Alias75

Given it looks like Rafa is on a pretty tight budget an extra £4-5 million could be a huge difference. I think the idea was to replace Alonso with Barry without spending anything now it looks like Villa want an extra £5 million on what we'll get for Alonso. If they continue to be stubborn and Rafa thinks we can do better than Alonso in that position you also have to start asking yourself what other players could we sign for £15 million that could replace Alonso and may possibly do a better job than Barry.

I think at this stage we should take a step back and let Barry kick up a fuss. The facts are this is a player thats said he wants to leave and a player with 2 years left on his contract. If Villa dont sell him this season and dont get him to extend his contract their going to have an unhappy player on their books for a season that will be transferred for maybe half what they can get now. Personally id be prepared to call their bluff, let Barry know we'll be back in for him, keep Alonso for another season and sign him next year for probably half what he'll cost now. By being stubborn about it Villa are almost forcing Barry to be more vocal about his situation which may end up costing them money on this deal.

I get the impression theres going to be a lot of player movement at Chelsea again in the off season and with a new manager in players like SWP will probably be sold. You can say they wont sell him to a rival but if they're making the decision to sell the player and we want him it would be a bit rich to say "yes we want to sell you but your not going to a decent team" Could be a possibility with a couple of Chelsea players on the cheap.

If you look at the players we've been linked with and the players we'll most likely sell its clear we can change 4 or 5 without spending anything. Deggen - Free >>>>>>>>Finnan maybe £2 million Dossena £6-8 million >>>>> Riise around £4 million So those two players are hardly costing anything.. If Barry comes in it'll most likely be because we've sold Alonso, personally im of the opinion that for the money being talked about for Xabi we can find a replacement more suited to the PL, if Villa want to play hardball over Barry fine i think we can find someone else for £15 million that will do a better job week after week in the PL. (personally i think we'll get Barry because the player will make it clear he wants to leave) Then we have players like Carson, Guthrie Pennant lets say we can get around £12-14 million for those 3, that money can be spent on a replacement for Pennant. Then we have Crouch we can sell for around £8 million and add that to whatever the owners will give Rafa for a striker. So assuming the owners will give Rafa around £20 million to spend thats almost £30 million for a striker. So i think Rafas strategy is clear hes going to fill certain positions by spending very little relying on player sales and bosman signings, keeping the vast majority of any money hes given for 1 maybe 2 top quality players.

If hes leaving for CL football hes not going to sign for Spurs is he? This is a player we were linked with before, apparently a very good right back but he doesn't like playing there. But if you can get a player worth 10-12 million euros for the price of his contract it makes sense even if its only to sell him on in a few years time

For me it will be much sweeter if we do it by building a strong TEAM that plays like a well oiled machine, for that to happen you don't necessarily need to spend a lot of money you just need to bring in the right people in the right places. I think us spending net £50 million is out of the question at the moment and if that did happen it would mean more debt on the club that none of us want. We just have to accept at the moment that Utd and Chelsea financially are in a different league to us and as someone else said they'll both probably spend upwards of £50 million again, but these are the 2 clubs with the biggest debts in world football i dont want to risk to future of the club to try and win the PL. Personally i dont think we're miles away and if for example Ronaldo decided hes done all he wanted at Utd and moved to Madrid i think that would immediately close the gap a lot between Man Utd and the other top 3.

I think its clear where moving forward with youth recruitment, you only have to look at the results of our reserve team to see that, thats a clear step forward making that team almost an under 20 team. Also for the first time in a long while there will be 2 or 3 from the ressies promoted to the first team squad, its fine watching players train and play in the reserves but at some point you have to play them and see what they can do, but they also need time to make mistakes you don't get many chances if your one of the big teams. But i think its obvious if a player is good enough they will get a chance. With 7 substitutes next season its the perfect chance to put a couple of these young players on the bench and if the match situation is right they can get some experience with less pressure.

I think its pointless to judge a player like Degen on past performances for Dortmund. Im pretty sure if you put lots of very good defenders into poor teams they won't look as impressive, a lot of it boils down to the team your playing in and how you fulfill your role in that team. As someone else said there were plenty of negative reports of Skrtel before he played here, not many will be disappointed in him now. I certainly remember Degen being part of a very good Swiss back 4 in the world cup and i think its fair to assume he'll be able to take advantage of the strengths in his game more playing for us than a poor team in Germany. I certainly trust Rafa and his scouts more than someone that watches German football on TV, Degen has hardly played this season anyway so what are they judging him on?

But these are the best of the best in their age group, how much did Pato and Walcott cost their clubs, we're talking about players that have cost a lot of money. Theres a huge difference between giving a player in that 18-20 age group a chance when they're a Pato or Aguero and giving a reserve team player a chance.

I can certainly understand the point, we need to bring in top quality young players but unless we start producing players for the first team any potential youth signing will think twice if he thinks hes not going to get a chance here. The problem is because we're one of the top sides in Europe it takes a special player to be able to come in and compete in the first team, you might sign 30 young players and 1 or 2 are good enough. I think we should think of the youth setup as one which gives the young players we sign the best chance to make it as professional footballers, occasionally someone will make the breakthrough and be good enough for the first team which should always be the primary goal, but those that don't make it here should have had a good enough grounding to make it somewhere else, and thats how the system pays for itself by selling these players lower down the leagues. Hopefully we get a reputation for giving the kids the best chance to make it even if its not here and that will be enough to keep attracting the best young players. But if you look at all the top teams in Europe and not many have a track record for producing their own players simply because the stakes are so high now.

But with the 2 owners apparently not on friendly terms id be surprised if they could agree on another loan to sign players. I guess we could use the increased TV money.

The problem is with the current ownership problem is why would Gillett put money into the club for players if he intends to sell, and why would Hicks put money in if Gillett isn't going to match it? I can certainly see an off seasn where the only money we spend is that which we make from player sales plus maybe a piece of the TV money, luckily at the moment we have 4 or 5 salable players so it wouldnt be a complete disaster. The other possibility is whatever is spent by the owners this season is added to any price if the club changes hands again.

Exactly leave the attacking up to Downing and Milner :)

They can certainly put pressure on him to sell but i dont think they can force anything until refinancing is due. However if Hicks is struggling to find any investment he'd be stupid to let it get that far because he would lose any bargaining power he had. If it gets to the stage where refinancing is due and he can't find anyone to lend him more money he'd have no option but to sell meaning DIC could buy for a lower price. But right now he owes a lot of money at a time when banks are getting very nervous, the people that have lent him the money know a buyer is there waiting so they can see their return there on the horizon, so im sure if they think theres any chance he won't be able to pay them back or if they think hes no longer a safe person to loan money too they'll put a lot of pressure on him to sell up.

Do you know the business interests the Bush family has with the Saudi's?

Sorry about that thought Pennant was older than he actually is, guess it shows how long hes been around. Milner is similar in that he first played in the PL at a very young age and hes been around for 6 years yet hes still only 22. Think he has the record number of U21 caps. Still think hed be a decent signing, i dont see Pennant being the answer to those right side problems i also think Pennant himself wont want to have another season where he only plays a handful of games so he might be looking to leave anyway.

Agree about De La Red hes been very good this season and got into the national squad. On his contract situation i think Real have the option to buy him back either next season or the season after so if they want him to play him or use him as part of any swap deal they have that option for the next 2 seasons.

I never mentioned Arbeloa and he would be my first choice right back but Finnan is on the way down and needs to be replaced sooner rather than later, Bosman signings are only available for the one season so if Rafa likes Degen he has to sign him now whether Finnans totally finished or not. I also never said 27 was old just at that age he's not really going to improve much on what we've already seen, at 22 Milner has much more scope for improvement plus he'd be coming to a side that will be attacking more than any of his other clubs, Milner is quicker than Pennant i think they're quite similar at the moment in terms of ability but Milner has lots of scope to improve more. The players being mentioned like Pennant, Riise, Crouch are going to leave whether you like it or not, we need to replace them and if we can replace them without spending much it gives Rafa the chance to get those 1 or 2 top quality signings we all want.

If the players we had in those positions were in the early / mid 20's fair enough but we have Finnan whose on the way down he needs to be replaced Degen is on a free and will replace him. We have Pennant whose 27 and while his attitude the last month or so has been good he hasnt shown enough in his time here, if we can replace him with Milner whose at a similar level but 5 years younger and with more scope to improve id take it especially if we can use someone like Riise in exchange, brining in those 2 players wont really cost anything but its getting rid of a couple of older players from the squad and replacing them with younger alternatives with more scope to improve.

Guess im the only one here that actually likes Milner, watched him a lot for Newcastle at the beginning of the season and his attitude was always spot on, in a team getting beat most weeks his head never dropped and he was usually their best player. Still only 22 so plenty of improvement in there, hes quicker than Pennant and has more scope to improve, hasn't featured much for Newcastle so we could get him on the cheap especially if we have players they want. He certainly has the right attitude for Rafa and i do think a few on here are underestimating his ability. In a better team attacking players usually more chance to shine.

There are certain players that will suit the new formation and Farfan is one of those that looks ideal as one of the wide strikers. Martins at Newcastle is another that i think could do a great job in the wide left or wide right position in the current formation.

Not sure a lower level PL team is the best option, if they get drawn into a relegation fight its usually young attacking players that are sacrificed. Much better to go to one of the teams pushing for promotion from the Championship, that way he's playing in a team thats dominating most games and looking to attack. Not sure how strong Swansea will be next season but if they can sign some good players Martinez would be an excellent young coach to learn from.

Don't think its a coincidence that Crouch all of a sudden has been valued at £15 million by Rafa. If Villa are going to overvalue Barry then Rafa will overvalue a player they probably want in exchange. The truth is if Barry wants to leave its very difficult for Villa to do anything about it. They can keep him for another year and then lose him for probably half what they can get now. Personally i think Villa want Crouch and we'll end up swapping Crouch for Barry and giving Villa a few million.

I still hold out some hope for Anderson in his first proper season with Swansea he was doing great until he got injured, next season he'll play at a higher level again and then we can see what potential he has. But he has that raw pace that helps a lot at the top level, and in all his time in the ressies and with Swansea hes shown a good eye for goal. I think he'll play in the Championship or even at a lower level PL team next season and if he shows something he should get a chance with the first team the season after when he'll still only be 20/21.

Not at all just making the point that there are clear differences in them as players and in certain respects especially going forward Barry offers far more than Alonso. Fans are always complaining that we lack attacking threats, changing Barry for Alonso gives us a clear improvement in attack especially in those games where you don't need 2 holding midfielders hes much more of a threat going forward. But hes also shown for England he can play the more disciplined role if you need two holding type midfielders but he still has that quality from set pieces etc.. While hes not an attacking player as such swapping Alonso for Barry clearly improves our attacking options.