa players.

As for the so called fans whinging away here, might be good practice to do a little more as the players do and say.

Now, now, let's not get chippy.

I took a few hits yesterday as I reported something from the apparent Spurs ITK people.

It is a rumour site and naturally, not all rumours are going to be accurate nor what we are looking for as Villa fans.

The Benteke saga is proof of this. If we are getting riled up by this subject as fans here on a somewhat anonymous website, maybe it is better to just rid ourselves of him.

Can only imagine what the other players are thinking.

Leroy

I think if you read the remarks about your post, nobody is saying that your comments are untrue, they are simply saying that its what we have heard before, we all know about your remarks having read about them in the papers, and the papers write things that they think will sell their publication.

I am like all Villa fans, we are looking forward to something new and exiting to talk about.

villadave

Everything being written about Bentakee is pure fantasy and the only point that is real is that he has pushed in a transfer request. Spuds have not put in a bid, indeed, according to most press reports, no bids have been received to date.
Most of the stuff isn't rumour, its people putting their own spin on events. Let us hope that the silver tongue of PL convinces Bentakee that he will be better served by staying at VP for the coming season and then he can see for himself if AV are heading in the right direction. With Bale bailing out of WHL, Spuds may find that they are not in the top 6 this season.
I believe that Bentakee is feeling a bit silly at the moment as there are no bids placed and it appears no questions have been asked. So where is he going?

As they always say. its not over till the fat lady sings ie until he signs. he is still a VILLA player. not a spuds player.

Gary gardner from40 yards what say you obsessionalist with unknown and untested names nobody has heard of?
ANDY2055

17 Jul 2013 20:19:24
Lambert is considering keeping Benteke on £20,000. A week for the remainder of his contract. Lerner is happy with this as replacements are asking three times as much in wages.
Dortmunds policy if you ask me. Benteke will be a free agent in three years time in which he has the option to sign a new deal to double his wages at any point but will mean a longer contract. Kismet's was happy for his client to sign a four year contract last summer so he has no input for the next three years.

If this is true, I say let it happen. AVFC TILL I DIE

In do think we should threaten this stance. 25m not a penny less or you return and train with the reserves until you kiss the pinky ring (ALOT) and play again, sign a new contract and get on with it.

Sure, we risk losing money and as a privately owned business this ain't going to happen. But to prove to a player that we won't stand for this should be applauded by all in football. Shame is other clubs like you to make a stance but act in their own interest and have no honour when it comes to these matters (ie they are private businesses)

Would be funny to see what happens if he does not get his move, missees out on the world cup and messes his career up. F U 'famous belgian'!

17 Jul 2013 11:17:54
Further reports are coming to surface in regards to Christian Benteke, this time from an ex AVFC board member who has said that the terms of his transfer to Tottenham have been agreed.

What will come as a surprise/disappointment to Villa fans is the apparent fee agreed - atleast the initial upfront payment.

17mil upfront and then add ons that could total up to 25% (additional 6mil) of the fee. What remains unclear here, is if Villa have snuck in a "sell on clause" that had been spoken of previously (10%).

So it seems Villa will get their 25mil, but it seems it will trickle in long after the move has been completed.

Leroy

If this is true its a absolute joke and shows villa have nothin about them!

They have added no quotes & names on from whom that is. Villa haven't changed their board since Lerner came in & Ellis's board has nothing to do with the Lerner board. Benteke will be sold for £25m & not in massive add-ons.

Ok, let's wait and see then. Levy is an extremely shrewd businessman and he almost always gets his way.

Dont forget that we are still owed from money from Downing´s transfer to Liverpool. so its not like we have never conducted a transfer in this manner previously.

Hope you are a right and I am wrong.

Leroy

This is from a guy who says he has two teams because Villa don't win anything? True Villa fan so he must be in the know. well as much as an "ex board member" complete bs
Look at the money we got for Young, Downing & Milner, Randy won't sell unless it suits him

Whats with the hostility? Just trying to bring rumours to a rumour site, so that we can discuss them.

I am not sure what goes through some people´s heads on here really.

We have some great regular contributors on here and this is one of the best places (in my opinion) to discuss current topics regarding our club.

I don't think I should cop any rubbish from you when I am merely contributing to this site.

BTW, have never claimed to be in the know and have never once said that I hope we sell to Spurs or that I wish this deal to go through. infact have stated that I hope this information is wide of the mark.

Im one of the few that "signs off" on any post I leave here, I don't hide from my words then sling s*** on others like some.

Leroy

Benteke deal appears to be pretty much done. The source is supposedly a former Aston Villa board member, still very much involved and in the loop at the club.
He believes that the sticking point has been what were referred to as ‘the extras’ such as sell on percentages, add-ons for various things. The source is quoting that these ‘extras’ could amount to as much as 25% of the £18m fee. Which means my guy’s info citing £17m wasn’t too shabby the other day. The information ends with a quote from the source:
Just to add Benteke has told Villa It is Spurs he wants to go to and his agent has made this abundantly clear.
The fee now mooted would take the value of the deal – not the upfront fee – over the £20m mark.

Here is the report for the prat spouting rubbish about me making things up off the top of my head.

Leroy

Why would an ex board member be briefed about Bentekes transfer situation. Have they heard of the data confidentiality act?

Virtually all transfers are paid in instalments.

If correct this makes no sense.

At the moment the player is on strike, and as a result we are or will be fining him his weekly wages. This means he has no cost to us at all?

also the fee muted was 30 million which a huge leap to 18 plus add ons and sell on clauses.

Not calling anyone a liar here but how has R Lerner built all the wealth closing deals on this type of basis.

It remains to be seen if the rumour is accurate but I would be very surprised if so.

Leeroy this is a poor attempt at a made up rumour, holes in your story mucha-cho

Not so sure about the rumour and its make up, but I have to side with Leroy on his other points, he contributes to this site and makes his feelings known without any offence.
I am sure he is without doubt a passionate villa fan.

villadave

Data Confidentiality act? new one on me too. Not only have I never heard of that act of parliament but last time I checked Villa were a non governmental body and would not observe these acts even if they existed. having said that, an ex board member is unlikely to be privvy to such information and would be instructed to be discreet.

Benteke isn't on strike & will be at Bodymoor Heath tomorrow for training, Kismet has confirmed it.

Hussain club anzhi are rumoured to of bid for bentekers

There really is no need to be getting personal and slating people that are merely posting rumours on a rumours site. like he said, leroy always leaves his name and says what he thinks without offending anyone so come on guys we all support the same team let's not be arrogant especially to the guys that contribute the most.
AVFC 4 LIFE

Should it be Data protection? But this is for personal details of a person, not details of proposed business. Whichever fact it makes no differerence to Bentakee, he will walk. His true colours have been shown and they are not claret&blue. Our hopes of a hero are gone and he proves himself to be nothing but a big s.

Aston Villa would have to abide by a Data Confidentiality act as any company that handles personal details and bank details has to adhere to this legislation, it is a known fact and also the law. Even if its a private or public company it will apply to both.

No such thing as the Data Confidentiality act, as I earlier stated. There is the data protection act, but that does not have any relevance to the internal dealings of a private business. As earlier stated personal details such as his address or bank details should not be divulged by the club, but things such as contract details and transfer information are firmly the business of the club, they are at complete liberty to decided what they want to do. don't quote the law if you haven't got a clue about it, learn it or leave it, it will only get you in trouble.

Shout out to Villadave and AVFC 4 LIFE, nice to know that you guys get it that this rumour is not at all my opinion, but passing on what I have found.

I would be disgusted if these were the terms of the transfer as I think we don't have to budge no matter what.

We should be careful though, as the longer time passes, the more Daniel Levy will press for this to go through.

Leroy

16 Jul 2013 20:21:19
According to reports this evening, Russian powerhouse and perennial big spenders, Anzhi, have registered a bid of 23 mil for Christian Benteke.

Second rumour is that Paul Lambert has issued a firm warning to Benteke to start training or risk the consequences.


Leroy

Reading all this about benteke going and hope his leaves quick but have we shown any real intention of replacing him, have we got anyone in our sights?

Of course we have! PL has been looking for months, even before the season ended! He knew this may have been coming, plus the new replacements will be little gems ;)

Gomis & Batshuayi it seems for a total of £12m between them!

Why do you think we'll sign two
Strikers we already bought helleinus

Because we are selling two! Benteke & Bent!

If you sell 2 strikers, you usually replace them both i. e replace Bent & Benteke

Helenius is bents replacement, unless we are planning to get rid of two and bring in 3? Seems strange when we also have gabby and weimann, one of whom will most like play more central after the arrival of real wingers

16 Jul 2013 10:31:41
Villa have proof of "tapping up" by Spurs, its known Daniel Levy told Eric Kismet to get Benteke to hand in a transfer request to force Villa to lower their demands. Its expected Villa will now refuse to deal with Tottenham Hotspur & file for court proceedings against Levy.

Just wondering how you came by this info. I wouldn't rule it out it very smells of a tap up. I hope villa never ever do business with spurs again and I hope bale does them over too

Benteke wants spurs to make a bid to get him as soon as possible and doesn't want to face the AVFC boys when they get back from touring germany.
How disrespectful can u get?
until this saga he seemed very humble and thankful to all at AVFC.
Bridges burnt get him out NOW and sell him to a club that WONT play him. I hope baker or vlaar snap his damn legs if he faces us this season

Maybe true about tapping him but I don't think we have any proof, unless lerner has hired ex news of the world reporters. look we shouldn't blame spurs fan for this if it was us we would the same. he doesn't want to play for us so let's move on.

Where has this information come from? Or is it another person chatting waffle

We all know anyway that football is controlled by agents. I still think Benteke is a quality player but he should be able to make up his own decisions instead of listening to his agent. That is a reason why I disrespect him. All agents care about is money for themselves and the players listen to them otherwise they won't have an agent.

Is it actually possible to take legal proceedings for tapping a player up and how have Villa obtained positive proof of this? {Ed001's Note - Middlesbrough managed to successfully prosecute Liverpool for tapping up Christian Ziege a few year's back. You don't take legal proceedings, you go to the FA and make a formal complaint, who then hold a hearing to hear the evidence etc.}

Not arguing the fact benteke been tapped up, but seriously come on, if villa had proof it was levy, it would be public knowledge by now. still not bothered either way he is going and that's it. time to move on no one bigger than our club.

As much as we all know they tapped him up I bet he stil goes to spuds

Faulkner is on the FA council & they suggest keeping such issues under tight wraps - that's why its not mass- public knowledge!

Benteke want's to join spuds so he can stab em in the back and join Arsenal the season after.

I don't doubt Spurs have "tapped up" benteke but I think it's only tapping up via media and I don't think there's an rules saying that's not allowed, every journo from every newspaper have known for a month spurs were planning on going for benteke, which tells me spurs leaked that to the media to encourage benteke to force his way out of villa.

Almost impossible to prove direct "tapping up", we'd need Kismet or Levy to admit to it

>Scg87

My god you Villa fans will believe anything. Someone says it with no proof and you all jump on it. You just can't face the fact he wants to go to a bigger club and he sees spurs as that team. That's the thing that is bothering you isn't it? The fact you don't see Spurs as a bigger team but everyone else does.
There has been no tapping up, it doesn't take a genius to know spurs are in desperate need of a striker. Add that to Benteke's good season and that's a story. Benteke handed in a transfer request because he wants to leave, same as going on strike to leave Genk to join your lot. You saying Villa tapped him up aswell? Seriously think about how desperate you sound.
Only sensible reply's will be responded to, so let the playground abuse begin!

Sensible reply like Bosnichs Basil Fawlty Impression?

Personally i'm not bitter about benteke wanting to leave villa to go to spurs, spurs are in a more competitive position and are clearly showing more ambition/intent than we (villa) are.

But to say spurs are a bigger club than villa is laughable, the only thing spurs have over villa is their league position and healthier finances, most people who know anythin about football know that finances and finishing high up the table 2-3 seasons in a row don't define how big a club are.

>Scg87

Spurs are basically what villa were 3 years ago, a very good team pushing for champions league and never fully making it, don't worry, it catches up with you, I don't care if benteke goes to spurs because at least then okore can boot the silly git out of the stand, i'm more wound up about the way he went about it, I mean, asking you guys to sign him before thursday because he doesn't want to turn up to training and face the people he's screwed over is pathetic. Either way, he's not going to spurs to play at the top level, he's using you as a stepping stone just like he did us.

We'll put. All I hope now is that he leaves quick.

2-3 years pushing for Cl? We've come 4th twice and 5th 3 time in recent years so my maths says that's 5 years, could be wrong. The difference is actually making the top 4 which we've done and many people within football see we have the ability to be a major force. We could talk about History aswell and I'm sure spurs have a more prestigious history so on both accounts we are the better side (then and now). Now I'm not claiming Villa are not a big side but do a bit of research and you may understand why spurs are the bigger side. That said though I don't live in the past I live in the here and now and currently we are a better side. No disrespect intended.

Finishing 4th makes you a bigger club? When did you last win a cup? Or when did spurs last win the league?

Spurs have a bigger history than villa!? Funny how you never reminded us of spurs EU cup win, ohhhh that's right you havnt won the EU cup have you lol. And 2 more words for you, Founding members

>Scg87

Villa are the 4th most successful team in england 20 major honours. spurs 6th with 17, do your own homework. you where in our position a few years back, and we in yours. 2 very similar teams. current form your the better team. pray you don't lose bale tho.

thats 2 teams benteke has s**t on now to get a move and he is only 22. even money he will do it to spurs too when more money or bigger team come knocking and they will because the guy is quality. good luck with the future. villa are coming

next he'll be saying they have a bigger stadium. Just remember mate, we were in as good a position as spurs a few years back, only we were a bit more gratious about it. well done you finished a place higher than 5th one year, admitidly something we couldn't achieve, but let's be honest, you stand as much chance of getting champions league as anybody else in the prem because you're forever in arsenals shadows. And unless the two manchester teams or chelsea finish outside the top 4 (about as likely as striking gold down the side of my sofa) you won't play in the champions league, so yes, you are the new villa, and maybe in 3 years when you sell your best players like we did, you'll be in the same position as we are now.

I said prestigious not carling cup wins and yes spurs have won the league so a bit of research on your side wouldn't go a miss. First British team to win a European cup (you can't say that) first non-league side to win the FA cup (that year we won the double) That's the sort of history that I care about. But like I said it's the here and now I really concern myself with not 60 years ago before I was born. You hang on to your past and continue to celebrate that in the championship!

It wasn't the european cup as in equivilent to champions league, it was the european cup winners cup. that's like saying brazil won the world cup a couple of weeks ago!

How does being non-league & doing well in a competition say you are a big club? Wigan won it and were in the EPL, they aren't a big club. That just makes Crawley Town sound bigger than Spurs.

Finished in top 4 twice my friend and that consisted of Chelsea missing out on top four so yeah it can happen. No it wasn't a major European cup but it's the history that comes with it. When people ask who the FIRST British side to win it, that's us. When people want to know who was the first non-league side to win the FA cup, that's us again (which IMO is a great achievement). But like I said twice already it's not the history that concerns me.

Yes we could be where you are in three years time. I'm enjoying it whilst it's happening. Saying that I'm far less concerned about the future than I am the past. "Forever in Arsenals shadow" I hear this a lot from you guys and think it makes you look sad using another team to belittle us. Seriously guys think about how bad you make your own team look by using another team to slate us!

I only say it because while you may get a sticky keyboard over the fact you are a half decent team, refferring to yourself as a bigger club is down right stupid, you're not the biggest team in london, not even the second, we however are in nobody's shadows and never will be. Anyway with all this said, we have just as much chance at silverware as you do next season so take your 'big club status' and shove it somewhere unpretty. Have benteke, he'll only hand in another transfer request next season when he wants to move to another bigger club like chelsea or arsenal.

Lmao Did you really mention spurs winning the cup winners cup compared to villa winning the EU Cup? There's a massive difference pal, you proved my point, spurs are not a bigger club than villa.

Oh an Bale will be gone inside 12 months, so if AVB doesn't bring u back down to the second half of the table, bale leaving will defo do that for ya

>Scg87

The Spud that started this tirade of abuse is a typical London club supporter. We all know the sort "my cat is whiter than your cat. " All he wants is to antagonise people but all the while he is hoping that Spuds kep Bale as without him they would certainly have been 6 places down the table. That is the here and now that he quotes. Let us see what happens when Bale has gone and they don't get Bentakee as he realises that he is a big fish in our "little" pond, but in London he becomes just a little fish in the big pond that is London, not WHL.
'Arry made Spuds, not AVB, wonder who will take up the managers job when AVB goes to a BIGGER club?than spuds?

No never compared the two, read it again. I said about being the FIRST club to do things is what I find as good history because you tell me for example who won the league in 1933? Nobody cares and that's what history is, things people actually don't care about. My point was (and I'll say it slowly for you to understand) CURRENTLY-WE-ARE-A-BETTER-SIDE-BECAUSE-WE-HAVE-BEEN-FINISHING-ABOVE-YOUR-SIDE-IN-CURRENT-SEASONS. If you still don't understand then I cannot help you. Carry on with your childish comments, I never came on here and was abusive you just are all jealous of us because we are where you want to be. Love you all, bye!

So what you're saying is, you have a better team, better squad, better roster of players. You are NOT a bigger club.

Yeah, I think that's what he's saying lol

>Scg87

16 Jul 2013 10:15:17
I can tell you now 100% Benteke will not be at Villa come the start of the new season.

I can't reveal my source as current Villa player but his squad No has been offered to said player.

Looks like Spurs will finally pay what we want for Benteke and hopefully Lambert will receive the full funds to reinvest in a replacement and a creative midfielder.

Sorry to any of you still holding out in the hope Benteke will stay another season but it just will not happen.

If he doesn't want to play for us then he can sod off, I really hope he warms the bench somewhere else

There has been a report today in another London based paper -what a surprise-that Benteke wants the move to Tottingham completed by Thursday as he doesn't want to come back to Villa. I'm not surprised as he is probably too embarrassed to face the manager or the players after his pathetic antics. However, to me, this business shows no sign of being resolved any time soon and certainly not by this Thursday so welcome back Benteke. A big dose of humble pie is going to be in order I should say.

Typical sell your best player before a ball is kicked yorke? young?downing?platt? bosnich?we'll never break out of mediocrity until players including benteke are told they WILLfulfil signed contracts before moving on elsewhere

Villa are and should never berun by a players agent

Has it not occured to your 'said player' that the reason for this is Benteke will take the Number 9 shirt vacated by Mr Bent?. Just Asking

Cant reveal your source, it does not take a rocket scientist to work out benteke won't be at the club, however squad numbers already been given out, so unless you know a new signing that is coming in and he already been given his number then you are well and truly full of s---e.

With player numbers usually changing quite a bit & #9 freed up by DB9. Your reasoning is faulty beyond belief

I hope he doesn't take the squad number as otherwise we'll all know who your source is!

Wouldn't want him now anyway. Once they slap that request in its never the same. Was hoping benteke would be different and give us another season, but it just shows what footballs all about. Spurs can have him, because when a bigger club comes in he will be off again.

You never know - Lambert might get in his ear like the Belgian team & Kismet has & tell him to do some good & admit he's been tapped up!

Like I said my source is a current player with Villa and yes No9 is vacated by Bent and I presume No9 will go to Helenius. I presume you don't like the news but to suggest i'm gull of S**T is over the top. Wait and see but unfortunately he will be gone and we can continue to progress under Lambert.

15 Jul 2013 09:21:34
Villa are closing in on a £5m deal for Red Bull Salzburg midfielder Sadio Mane

16 goals in 24 games, 21 years old, £5 = BARGAIN! In Lambert We Trust!

Mane, Castaignos & we should be ready to beat Arsenal!

Mane and Finnboagason are must buys if cb is too leave young eager and full of potential, everyone else around us is trying to buy young class so we've been doing something right

Just how true are these latest rumours guys? because i'd love to think we will be signing these young guys.

I submitted this rumour & I submitted the past Jed Steer ones too. Villa have put in an enquiry into Mane & are preparing a bid for him.
Lambert has a meeting with Faulkner in the coming days to deal with any replacement required for Benteke, Castaignos seems more likely than Finnbogason does.

Finnbogasson won't make it in the prem get castaignos

Finnbogasson has everything Benteke has. immense signing if we get him at 5-7m and sell Benteke for 25m

Playing devils advocate here, have you actually seen Mane play, or have you just looked up his stats? Great stats from a CM of course but from what I remember from the Olympics that guy would struggle to play for our under21s. Not to mention he's playing in a poor to average league so it's hard to judge him as a £5m bargain based on his stats alone.

>Scg87

I've seen him before mate & he is more of a Westwood sort of player than anything else.

14 Jul 2013 15:24:25
Swansea bid 2.5 milion for Michy Batshuayi I think he will be one for the future worth a punt.

What does this have to do with AVFC?

It is options for villa to explore that is what it has to do with villa

14 Jul 2013 10:17:48
Villa have put down a deadline of Wednesday for Benteke to leave Villa Park this summer!

Benteke will sign a new 4year contract this week 40000 pounds with bonuses for 20 goals and final league position, getting him to what they asked for without changing our wage reforms.
Lambert will request you to not be too harsh on him as he's head was confused on international duty.

Benteke has till the start of August to find a new team. Where are you getting this information from or are you guessing he's not welcome at villa anymore

I would love this to be true but I think his agent has turned his head

Think that ship sailed long time ago

Hopefully, can see another relegation battle if we lose him, but if we keep him I can see an easy top half finish on the cards

Who are you, Paul Merson.

I like the guy that has listed what he thinks Benteke will be offered to stay. This would fall in line with Lerners performance related earnings.
Not sure that it will happen but it is a great post.
Benteke has gone from Big Ben to Benny in Crossroads in a short space of time.

Lol merse always thinks the worst of us I noticed that too mate

13 Jul 2013 18:54:28
Aston Villa are front runners in their quest to sign on loan watford man Matej Vydra

There is no point loaning. Develop our own players. If we want him, buy him.

I think the original poster means that Vydra is on loan at Watford and we are interested in buying
Mendax

I presumed that too mendax, but he's not on loan at watford

Ohh, OK
Still can't see us loaning him with £25 mill burning a hole in our pocket
Mendax

He was on loan at watford, but my point is he isn't now. Anyway since signing for udinese he has played 2 games and spent 2 seasons on loan, can't see them selling him after 2 games so they'll probably be looking to loan again. Either way I don't want him, he's was one of the most overrated players last season who scored a goal every other gamesagainst poor defences in a very attacking team. I think the championship is his level to score goals.

Agreed
Mendax

13 Jul 2013 16:02:03
matej vydra could be on the move to villa park as a replacement for benteke

Maybe for £4-5m, don't want him & do not rate him.

How can hydra be a replacement for benteke?totally different type of players!

Would like to see this happen

Heard a lot of talk about this guy last year but by the time I got around to seeing him play he didn't overly excite to be honest
Seemed to bear out the maxim that form is temporary but class is permanent.
Also, totally different type of player to Benteke
Mendax

I think Tom Ince ince better.

>Scg87

Me too. only ince is a winger

A few of the games I saw vydra play he started wide, He didn't look a typical centre forward to me.

>Scg87

13 Jul 2013 08:43:29
Lacina traore has been identified as the perfect replacement for christian benteke by villa boss Paul lambert, the 6"8 foot Ivorian coul cost Upto £17 million, as he's has 3 remaining years on his contract.
Also happening at villa, Darren bents move to Newcastle has been given the green light by Villa, a fee to be around £5million pounds is understood to have been agreed.

Would love to have him - but can't see Lambert paying £17m for him!

I'd love this to happen but can't see it happening simply because of his wages, he plays for Anzhi so is probably on ridiculous amounts, definitely more than the 20k that Benteke was on

Lacina Traore? Lmfao. Go find out how much money he makes! Apparently 150k a week.

Never ever ever gunna happen.

>Scg87

Anyone who thinks Traore is a realistic target is an person.
We have more chance of signing Rooney.

Oh look at that, there's 7 people who think Traore is a realistic target Lol

12 Jul 2013 15:26:34
Reports from Germany coming in that aston villa's benteke will join Tottenham for 25 million and villa will use that cash to buy Japanese target HIroshi kiotake an German 22 year old striker Alexandra esswein in a 18 million pound bid to lure them to Paul lambert a young and hungry team.

From the coal face said the same thing days ago and was mocked.
come back from the coal face, we need you.

Is this meant to be an 18 million pound package deal for the two as they both play for Nuremburg?
Have looked at Essweins record and he doesn't seem to be a particularly prolific scorer.

If we sell Benteke, we'll buy an out & out striker, Esswein is not that!

Villa's game against Paderborn in Germany tonight has ended 1-1.
Scorer Andi Weimann.

Hi from the coal face yes I got mocked for not giving out names but I work alittle to close to give them out not much movement at the moment the big man is going but only if 25 million is met no less and taking players from spurs is not in the bosses plans so no dead wood coming chelsea is our prefered club with Ba coming our way more when I findout so please dis me again for no names

Have looked at Essweins record and he doesn't seem to be a particularly prolific scorer - or a even a good player for that matter. Nothing here to see

Some suggestions as to the De Jong brothers in a combined £20m deal. Now those are real footballers!

How much money is ba on a week?
And would we pay it?

Coal face - you've just read the papers & said, yeah, that's probably about right! i'll say that's what I know! Pffft!

If we had siem and luuk de jong playing for villa I would walk around naked for a a week!

Adding to that though, how can it being a combined deal if they play for different clubs?

Esswein scored 6 goals in 53 appearances for his current club. don't like that at all!

He is as good as heskey then. fan bloody tastic!

Theres a lot of talk about bringing in these new young players, why not just given drennan and Burke a shot?

10 Jul 2013 18:53:09
Being reported that Chelsea want Benteke that much that they are willing to offer Lukaku. The figure would be between £5m - £15m. I would say great business if it did happen. Same type of player and I think Lukaku is an all round better player than Benteke. {Ed029's Note - Bizarre if true. Lukaku should be in any top four side next season.

If true, then you will see the same situation yet again when Lukaku has one good season. he will force a move to a champions league outfit.

Benteke and Lukaku have been friends for a long time and are competitive. No way will Lukaku want to go to the same team that his friend is doing everything in his power to leave.

As long as we don't sell to Spurs though I'm happy.

Leroy

Who cares if he wants to leave after 1 year? selling Lukaku would give us even more profit!
Watched the Villa highlights of yesterday & HELENIUS - you are a god! Forgot all about Benteke when thinking of Mr Helenius!

Helenius is class, no joking here, i'd go as far to say that with a bit of time and a lot of games he'll be one of the greatest strikers ever to be at villa, and by the looks of things he's another guy with two feet on the ground and a good brain so he won't be in it to use us then screw us over like benteke!

I said to a few of my pals that Helenius will score more goals than Benteke this season!

Chelsea do not want Benteke, Spurs can't afford Benteke & Benteke will now have to apologize & work hard for Villa or lose out on going to the world cup by sitting on the Villa bench!

If we play like we did yesterday in PL this season we will get relegated. that match was so hard to watch. am very worried for us.

You didn't see the game so you can't judge - my brother was there as part of the 100 travelling Villa fans - their goal was unstoppable & Okore should of started with concrete Ron!

UTVLads83

Lets just hope Benteke learns from his mistakes and decides he is better off at Villa & ED - Eric Kismet DID suggest it the transfer request, they were in Turkey for 5 days together!

UTVLads83 {Ed001's Note - he also told the lad he would be better off staying until the summer, that was his advice to him. What he did was say that it would require a transfer request if he was dead set on leaving. This is not the agent's fault, for once. The player is the one in the wrong, it is his greed that is the issue, just as it was when he went on strike to get a move to you in the first place.}

If Benteke stays in the end - Helenius, Weimann & Gabby as well as Bentekkers - top 8 finish surely!
Luna, I was extremely impressed with & Tonev!

Spurs won't pay £25m for Benteke, he'll still be a Villa player 1st September.

You're an absolute person if you're going to judge our season on any of the 3 games this week, we ended up with 22 players all getting 45 mins of football, there were little tactics, everybody was told to go out there and get some touches of the ball and just have a nice kick around. None of the games in Germany mean anything to anybody they are merely a fitness and morale boosting activity. We cannot judge anything against a german division 5 team so it was mainly about easing the rust and getting some running done.

Talksh**te are reporting 'Spurs tell villa to reduce Benteke's price' Yea right! haha laughable.

Levy does only want to pay apparently £17-£18m for Benteke & Villa have apparently told him where he can stick his £17m

'Spurs tell villa to reduce Benteke's price' hows about spurs go take a running jump. Villa don't want to sell so why would we drop our price. If he wants to go that much then its his agents job to find a team willing to pay the right price. Must be hard, he spends large amounts of the day trash talking to the papers where can he find the time to do his job.

Leroy, other Villa fans.
Why is it that you don't want Benteke to go to spurs so badly? I mean your all hating on spurs like they've done something wrong. I'm genuinely interested in the answer, I'm not on a wind up.

Leroy I asked u specifically because you commented before that all other fans are welcome on this site aslong as they kept it decent so interested to know your views!
Many thanks

In response to the above.

Dont hate Spurs at all but would rather not sell to them because of a few reasons.

1. Levy has done a great job at Spurs and seems a very shrewd business man. He seems to get players in at far cheaper prices eg Van der Vaart 8 mil.

For this reason alone it doesn't make sense for us.

2. Chelsea would do business immediately, giving us far more time to find a replacement.

3. Despite what many Spurs supporters may think, we Villa fans still believe that Spurs are a team that we should be competing with and should be at their level.

We were in the hunt a few years back but MON walked and then we had some huge problems, where as Spurs continued building very well.

I think we have learnt from selling Young to Man U and Milner and Barry to Man City and Cahill to Chelsea, that you avoid making teams in your own league better.

Sending Benteke overseas is probably the best option if we sell.

4. We are sick of stupid managers taking on Spurs rejects. Again, this has been great business by Spurs and a credit to them, but taking on Hutton and Jenas was completely personic.

We are still hurting about those signings that almost saw us relegated.

I think since Randy has come in, he conducts business fairly yet sternly, which is good. Being overly aggressive in the transfer market repeatedly can give a slightly bad reputation.

5. Spurs are doing the exact same thing with Gareth Bale and have done so previously with Modric etc.

Ie if you don't want to sell a player you don't unless its for "silly money".

Hope this satisfies your questions. T me and I assume most Villa fans, this is why we feel strongly about this. We feel that we are building something exciting here after the abysmal seasons we have had of late.

Benteke still figures in those plans, even if it is just for another season.

Didnt sign off on that essay I wrote sorry

Leroy

I'd be happy to sell to spurs if they pay the price. I think everybody is getting annoyed because if reports are right, tottenham are just trying to get rid of all their cast-offs and have decided to just give them to us with a little bit of cash for benteke. No thanks. We don't need or want any of the players mentioned in swap deals so take your unwanted players and shove them where the sun don't shine, cough up the right money and you can have him.

Fair play leroy, a well put response to my question and it does make sense not to sell to us if you see yourselves on par with us (same reason we wouldn't sell Modric to Chelsea)

I think your right, selling abroad would be your best option. Either way I don't think you'll get any more than 25mill more like 20mill. Problem is a lot of Villa fans are getting wound up by "reports" spurs are going to offer this and that, but this is just paper talk.

I for 1 hope we don't get him as I think you'll get the last laugh as I think he will flop at spurs. let's see what happens though. Best of luck next season Villa your a good Epl side and you should be back in the top 10 next year.

Further to Leroy

I agree with all he has said, but what annoys us more is the sly way you try to tap him up using media to price point his value.

When we want a player, you don't here anything until it is done or very close.

Thats also a good point, just take the fabian delph incident as an example, our offer was slightly less than that of the other team (cannot for the life of me remember who it was) but leeds released a statement after selling to us saying the reason they agreed to do business with us rather than the other teams interested is because of the manner in which we went about our interest and the level of respect shown to both the club, and the player. This is how all transfer should be done and I can't for the life of me remember villa signing a player from a team in a negative way.

Saying that Helenius will be one of Villa's best ever strikers is complete madness. Yes he looked like a good player in Denmark and he played well against a lower league German team but slow down. Let the man have a premier league game first at least.

Like I said it's the media winding you guys up. Nobody at spurs has said anything and it's the media quoting all these apparent prices. We have NOT tapped him up. It's not hard for the media to see spurs need a striker and can afford to spend the money. Remember the press will say anything to sell papers DON'T LISTEN TO THEM simple.

Levy can stick his £17m in my wallet :)

10 Jul 2013 16:24:44
Villa are willing to listen to Chelseas offer if it includes Lukaku, and Bertrand+5m. I would drive Benteke to Stanford Bridge for this deal to happen. C'mon Villa!

Lukaku can be better than Benteke, as he is younger - surely Chelsea aren't that silly to offer that sort of offer to Villa!

Why would lukaku go to villa? His wages would be to high for a start.

Great shout.
I will come with you and bring my sat nav.
Dave

Doesn't sound likely. I do think Benteke is better than Lukaku, but doubt Lukaku is a player Chelsea are looking to offload eitherway.

Perhaps 7m plus Lukaku and we would have to be happy to accept given he wants to leave. I just hope he does not go to Spuds or Liverpool, as he should push for a top European club if he wants to force a move.

I think Spuds would also try to haggle a deal that undervalues him hugely. So perhaps Faulkner should just put the Spuds telephone and fax machines on 'caller block'.

Busi

Can we get back to the real world now, Lukaku will not be coming to Villa.

I swear villadave is always willing to drive players across the country. If you got a bit of spare time could you drive us to maccy D's. A bit peckish

How bout £20m for benteke and Lukaku on loan? I'd defo take that.

>Scg87

Kevin De Bruyne in return? likely?

Norwich step in with
£22 mil bid now, who said they had no money

No way Lukaku would sign for us permanently. But sending him on loan to us, may just swing a deal in Chelsea's favour if there was competition from other clubs

Benteke is of to Chelsea like I said the other day and lakuka will be with us for a season on loan with Chelsea paying his wages for the season and have 1st option to buy after loan
so 22mill to villa plus a free player for the season

So who am I giving lifts to and where am I going in my Skoda?

Mj

Why is £20m for benteke and a loan deal for Lukaku not a good deal?

10 Jul 2013 06:30:35
Word going round is Eric Kismet has spoke to Randy Lerner and said his client will sign a new contract & retract his transfer request if he is offered £60k p/w instead of the £40k p/w offered, Lerner has refused to be pulled into his demands & has said Benteke is valued at £25m but £30m to Spurs due to unpleasantness caused by the Jenas-Journey!

Yes that's true it will be a higher price if its Spurs due to jenas-gate also they have tapped him. remember Liverpool with Barry? you tap our player you pay the price. Lambert told Benteke he could get treble his wage if signed a new deal but Kismet said no deal. Benteke was at the airport on Monday but refused to travel on bad advise from Kismet.

Lambert said he would double not treble his wages matey. £40k for him was a bit of an insult but maybe Kismet just fancies a new car & getting Benteke moves means he gets a nice one with leather seats & possibly blacked out windows?

Why are most on here blaming Benteke's agent? Benteke has been talking about joining bigger clubs ie arsenal since December, it was only a few months ago benteke in his own words said if 2 clubs (villa and another) agree a fee then he'd move, so as far as I'm concerned benteke has only saw us as a stepping stone and personally I don't blame him, cus why should he have any loyalty to a club he probably never heard of 12 months ago

>Scg87 {Ed001's Note - his agent actually advised him to stay put until next summer, hence him saying that Benteke was staying. This is Benteke's choice.}

Shame Kismet isn't S. Irelands agent.

He's progressed really well this season. don't forget he only played 5 time at united wasnt given a good run and blackburn wasnt his best loan either. Since then he's excelled well at hanover scored 18 in 38 and don't forget germany isn't a joke of a league. I've watched him a few times last season scored a cracker against schalke and for say £5-6m may be worth a punt. Yes I could see him and helenius working off each other might bring best out of one another. Striker need to be settled and given chance and if PL gave him one here i'm sure he'd take it. United don't exactly give many young guys a deserved shot. Just a thought. Be he looked in good shape and form last season

If benteke does go to spurs, he won't be going because he has ambition, its purely for money. if he had real ambition he'd wanna go to a bigger club, and hold out for that move.

Spurs are a bigger club than villa at this moment in time so there is some ambition

Unfortunately I have to disagree with anyone who suggests moving to Spurs lacks ambition. A team who will be battling on all fronts next season and pushing for Champions League is a justifiable step up.

He will be mindful of the World Cup and playin at Chelsea he is not guaranteed the game time he will be at Spurs.

TBH I think Spurs are his best option

Completely agree spurs are benteke's best option. Guarenteed first team, arsenal, Chelsea won't offer him that.

And competing for top 4 and playing in Europe is a step up.

The way benteke sees it, villa won't be anywhere near competing for top 4 places for 5 years at best. And he isn't seeing us buy proven quality which probably leaves him feeling underwhelmed so doesn't see many reasons if any reason to stay.

>Scg87

I think he would be as good as guaranteed to start at Arsenal. Unless they get Rooney, Higuian or Suarez of course

How have spurs tapped up Benteke? Not a single person working directly for spurs has mentioned Benteke outside the board room. Levy does his business very quietly hence why us spurs fans only heard of interest for Pauliniho a week or 2 before we officially put a bid in. The journo's do a very good job and pay good money to get information but they also make things up to sell papers surely you don't let this influence your decision?

09 Jul 2013 19:26:18
villa to put bids in for mbia and diakite for xp for team

Nothing but tosh

Is that post some sort of coded message? I'm to old for all this!

Im assuming it means experience.

Leroy

09 Jul 2013 18:22:40
am I the only one that thinks villa should try get honda {Ed029's Note - I'll believe it when I Civic.

Nice pun Ed :)

I also think honda would be a great acquisition along with kiyotake too.

Attendances would be up.

The clubs profile would be raised across the world

And finally their both cracking players!

UTV

finch

And everyone thought my Red Brown Mayo 'Sauces' gag was bad. Thanks Ed

Ed, dear me {Ed001's Note - he has had a severe telling off for that one! If his jokes get any worse I will be relegating him to the Everton site.....}

Honda would go to a club that can offer him European football.

I like Honda as a player. He's got a great engine.

09 Jul 2013 17:09:43
Hearing Villa are registering enquiries into the situations of Danny Welbeck & John Guidetti!

I think danny welbeck deserves to be playing week in week out, he's a really promising player who would fit into PLs style an regime. UTV

Load of rubbish where did you hear this from?

Yeah get welbeck maybe he will score more than the 1 PL goal he notched last season.

09 Jul 2013 09:32:39
Seems Bent could be off to Fenerbahce for £7m rising to £8m in add-ons.
Benteke will apparently start a bidding war with Villa still hopeful they can get £30m for the star striker. As much as I will miss Benteke, its a good chance for Drennan & Burke!

Very happy if this is true because we will never get anything like that fee from an English club but would he really want to play in Turkey?

Spurs are favourites to get him and villa looking at. bobby zamora as a replacement! I hope not!

If benteke does go I think we should try steal bony from Swansea

Why not turkey mate? top class strikers played there before look at anelka and drogba and villa legend dalian atkinson!

Lambert will never go for 31-32 year old zamora. he will go for some1 around bentekes age I would imagine

If Benteke goes I say give bent a 2nd chance but by some else as well for e. g. Defoe or Evan a bid for dzeko

We don't need to give bent a chance his done nothin wrong in the first place, he hasn't moaned about not playing, lamberts just forcing him out, bent should be on the team sheet week in week out, any one in bentekes position last season would of got as many goals as he did Bent should not be sold he should be in there in the first place

Dzeko? Are you dreaming! Personally I think he's an amazing player, i'd even go as far as saying he's man city's best striker, but for him to end up at villa is a bit far fetched.

But if we get money for benteke why not dzeko it will only be $15 mill

Yeah and he would only demand 100,000 grand a week. get real boys come on

Don't mention villa and bobby Zamora in the same sentence again.

Even if we could get dzeko he ain't as good as benteke so wouldn't excite me that much anyway.

09 Jul 2013 00:55:57
Villa are rumoured to be making a double swoop for Dynamo Kyiv duo Brown Ideye and Lukman Haruna, Ideye may be a Benteke replacement, also hearing Lambert may try to hijack Jozy Altidore's move to Sunderland.

Altidore has signed so look else were!

Lets get khouma babacar. an absolute beast with great potential. only 20 yrs old. bigger, stronger and faster than benteke. spent all season on loan in serie b and not sure fiorentina are lookin to use him in the future either.

Babacar has scored fewer goals than the fonz has, and he's been playing in an easier league! As for Brown Ideye he wasn't any good at the confed cup was he

08 Jul 2013 22:30:36
Hi all.
I don't believe it but have just seen that there "MIGHT" be a 20mil release clause in Bentekes contract.

This is not me saying this I have been reading on one of the transfer sites, sorry I look at so many just can't remember which.

Got to be rubbish!

Dave

08 Jul 2013 18:51:43
with spurs loosing out on villa (david villa), they have today enquired into benteke, villa to hold firm he is not for sale, but looks like this could be a on-going sage until the deadline day! would rather have it settled quick, be that he goes or stays so we can prepare either way with little disruption to the team!

You got your wish, he's going lol.

07 Jul 2013 21:06:54
It appears Lyons Gue�da Fofana a defensive midfielder has emerged as target for paul lambert. Previously Fofana was linked to Villa under houlliers short reign, he was playing at le harve at the time before switching for Lyon. However the club will command a fee of around £5. 5 to 6.5m for his services making a tidy profit on a player they paid just 1.5m for.

Chris FT

Aston Villa are ready to sell Darren Bent for £5m, with Newcastle, Hull and Fulham all poised to make a move for the 29-year-old striker.

Would love Fofana but it ain't happenin, we simply have far too many midfielders (not all are quality admittedly) so nothing to see here

07 Jul 2013 08:43:50
Callum McManaman to AVFC in exchange for Albrighton and 5m, good signing, fits Lamberts philosophy of young and talented, just imagine our attack next year.

Tottenham will follow up the signing of Paulinho by stepping up their attempts to sign Aston Villa striker Christian Benteke.
After wrapping up a £17million deal for the Brazilian international midfielder, boss Andre Villas-Boas will now turn his attentions to landing a new striker and Benteke is high on his wanted list. The Spurs boss has also targeted Valencia striker Soldado but has been scared off by the £25million price tag and will attempt to land Benteke from Villa instead. Reports claim Tottenham will offer £20million for the Belgium international, who cost Villa just £7million when they signed him last summer, but it still may not be enough. Villa could ask for as much as £30million for a player who bagged 23 goals in a struggling side last season and Spurs will have to haggle the price down if a deal is to happen.
C&P

The point is - Villa do NOT want the deal to happen - why would we let them haggle on the price?
I'm hearing they want Remy (£5m) & Soldado (£15m-£20m) now.

Why would we negotiate a fee for OUR player whos valued at 40m?. we hold all the cards and don't have to agree to anything as he has 3 years left.
no way they will get him for less than 30mil

I think if we do get mcmanaman we should only send albrighton there on loan to build match fitness

Both Stoke City and Everton are reported to be battling it out for the signature of Aston Villa midfielder Stephen Ireland.
The Irishman has seen his career nosedive since joining Villa in 2010 as a makeweight in the deal that took James Milner to Manchester City. Gerrard Houllier, Alex McLeish and now Paul Lambert have failed to get the 26-year-old anywhere near his best form and Villa are now looking to cut their losses and ship him out to free up space on their wage bill. He had made just nine appearances in claret and blue last season and many had believed that his only way out would have been to make the early jump to the MLS with New York Red Bulls reportedly interested in taking him off Villa’s hands.
However, despite falling off the radar he is still attracting the interest of top flight English clubs as new Stoke boss is hoping to reunite with him in the Potteries in a bid to replicate the electric form he once showed several years ago.

Basically mate, all you have done is quote a load of guff from the London based media
Well done you but it makes dull reading
As someone else said, why would we be haggling on a player we don't want to sell
Mendax

Wigan enquired recently about to availability of Gary Gardner on loan, haven't heard anything about Albrighton being enquired about instead though.

Gardner will push into the first team this season

Mendax,

I like the idea of quoting, or better still C&Ping onto this site, at least with this, some of the rumours may have substance, unlike the made up drivel that continues to appear. It would stop you from having to ask where the rumours came from, wouldn't it! {Ed029's Note - We're not supposed to approve copy and pasted posts from other websites I'm afraid - copyright etc.

Mendax, (Why would we be haggling on a player we don't want to sell?) I think you missed the point, all clubs want a player as cheap as they can get thus (haggling required). Until Benteke signs a revised contract these rumours will continue, Spurs (as always) are using the media to unsettle the player. It no longer seems to matter whether the club want's to sell the player or not. If Benteke decides he want's to move do you really think PL / Uncle Randy will stop him, bottom line is receive cira £30m or keep an unhappy player? let's hope he is happy to stay on a new contract for a long time and let's also hope it's concluded soon.

Every Club? I would guess Chelsea didn't haggle on £50m for Torres for Villa £24m for Bent. Haggling doesn't always happen!

Haggling only take place when you have one person trying to buy something that someone else wants to sell (which is not the case here)
I've not missed the point at all
Mendax

Mendax, The professional descriptive term for haggling is negotiating which is why a negotiating team is involved in player transfers.

Hi all.
Villa have a player some clubs want to buy.
We (Villa) don't want to sell him.
Therefore we or should I say the press have put a price on his head, and let's be honest we are not really sure what that figure is are we.
I believe Spurs can wait till kingdom come if they so desire, but if this figure is not met he will not be going anywhere.
NOTE; WE DO NOT WANT TO SELL, so how can anyone haggle!
Dave

I love it when a rumour/article states that "Tottenham will look to move for Benteke after being put off by the 25mil price tag on Soldado".

We have slapped a 40mil price tag on Benteke, and he's worried about 25mil?

Spurs and Gunners are the last places we should send Benteke. Chelsea or Man City as they pay over the odds fees, if not off to Monaco or Borussia etc.

Last thing we want is for the guy to come back and haunt us after selling to a team who we should be challenging.

Leroy

But we are not "negotiating" are we
That takes 2
Mendax

Sorry but spurs don't use the media to make thier signings, if you look at players they sign they are players spurs are only linked with by the media a week before the signing is completed (unless they get lucky). The fact the media know spurs have funds available and need a striker is why Benteke to spurs is being quoted by the press (not saying they haven't looked at him because he's a promising player). I think the guys on here who think 20mill won't get your chairman interested are dillusional, that's what a previous fan meant by haggling I. e spurs offer 20mill, Villa come back saying 40mill, spurs say 30mill, Villa agree to deal. That's haggling and believe me if Villa get a offer of 30mill for him they will pack his bags themselves. Do you think spurs will honestly turn down 85mill if Madrid offer it? Do you think Spurs fans are naive not to think the deal will happen if this sum is offered? Now think about how naive you sound saying they won't negotiate with spurs and settle at 30mill!

How is it naive that we wouldn't reject a clubs bid for a player of ours when they meet only 75% of our valuation on him? you my friend are missing the point. do you think we were lying when we said 40mil?or are u saying jus because its avfc we MUST accept such a big money offer?

AVFC 4 LIFE

Yes Villa are clearly lying to boost the price up. Why wouldn't they? Like previously said teams negotiate where transfers are concerned and by saying 40mill they are hoping to scare off any potential suitors so Benteke doesn't ask for a transfer if a low bud comes in. Now Villa can start any negotiation at atleast 20mill. Do you really believe Villa think for a second 30mill isn't adequate? He's not Suarez or cavani etc. if Villa get 25mill you should be happy as that's great business and correct me if I'm wrong but isn't RL a business man?

You just don't get it do you?. we won't negotiate with any club on a player we don't want to sell. but your right though he isn't cavani or suarez. he is better than either of them.

Look at the end of the day we will hold out for whatever price we want which is 40mil. why do people think clubs shouldn't pay that much for him? look at torres 50mil. come on tell me torres is better than benteke I dare you

Jus because we signed him for 7 doesn't necessarily mean 25mil is good business at all. we have unveiled a striker who has every attribute required to be THE best striker in the world in a couple of years so 40mil is certainly NOT an over-valuation whatsoever

Aston villa have put a counter offer in for Gareth bale, he is only worth 60mil but we have bid 10mil.

Yes I get it perfectly fine. But I think you don't get it. Yes as a Villa fan I'm 100% sure you have the blinkers on as regards to his possible transfer. Trust me if someone seriously wants him then Villa will start negotiating and I'd bet my house you won't get the 40mill quoted. Do you understand now? Look at it through the eyes of a neutral and you'll see things much clearer.

Better than Suarez or Cavani after one good season in his whole life now that is naive lmao!

You could offer 50mill for Bale and Spurs could accept it and still he wouldn't join Villa.

Nice to have a Spurs fan or two here. however, I think a little more empathy should be sent our way.

I mean, it is to be commended the level of leadership and overall grit (balls) that Daniel Levy has shown to keep the best players at Spurs in recent years. Often rejecting crazy money for your players.

What I don't understand is the level of arrogance that one or two Spurs have when #AVFC are merely trying to do the same but with one player.

Fairs fair chaps. he's the best talent to come to us in maybe a decade, we are just trying our best too have him play for us another year, we are practically resigned to the fact that he will leave some day soon, thanks to the ridiculous disparity in WORLD football of today.

Pull your heads in. We have good contributors on the Villa pages, so if you want to have a yarn you will get good comments here, but don't come in here taking the piss with your hypocritical nonsense.

Leroy

Leroy, read some of the disrespectful comments some of your fellow Villa fans have said about spurs. There's no way a spurs fan could perceive any of the comments as respectful (not in the slightest) about spurs. If you want to change the attitude of other fans then start at home with your own fans, if not then accept negative comments towards Villa. I tried to be respectful on your other page and got berated. Also check out our page and see how arrogant your fans have been!

So the idea is to act just as bad as the ones you are speaking about.

Very mature.

Nothing against Spurs but I am hoping that Benteke goes abroad or goes to Chelsea, as we can fetch far more money there.

Good luck in the new season. Paulinho looks like a good buy.

No I wasn't acting like any of your fans I was just pointing out that your fans are no better than ours. Wasn't saying I posted the original posts. I have nothing but respect for your side as I've said before as you are a proper football side who run your club the correct way. That said every team has fans who doesn't quite get football as a whole. For example on our page some muppet believes there is only 3 good teams in our league. Best of luck Villans you'll be just fine without Benteke!

06 Jul 2013 20:14:56
Ed, have you heard anything more on Nacer Chadli? {Ed002's Note - One time looking to a move to Fulham, Chadli is now attracting offers from Swansea, Shaktar and Locomotive Moscow. Spurs, Liverpool, Juventus and Dortmund are also considered potential suitors.}

05 Jul 2013 23:17:17
Word out of London, yes I know, London, is that Villa boss Paul Lambert, has short listed several players as a rear guard action should Benteke force through a move to one of a number of clubs being linked with the Belgian star.

Funny thing is, that one of the players on that list is apparently Demba Ba of Chelsea. It is said that Lambert would look to Ba as a loan option should Benteke take off.

This may indeed indicate that Chelsea may make a bid and part of that deal may be sending Ba on loan to Villa.

Again, I repeat, this was from a London ( Chelsea ) publication and we know what to expect from the tabloids. just thought I'd add it here to generate conversation from the masses.

Leroy

If Chelsea were serious about Benteke he would be there by now, what Roman wants, Roman gets.

Now that's an interesting heavyweight battle, Villa's Rich Uncle Randy V Chelsea's Mafia Man Roman, this battle won't be about money, It will be about ego, great fight ahead. The undercard will be just as interesting, The lovable Paul V Hard to Fathom Jose, let the battle's commence.

This is true to a certain extent, but what about Cavani or Rooney? Why are there ever any transfer rumors that link Chelsea if Roman just buys players at the snap of a finger like you suggest?

There have been many reports tha Chelsea have "stepped up" their efforts to sign Benteke. Where there's smoke.

I don't think it's as easy as what you have said, even with Abramavich and his money

If Chelsea want Benteke then we can expect some ridiculous offer that cannot be ignored. Lambert & Lerner should be looking for another player or two plus whatever the offer. However I want to believe that he will stay at VP to repay the faith all of us have in him.

Look let's be honest, Benteke is an exceptional player, of course we all want him to stay but the likelihood is he will not be a VP for the full period of his contract. He is obviously a very ambitious individual & if these media reports are correct he want's to play for a top 4 team. 30+ years ago Andy Gray did the same as did Alan Mc Inally. Hopefully he will stay for at least 1 more season just so we can all see what sort of team PL has assembled, if he goes anywhere in the EPL, I hope it's Chelski only for the reason they will pay the most, he will then realise how supportive the Manager, club & supporters at Villa have been, because it will be different at Chelsea, where the Manager is inconsistent and the owner is never happy with his lot, it might even suit Benteke but I doubt it, as stated many times, no player is bigger than the club, buy here's hoping!

"If Chelsea want Benteke" response: I thought that. We already missed out on Cornelius, Altidore about to sign for Sunderland, but then someone posted that we already had Benteke's replacement (if one's to be required) in Helenius, the guy said he had seen Helenius play many times and that he thought he was that good, I didn't ask the poster's name but I hope it wasn't Helenius.

Hi all.
Yes that guy was me, and you are correct.
I have seen a lot of Helenius, I have seen him probably a dozen times or more and he is very mobile guy for his height, the lad has got it all, and I really believe after a period of him coming to terms with the prem he will be better than Cornelius.
He is not reliant on guys around him he can create his own goals and finishes very well
Dave

Hi All,

Some good points made here. I don't honestly believe that Benteke will leave this summer. I truly believe it. Maybe its slightly naive, but I think Benteke is (still) humble enough to understand the faith that Lambert has put in him.

With the world cup coming up, he just needs to have another season like last and he will be THE hottest commodity perhaps in world football.

If and or when the time comes that he will move on, I think we should only be selling to the Man Cities of the world.

I honestly believe we should be aiming to challenge Spurs and Arsenal, so we should not be allowing them to get ahold of our best players.

Leroy

Well said Leroy.
You are not naïve at all.
You have thought about it and see it as YOU see it, I agree and also think he will stay,!!
Your other points are also well made.
Dave

Maybe we should benteke, with a proviso that we get him straight back on a season long loan. best of both, any1 agree

Benteke will be at Villa Park this coming season - I strongly believe that. Villa do not plan to sell him nor do they want to. Up the villa lads!

I don't think Benteke would do as well at any other club and would more than likely flop especially if he goes to a club made up of stand out players.

Thanks VillaDave and others.

Whilst I firmly believe that Benteke will stay, I am slightly alarmed (yet again) with the lack of communication from AVFC in this regard.

It has been a flaw in past seasons, the lack of connection with the fans that is. I think most of us could accept just about any decision made by the club, if they acted confidently and swiftly, but made sure us fans were kept abreast of matters.

This has been an issue since Randy has come in I must say.

Regardless, I feel pretty confident that we will be a fun team to watch this year and that's even without this potential attacking player that we seem to be trying to add.

I think that we may look further into Chadli and that would be just fine with me as I rate him highly.

Leroy

I agree to a point Leroy, I think the only problem with keeping fans in the know about potential targets is that it would alert others (teams that is) of our intentions therefore inflating the price.
I think it would be great however if AVFC would post on their website what positions they intend to strengthen ie RSM or LB etc, and also at what stage negotiations are with current playing staff (Benteke) I think we would all like to know that one.
I also think we will have a good season top 10, and maybe GOAL OF THE SEASON. we now have potential to score from anywhere on the park
Lets hear your thoughts
Dave

Ninth to thirteenth is my bet. Maybe a cup run but much easier for us than last season. If we play like we did from March onwards we should look a good team.

I think you may have misunderstood what I was trying to say VillaDave.

I was referring to Benteke and this ongoing situation. Would be great to hear something about whether he is staying or not.

There was also the situation with Bent just being left off the team without word or reason. The whole MON situation was kept a secret also.

I have liked the overall manner in which we have operated this transfer window. I mean, getting in early and signing some exciting young talent of whom seem highly motivated to play for the badge.

Leroy

My money will be on a RVP goal of the season as always!
Top 10 finish easily as Benteke will be playing at Villa Park next season - no debate on that one!

04 Jul 2013 22:10:35
Villa have had a 8.5 million bid accepted for kiyotake, would be a great signing, has flair and a creative spark. Danny Guthrie has also been mentioned to stabilize the midfield

Where does it say villa have had this figure accepted!
I have checked all sites for any info on this rumour and found nout.
Sorry mate just a guess.
Its seems that an increased offer will be made so you are just stating the obvious, Right

Danny Guthrie, no chance!

Danny Who?

Only thing I can say about this "rumour" is it is a poor guess

Dear Villa Dave, I'm so surprised at your retort, not your usual calm & considered response, is the inaccuracy in some of these post's starting to grate, come and join the rest of us for a beer, it doesn't stop the exaggeration, but honestly, I worry about it less afterwards.

Actually that would be handy if he is the singer/songwriter, perhaps he could compose some uplifting ditty's for us to sing next season and if they were really good we could enter them in the eurovision song competition and win another european trophy That would be cool! (Nigel Kennedy could be our musical director as well) blimey!

Hi all.
Thanks for your comment, It is not meant to be anything else than calm, I am just keeping it short and sweet to make a point that most of us villa fans already know.
A beer sounds good.
Just a mention let's hear a few names of people who are posting
it helps with replies
Dave