I’ll swap you my Barry for your Bentley
It’s not altogether different from swapping Panini stickers in the playground, except that you don’t have to pay your stickers £50,000 a week once you have them!
I have heard a rumour that we are in talks with Spurs about a swap deal of Gareth Barry for David Bentley. I’m hoping it is just garbage, because it doesn’t seem to make too much sense. Well certainly not as a stand alone thing anyway.
Barry is a class central midfielder (albeit not originally, but he has definitely made the position his own now) who is near the top of his game and Bentley is a winger who is near the bottom of his game.
Barry is by far our best in his position, and we’d need to sign someone to replace him, whereas we are not in a desperate need for a winger. A back up would be good but there’s no point having a back up winger if you have no-one in the centre.
Barry is the captain and a central figure for our team, Bentley doesn’t get in his team and would struggle to get in ours, unless he recaptures his old form.
Barry is worth at least £10, Bentley would struggle to fetch 5, so I’m guessing if it does go ahead we would get some cash too.
The positive side
It seems that I’m not too keen on the idea doesn’t it? There are some positive ways to look at this though. It seems likely that Barry will be leaving us during the summer and it is also being rumoured that we will be buying Bentley, so I spose it makes sense to wrap them both up at once. I have also read in the past that Barry was a Tottenham fan when he grew up so it could appeal to him on those grounds. He will also like the fact that he will most likely get in the team every week, which is far from guaranteed at Liverpool.
I would also take it as a sign that we intend to do some big signings this summer; if we are going to spend around £5m on Bentley, someone who will largely be a back up winger, then surely it means we will also be splashing out for a centre back, a centre midfielder AND a centre forward. We need to replace Laursen and Barry and we still need a centre forward who can actually score goals, so if this goes through I see ambition (yeah, I know it could also mean that we will unambitiously make do with what we already have, but if you look up there, the title of this section is ‘The positive side’).
Also being said
There is also a rumour that Man City have offered us £10m for Barry. I think we may want around £12m and we have seen that MON will not be haggled down once before, but City could easily meet our valuation and pay Barry handsomely so that could throw this swapping lark out the window.
Wherever he goes though Barry needs to be replaced surely. Unless MON has big hopes for Salifou, Reo-Coker, Sidwell, Gardner or even Milner moved into the middle.
Whats new rumour-cat? This week’s Villa transfer gossip
"Let go Randy, I need this cheque book. Come on, I promise not to write too many zeros." MON
I’m back, with the latest Villa shenanigans and I’m going to go through some of the most exciting rumours that are floating around. I haven’t just been a lazy scoundrel mind you, I’ve been blogging over at Footbo on footy in general and yesterday I did an interview/blogpost for a *spit* Birmingham City blog, and he’s doing a return one for us next week.
But anyway, there has been so many rumours that I have had to ignore some of the obviously made up ones, otherwise you’d never get any work done for reading about all the players who are coming to Villa this summer. And I know how much time you all already spend reading Villa blogs and other websites when you should be working. I still need to get one of those ‘Quick the boss is coming’ buttons installed on this website 
The biggest transfer rumbling around is Randy Lerner’s comments that there won’t be as much available to spend as last year. Now this could be mind games or it could be the truth, but either way it’s not all bad news. What we need to do is buy better, not buy dearer. For what we have spent in the last few years, we could’ve vastly improved our team, but many of the signings have not been great. I won’t go into who right now (maybe another day) but it is obvious to most that we haven’t been particularly shrewd with all our signings of late.
Enough of all that though, let’s get down to business, there’s gossip out there that won’t spread itself;
- An interesting rumour doing the rounds at the minute is that we are interested in Liverpool’s young striker; Ryan Babel. I love the sound of this for a number of reasons; first off I like that we are being linked with players from the team that finished 2nd in the Prem. Much better than Scottish or Championship clubs if you ask me. Babel will also not come cheap, so if we are to sign him then we know that the club is not going to scrimp and save to a detrimental extent. It’s not all sunshine and roses though, Babel suffers from a problem we are not already short of; he doesn’t score enough. He is more of a winger-cum-striker so maybe he could help us to create more chances, but in reality, is he something we need? I feel we already have what he can offer, so whilst I wouldn’t mind the extra strength, we need a goal scorer and a commanding centre back more.
- A big rumour around is that we have already began inquiries leading to us signing David Bentley from Spurs. I’ve already said my bit on him and my opinion is still the same so rather than repeat myself, I’ll just link back for you: http://astonvillablog.com/whats-new-rumour-cat-latest-villa-transfer-gossip/ It does seem odd as our first priority to be a winger (see above) but there is no shortage of wingerumours (<– d’ya like what I did there? I made up a word…. hmmm nah it’s crap, it will never catch on)
- Michael Owen. Another I’ve covered before and another that will be both good and bad. Owen is a great talent and he is EXACTLY what we need up front. Now I don’t know if everyone agrees with me on this but I feel that if we had a player who did nothing else all game but poach, we would score twice the amount of goals. We create chance after chance after chance (even during our off spell we still created a fair bit) but don’t convert enough. The big problem with Owen though is his injuries. He makes Darren Anderton look good! If he could stay fit, and come to an agreement on wages, he’d be perfect. Thats a big IF though.
I’ll cut it there and pick up where I left off tomorrow. I know I only covered 3 people so far but i don’t want you all getting sacked for reading super-long Villa rumour blogs! So check back tomorrow for another bunch. There’s no shortage I assure you
What’s new rumour-cat? Tuesday’s latest Villa transfer gossip
Martin O'Neill has an itchy-biro-finger over Randy Lerner's cheque book
The transfer window is so close that you can feel it’s smelly breath on the back of your neck. So it’s no surprise that there are loads of rumours around linking us to all and sundry. Some will come true, some will nearly happen and some are just made up by someone wishing to shift papers or get pageviews
Here at AVB we like to go through them all and try to give a little info on a player and open it up to debate on whether you want them at Villa or not. Yesterday we saw a nice response in agreement with me that Senderos would be a poor signing, or to correctly quote what is one of the funniest comments we’ve had on here for a while:
As for Senderos, I’d rather have sex with a lawnmower than sign him
And on that bombshell, let’s dive into today’s bunch:
- Giles Barnes is a young pacy winger for Derby County, who has been on an unsuccessful loan to Fulham for part of this season. I say unsuccessful because he hasn’t made a single appearance. Roy Hodgson either doesn’t think he is cut out for the Prem or doesn’t see a way to fit him into his team. Now, I’m a big fan of Roy Hodgson, I think he’s doing a great job at Fulham, but I must admit that when I first saw him interviewed I judged the book by it’s cover and said “What’s that old fanny gonna do with Fulham?”. He proved me wrong and I respect that. Anyway, we’re talking about Barnes, not licking Hodgson’s bum-ring, so back to the matter at hand; we are more suited to Barnes’s style and he may well go fairly cheap, so don’t rule him out but he’s not going to set the club on fire and may well prove to be another Wayne Routledge.
- Fulham’s keeper Mark Schwarzer is next up, having been mentioned as someone we have been sniffing around, but I can’t really see O’Neill buying another aging keeper when we still have Friedel. I think MON will keep his faith in Friedel for at very least one more season, so I can’t see where this rumour has come from. A younger keeper maybe, but I just can’t see it with Schwarzer.
- Stewart Downing looks destined to get relegated with Boro so will almost definitely be moving on this summer. He will be far from cheap though and isn’t an area of urgency (like centre back and centre forward are) so I don’t see this happening either. It may do, he is certainly a talented player, but I doubt it. If it does tho, I’m going to take a positive stance and say that if we spend big on a midfielder/winger, we also plan to spend big up front and at the back too. Cuz if he splashes £12m+ on a winger and gets some mediocre centre back then I’m right on that O’Neill-hating bandwagon. And I don’t want to get on that wagon. I like O’Neill.
- Man City’s Joe Hart is again being linked with us and if we do buy a keeper I fancy him as the favourite. He will very likely move on after having had his progress disturbed by the arrival of Given. The lad is definitely a big prospect and may well go on to be a regular England keeper if he finds a team where he’s number one choice. He probably needs to learn to make ridiculous mistakes if he wants to play for England tho
- Along similar lines to Downing is David Bentley. He is also a talented player but he has gone seriously off the boil. He never plays for Tottenham so will most likely move on in the summer but they will want to recoup as much of the £16m they wasted on him as possible. Again, it’s not an area we are screaming out for new players in but if we do make the step up to serious European contention, then we need some rotationability (<– nah, it’s probly not a real word!).
- A quick note on Thomas Vermaelen, who we have been linked with; apparently Arsenal are now interested too.
- Finally, Rabiu Afolabi of FC Sochaux is on our radar. He is a tall central defender with plenty experience but like many of the rumours that are now surfacing, he is unlikely to be of the mould we need to replace a player as influential and significant as Laursen.
Transfer rumour snippets and why the players are not panicking
Right now, we gotta keep the faith
A quick glance over the transfer rumours that are flying around, most of which have already been mentioned on here so it’s only brief;
- Joe Hart – Man City – Goalie – Great keeper who is being tipped by Fabio Capello but has lost his place to new signing Given up in Mancland.
- Michael Johnson – Man City – Midfielder – Young English midfielder has shown a lot of potential up at City but will no doubt see his chances become very limited after the summer when they will go transfer crazy.
- David Bentley – Spurs – Winger – Not having a great time in Tottenham, so will be easy enough to pry away but how much will they want for him, the £15m they paid? Unlikely, but then he won’t be let go of on the cheap either.
- Per Ciljan Skjelbred – Rosenborg – Midfielder – Rated as a hot prospect, this 21 year old is also reported to be under the radar of Newcastle and Arsenal, so he’s a wait and see for now.
Moving on from transfer rumours that are months away from any action, and onto the confidence levels of our boys.
Aston Villa have received a damn good bashing in the press and blogworld, both from writers and commenters, suggesting that they are now on a slide. Some have even gone as far as to say that 4th is over for Villa and remaining in the top 6 should be our goal.
Myself I don’t think it’s time to get carried away with it all, and I don’t beleive the team are so easily led either. A loss to Chelsea wasn’t anything to be unduly concerned by, especially when we gave them a decent fight and against Stoke we were good for 85 minutes. The Man City game has been our only real league low. One bad game and 5 bad minutes aren’t a cause for concern in my book.
If we lose to Spurs then maybe I will begin to worry, particularly as the next 3 games after that will be tough, but we are still 4th for now and still 3 points clear of Arsenal, who have only managed one victory in the last 6 league games and that was against bottom of the table.
Many Arsenal fans are blaming the fact that they have had a number of injuries, but aren’t the Big Four supposed to have strength-in-depth to cope with these eventualities? Isn’t that what they are supposed to have over us?
This weekend will see Villa return to games after a long break and with just the league left to focus on, the boys will (hopefully) be back to their best.
Bring on the run-in. Keep the faith.
Bentley to Villa, Agbon to the bench, training to Dubai and Acorns again next season
Very similar skyline to Birmingham...isn't it?
Rumours are flying around that David Bentley will leave White Hart Lane for Villa Park in the summer when the window re-opens. Bentley is a very similar player to James Milner who cost us £12m, so if O’Neill spends around £15m on the ex-Blackburn star it shows how determined he is to bolster the squad and give us the strength in depth that our cup runs this season have lacked.
He isn’t exactly someone I’d have at the top of my list of priorities, but he wouldn’t be a bad bloke to have on board. He can get round players and cross a ball very well, but unless we also buy someone who can get on the end of those crosses it’ll get us nowhere. So in short; sound, bring him in but it needs to be as part of a bigger plan.
Cut Aggy
Moving on, there has been plenty of talk of Agbonlahor being dropped from the starting line up (including on this website) but the manager has rubbished these suggestions. Myself I think it would be a good idea as his form has dropped very badly of late and a match or two on the sidelines is often the kick up the arse it needs to spur a player on to do better again. Having the Fonz take his place would certainly be a wake up call. Can anyone see old-fashioned O’Neill doing that though? I can’t see Delfouneso getting a league start for a good while unless injuries force it.
Training in the sun
After some very poor results, the team have been jetted off to Dubai for a break and some training sessions. Hopefully the break from constant football and the sights of the Midlands can rejuvinate our Champions League qualification push.
Acorns charidee
Finally, Villa have announced that they will be keeping Acorns as their shirt sponsor for another year. The local charity has benefitted greatly from their partnership with us and they’ll be delighted that Villa are again foregoing sponsorship cash to help the charity to continue it’s good work.
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