r/avfc

I thought we were in a good and exciting place. What’s gone wrong?

I know it’s all rumours and don’t believe anything till it’s announced but being linked to both Tosin (awful defender) and Jackson, we need better and not Chelsea prices.

I didn’t want to lose any of our lads, and of course this post is half copium. BUT if you look at our record, we are AMAZING at selling. Players do worse when they leave Villa. We all know the list:

• Jack won the UCL and treble, but he was never the same at Citeh. He went from the future of English football to a benchwarmer.
• Ings fell off a cliff at West Ham (not that there was much left in the tank)
• I thought Juve robbed us with 42 mil for Luiz, and look where he is now.
• Aaron Ramsey, Kellyman, Carney and the like were supposed to be the future, but none have cut it in the. PL.
• Diaby has been mediocre in Saudi
• Duran has flopped everywhere since Villa

Who if any of our departing players will actually be a success after they leave? In my mind, Tielemans will do great at ManU, but the others… I’m not so sure.

https://preview.redd.it/w1slu6q00dkh1.png?width=590&format=png&auto=webp&s=9ffc48dd5f201c2d477316dd9df2bf0865f4a719

This makes me think that we don't have a plan for if Watkins leaves. Sure we'd all love Jackson, but us offering a new contract for Ollie suggests maybe Jackson is off the table

I already loved the man but with everyone else jumping ship he deserves to have his praises sung even more today. True legend of the club and hes here to keep the boat afloat during this new phase.

Like, we were all told the Rogers deal would be able to help stave off financial issues for another year - but now we've sold half our first team - are we able to forget about SCR for the next few years? Will the amortisation on our new players contracts help keep our wage bill significantly lower? Should it allow us to spend better it future windows, without selling?

While I'm bizzarely positive about our team suddenly being filleted, I'm looking for some sort of obvious light and silver lining.

Soo pissed off if this happens.

Looking to watch the game Sunday if possible! Any bar recommendations?

I'm very optimistic for next season. Why?

1. Chema Sanz, João Gomes, Johan Manzambi, Victor Lindelöf

My biggest frustration last season was the staticity of play in possession. There were so many games where we were level, a goal or two down, and we lacked energy, drive and physicality.

The ball would be recycled around slowly with no urgency between the full-backs, central defenders and defensive midfielders.

Ezri Konsa, in particular, was the last person I wanted to see with the ball at his feet whilst we were in possession and in need of a goal. He'd stand on the ball for ten seconds thinking about moving it, before making the same sideways pass to Matty Cash.

Victor Lindelöf, meanwhile, had a faultless season. It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that, by the end of the season, Emery trusted him for the most important games, even out of position in midfield. He makes everything he does look effortless and easy, both in and out of possession.

No dilly-dallying. He's looking to win the ball and advance it in the most efficient and creative way possible, and he has the ability to do so. He reads the game flawlessly. He has become an Emery favourite, and he is the man to replace Konsa.

I'm also not surprised at all that Emery has brought in Chema Sanz as his number two. A man who came into the game as a strength and conditioning coach, with a similar tactical vision to Emery, but who demands so much energy and physical input from his players.

I'm also not surprised that João Gomes has come in as the Tielemans replacement. Youri is an elite deep-lying playmaker. He can visualise and complete passes that very few can, but he is a physically static player. He won't drive with the ball, make runs into space or work his socks off for 90 minutes.

He's a very gifted technician, but he's not a workhorse.

João Gomes isn't the same profile of player. He is an elite ball-winning midfielder, a complete midfielder. He doesn't have the same elite vision as Tielemans, but he will get involved with every inch of play, on and off the ball.

Staticity will not be something associated with the Villa midfield with him on the pitch.

The same can be said for Manzambi as the Rogers replacement. At 20 years old, he's already played as a 6, an 8 and a 10, and is incredibly talented and hard-working both in and out of possession. Incredibly press-resistant.

Yet another player who will increase the energy levels in the midfield and forward positions this season.

2. Zion Suzuki

The protection that goalkeepers used to get from referees during set pieces has dramatically decreased. Arsenal won the league by physically dominating opposition defenders during corners and set pieces, in ways that would have been deemed illegal in previous seasons.

Zion Suzuki is an incredibly physically dominant modern goalkeeper. He dominates the box. He claims every ball. He has elite distribution statistics. And he's still only 24.

There's a reason why PSG wanted him, and why Villa wanted him. He is the future of goalkeeping.

3. Ruggeri, Maatsen, Wan-Bissaka

During our period of consistently positive results last season between September and January, Maatsen was predominantly our starting left-back. He wasn't perfect, but he provided much-needed pace and energy to our left flank.

Lucas Digne began to start more games from January onwards and had a handful of dreadful performances, notably Bournemouth away, Newcastle at home in the cup and Forest away in Europe. The decline was obvious; he was not the consistent defender we'd become accustomed to in the two seasons prior.

Maatsen is not the most consistent player in the world either, but he has talent. The Digne sale and the opportunity to become our undisputed first-choice left-back may be the making of him.

Ruggeri, 24 years old, has experience under two top managers - one as an attacking left wing-back, the other as a defensive left-back. Europa League winner with one, Champions League semi-finalist with the other.

He has a similar attacking style to Lucas Digne, loves to ping in crosses with his left foot whenever he gets the chance, and had the same amount of assists as Digne did last season, with seven.

Matty Cash was outstanding at right-back last season, but his only backup was Garcia, a failed project signing, and Bogarde, a defensive midfielder.

Wan-Bissaka offers an experienced, defensively solid alternative and much-needed depth to the right-back position this season.

4. Garnacho, Hemmings, Alysson, Madjo, Buendia, Super John McGinn

We were very poor in the attacking third last season. Part of that was due to the staticity of play from those behind them, as mentioned previously. The other part was a lack of quality and poor, rushed signings in the previous transfer window.

Garnacho has his critics. A lot of critics. Most of them children.

However, he's also only 22, and has not yet had a season at a stable club with a competent manager.

He's come close to stability twice: once under Ten Hag, where Man Utd fans were claiming he was the second coming of Cristiano Ronaldo, and once again in the first half of last season under Maresca, where he was beginning to find his feet before a new manager came in and Chelsea's season completely derailed.

How will he get on under Unai Emery? Time will tell. I'm predicting big things from him this season.

Hemmings, Alysson and Madjo have all shown a lot of promise this pre-season, and all three are reportedly greatly appreciated by Unai Emery.

We haven't been spoiled with exciting young players breaking through in recent years. So far under Emery, we've had Morgan Rogers and Jhon Durán.

I've got a good feeling about all three of them this season. I think Emery will trust in and use all three of them to some extent this season, and I think they'll take their chances.

They all seem hungry to impress, with the talent to back it up.

Buendia. What a phoenix story this man had last season.

He came from the shadows to take us to a Europa League final with a MOTM performance in the Forest second leg, and then scored in the final to top it all off.

He had the most goal contributions per minute played in our squad last season, and he's been very bright in pre-season, playing with a swagger that suggests: "I'm here to stay. I'm here to lead from the front. I'm here to win."

I'm a huge Buendia fan, and I think he's going to build on his performances from last season, become even more consistent, and prove any of his remaining doubters why he deserves to be a Villan.

John McGinn.

He's always been a fantastic player for us, one of our best, for as long as he's been here. Maybe a few months under Gerrard aside - but who performed well in that time?

His performances last season, particularly since coming back from injury, were outstanding. He seemed to have a newfound confidence in front of goal, a more serious demeanour on and off the ball, and more competitiveness.

He even spoke more eloquently and beautifully in press conferences - fewer jokes, more depth and more philosophy.

I think he's going to have his standout season this year.

I think he will bring consistent goal contributions to the league. He's been consistent for us in front of goal in Europe for a while now, but I think it will translate to the Premier League this season.

It's just a gut feeling. He seems like a man possessed, obsessed with winning, obsessed with taking Emery's Villa to the pinnacle.

Those are a few of my reasons for optimism so far.

The transfer window will continue to be busy, the league will kick off on Sunday whilst we still have unfinished business and injuries, but slow start or not, I think this will be a season to remember.

UTV.

I’m an American a year into fandom. When American sports deals happen, everyone posts the same thing at the same time, and everything previous to that was obviously rumor. When soccer (sorry) deals happen there’s about 2 weeks of ambiguity on either side of the sigNing about what actually happened.

I thought Digne was officially gone about a month before he actually was.

is Ollie gone?

Am I just looking in the wrong places or is this just how it is?

I’m very torn on this one. He’s 30 2 years left on his contract and at 45m it seems like ok money however I’d say we should be demanding a bit more given the circumstances.

I’m worried going into the season with all this talk and we don’t have a striker with Tammy and madjo injured. I love Ollie and he’s guaranteed each season to get us 10 goals. I understand we’re in for Jackson and with him being 25 he’s of a similar profile to Ollie and probably a decent replacement for but will he hit the ground running coming in? We will need him to if this move happens.

I think keeping Ollie and konsa with all this change going on would keep us a bit more grounded and is ideal. I do back the Jackson deal I wish it just didn’t come at the expense at losing a great servant and reliability of Ollie.

Interested to hear others thoughts.