alias75

like i said earlier i think the attraction with Lennon is if you can get an extra 10-15% out of him you have a very good player. He's still very young and im sure most top coaches would think they could improve those weaker parts of his game.

Maybe we could use Meireles as part exchange for Mata, Valencia are skint so i don't think the money would be a problem its more about the type of competition we'd have to sign him. But i do think the owners will spend big for the right player like Mata if they know we can get him.

.........................................Reina.................................... GJ / Kelly..........Carragher........Agger.................Clichy / Enrique .......................................Lucas............................................ ...........................Gerrard.........Adam / Henderson............. Suarez...........................Carroll...............................Downing

Why does everyone leave Lucas out of their perspective teams for next season?? There's no way Adam or Gerrard are disciplined enough or good enough defensively to do what he does. Hes the 1 player we absolutely have to have in midfield to allow the others to do their stuff. In certain easier home games you might be able to go with that type of team but Lucas has to be in there for the vast majority of games. ..

bottom line is if Adam wants to come here it doesn't really matter what Villa do.

Id imagine the temptation with someone like Lennon is any top coach would think they can get an extra 10-15% out of him in which case he could be a top class player. He has a lot of good things about his game especially for the PL and he's still only 24. If a coach could improve his final ball and instill more belief in him he could be a very good player. At the right price it would probably be worth the risk but not for the sort of fees being talked about.

Our priority has to be to get back into the top 4, players like Downing and to a lesser extent Lennon are proven PL players over a number of seasons, while they might not be the type of signings we want they will improve us. Sometimes a players impact can be greater than his individual ability, its all about getting players in that can give us something we're lacking and also get more out of the players we have, getting the best individuals doesn't work, you have to get the right players for what you need and to get the best out of the players already at the club, someone like Downing not only gives us something we've been lacking on the left, but he might also be able to get another 10-15% out of someone like Carroll making him even more useful.

Its possible the Spanish lads have been very complimentary about us, Man City are a risk for most players at the moment because their turnover of players is so high, not all footballers are after the most money they can get so its possible Mata has heard a lot of good things about us, im sure if he did come here he'd be paid very well too.

Meireles is better than both Adam and Henderson he is a top quality technical player that can cover so many positions for us, a few people seem to dislike him because he jumped out of a few tackles last season but he was clearly one of our better players and once we found his position became a very influential player. The only reason this is being talked about is because of his age and i also think he was promised a wage increase after his first season. I think the owners are keen to get as many old and high earning players off the books quickly and Raul is one we can sell for decent money. If we kept him we'd have zero resale value for him, there's no doubt if he were 25 instead of 29 there's no way we'd be talking about selling him. If we were looking to play Gerrard in that position id be less worried about selling him but at the moment if we're going to replace Meireles for Henderson in the starting 11 it makes us a weaker team.

If we are selling Meireles im guessing we've already signed his replacement in Henderson, maybe even Gerrard starting where Meireles played most last season.

Not sure why we're comparing Adam with Meireles, they play in totally different positions, Meireles has hardly played as a traditional CM and when he does hes more of a box to box player. If anyone is going to take Meireles' position it'll be Henderson so we should be comparing them.

considering Hodgson didn't have a clue what to do with him for half a season thats pretty impressive.

Meireles was one of our best players last season, he gets goals from midfield which is a rare commodity, and technically hes one of our better players, people have a negative opinion of him because he might have ducked out of a few tackles but he offers the team so much which is hard to find elsewhere. His movement is very clever which is important in the formation Kenny likes to play. The only reason to sell him is because of his age if we don't cash in on him now there's 0 resale value but personally id rather have him in the team for the next 3-4 years, you can't have a team full of kids, experience is important too and hes a top quality player thats only going to get better in this league. They played in completely different positions, Adam couldn't play right side like Meireles did i also doubt he got as many goals from open play as him.

don't think French Football had said we'd made an official bid.

typical moneyball type signing if it happens, im sure they've seen something that suggests he can improve playing with better players. He has played once for the French U21 team and if im reading it right scored twice?? love these types of signings if they happen totally out of the blue and noone really knows anything about him. As a 3rd/4th choice striker as long as he's better than Ngog.

A Boy Named Roux??

wasn't there a story about him being loaned back for a season??

He won't be cheap but he'll have to ask for the move for it to happen. Was never going to be easy once the whole manager situation happened. Learner is unpopular and McLeish is obviously unpopular so they weren't going to allow one of their best players leave without at least fighting to keep him or asking stupid money. Im guessing Downing will have to be very vocal about wanting out.

thought it was quite telling in the youth cup game against Utd and also looking at the Everton side our U18 team lost the league too that physically they looked a lot more developed than our boys, but ive heard from people within Everton that they think only 2 players from that group have a future which has to be the ultimate goal. It was also telling that until our boys lost their heads against Utd we were technically much better. Its easy to stand out in the younger age groups if physically you've developed quicker than others but that advantage doesn't last and once you start playing with men you have to have something more than physique. Thats why im really hopeful about our current crop because apart from a few there aren't too many that are physically big for their age yet they still manage to compete and play some fantastic football at times. As they grow that will come but what's much more difficult to improve on as you get older is that technique. Its common sense really and it says a lot for English football that they've only cottoned on to that now.

PLTBT!!

Pearce got a 2 year contract recently, watching the way the U21 played thats frightening for any young english players.

the difference is not getting him because Villa might want a few million over market value or not getting him because the manager thinks the asking price is too much and moving on to another target. The fee of £18 million was mentioned as being too much for Downing, personally i think thats just a few million over his market value and therefore what we should expect to pay for him given that Villa don't have to or want to sell him. I know people will go crazy on here if we end up signing Downing for close to £20 million but realistically thats only a few million over his market value. Of course there comes a point where we think hes overpriced and move onto someone else but we have to be realistic and accept if we're going to sign players from teams that are under contract we have to pay over the odds for them. Its very difficult to get value in the market unless your signing players whose contracts are up or have it written into their contracts they can leave for a certain fee. Lets just trust the manager to sign the players he wants and if we pay what's perceived as too much for them who cares. The manager will know what money he has and if spending more on 1 player prevents him getting someone else etc... there does seem to be too much of an obsession with the fees for players, the important thing is we get the players the manager wants.

all that stuff is factored in when the manager decides who his first choice is. If Kenny wants Downing then we shouldn't get hysterical if we end up paying 3-4 million over market value for him. this is decision the manager should make, the good news seems to be that in previous seasons we haven't been able to spend that extra money to get our #1 target because of lack of funds this time if we don't spend the extra it won't be because we don't have the money but because the manager thinks he can find better value elsewhere.

this is the argument we've had previous years when we've failed to spend that extra 3-4 million and missed out on our #1 targets. We have to be realistic and accept we'll have to pay over the market value for some players because their teams don't want to sell them. If the manager thinks they'll have a significant impact on the team there's nothing wrong with paying a few million over market value. How many times have we ended up with our 2nd or 3rd choices for the sake of a few million?? Im sure there's a figure at which the manager says no and we'll move onto other targets but lets not go crazy if we end up paying a few million over the odds for someone like Downing if the manager thinks hes what we need then id rather that then end up with 2nd or 3rd choice.

Joey7Barton Joseph Barton Just had best phone call of my life.......... think hes a blue?? so hopefully that means everton want him...