Hoyte approach rebuffed, Osbourne off and signings this week

Banes could be one for the future, but Doyle not sure.
Id rather save the cash for a proven striker.

Would anyone consider part ex Larsen for Defoe?

Found this on Sky Sports.

"I have reliable sources at Villa Park who have told me that both Kevin Doyle and Defoe will sign for Villa next week and also that Wes Brown, James Milner and Matthew Upson will also join the Villians."

I dunno how true it is but Doyle seems to be on his way to villa for defo as a mate of mine spotted him at Villa Park while in the club shop trying to get a coat for half price.

Defoe for me would be a good signing. Yes, at the mo he is lazy. But look how good he was when Spurs gave a s**t about the poor bloke. He is a great player and a goal hanger, which I feel we have being missing for a while at the Villa. Plus the fact he is a speedy little so and so helps when your trying to get past the likes of Rio and JT

If the comment is to be true and can sign these players, Villa can get into the top 6 with no problems. I have to admit I'm glad I got my North Stand Season ticket cos I would have been happy with Top 10, but I hope Villa can now focus and push for Europe and I hope my season ticket for next season doesn't get to expensive as I have looked the atmosh at Villa this season so far. In fact I would go as far to say it's be best I've ever known it.

Anyway back to business, Wes and Milner are good for both thier teams at the mo but if they came to Villa, man o man, I could see O'Neill getting the best out of them pair. Worrying for me is the fact that Upson MIGHT be on the cards which says only one thing for me...... A replacement for Mellberg or Laursen

What do you guys think?

experienced players bought by o'neill;

Knight, why
Harewood, oh god why????
Carew, jurys out
Petrov, exception to the rule but he has took his time to get up to speed.
Maloney, prospect
Davies, prospect
NRC, prospect
Carson, prospect
Young, prospect

Maybe MON needs to get them young so they don't fall into bad habits?

Damian - agreed completely. We don't need an Arsenal understudy at right-back and have enough striking options in the team. I'd rather see money spent on an established experienced RB instead e.g. Steve Finnan, Boswinga, or even Brown.

Not a popular thing to say, but I think Gabby should be rested along with NRC, play Maloney upfront and Petrov in the middle. If the scoring doesn't improve we can invest big in the summer in that deparment. IMHO. ;)

And if supporters are hoping for O'Neill to speak publicly on targets, they can forget it.


"I've made a New Year's resolution not to talk about potential signings," he said.


he never bloody has to date!!!

One or two experienced signings would help us achieve our European ambitions and are generally cheaper than youngsters with tonnes of hype. If we were signing the likes of Torres or Fabregas, then I wouldn't have a problem going with only for young players.

Who has really got excited by any of MONs signings ? People were even doubting the signing of Ashley Young and look how he has turned out. The very fact anyone is questioning MONs signings is a joke, we are 7th with 'average' signings. A few more to build up the squad and cement 6th place then we will see some real quality signings in the summer.

I think there could be the possibility that if we sign barnes he could stay at derby until the end of the season. If it's true about hoyte he'd be good back up to a more experienced player that we need.

craig, people were saying something very similar last january

'wait until the summer' was the popular statement in february .. well we did

Well I doubt Upson would be on his way to Villa Park because of him playing for BCFC and also because he is abit injury prone and i dont think MON would go for him.

I could also see Barnes being signed and then loaned back to Derby for the rest of the season. I would love to see James Milner here and I think he would improve loads at Villa. Wes Brown i suppose I wouldnt mind him but I was hoping for someone abit more excititing.

Im not so sure about Defoe, yes he is a proven goalscorer but I think he will want really high wages and probably wouldnt want to leave London. If we did get him I would hope he wasnt on crazy wages compared to the rest of the squad and also hope he cared about the club and tried hard for us.

To me Doyle is a no go, ok last season he scored a fair few but lets not forget that Harewood scored 14 PL goals in his first season but fell away from then. Average players can have a great season and fool everyone. I have a feeling this is what Doyle did and anything over £5Mn for him would be a waste. I would feel gutted if we paid £8Mn for him.

True Damian but the difference is we will have Uefa cup football to offer next season and that will attract better players.

This is just like the summer all over. All of us are hoping for some news but wont hear anything very much until its a nailed on cert.
Keep speculating. Thats all any of us can do.
We were linked with Fred recently but now looks like he's off somewhere else.
MON certainly seems to have got everyone at the club to keep their mouths shut and thus no leaks are happening.
I find it hard to believe that there's no one on here that has a few links into the club and is "in the know".
I think we'll all have to wait until the deals are done before passing judgement on them.
My only wish is that big Marlon is allowed to go somewhere whether on loan or a transfer as not picking him for the bench last Saturday spoke volumes

doyle would be better than some of the players we have like moore and marlon for a start. he can also play wide right which he has been for reading this season still managing to score 5 league goals only 2 behind gabby whos in great form.id welcome kevin doyle to villa park with open arms might not be the world class signing evetone is looking for but about bringing in players better than what you have already and as i said he is better than moore and marlon.we wont be able to attract world class players until we have european football.

this is all true, but we simply cant attract HUGE names without getting euroean football. Everyone it seems wants a world class signing, and i think the likes of Defoe/Doyle/Brown are the best we are gona get, and they are the kind of players who will take us to Europe, where we can then go for better players.

Seriously if anyone ever watched Kevin Doyle, and i mean properly watch his play, his movement and his technique, they will realise that the guy is a quality player. If we bought him for 8mil, i wouldn't flinch. We need an out and out goalscorer, and i think Doyle is that type...as is Defore...but i think we have more chance with Doyle. Get your finger out MON, people are going to be seriously pissed if you don't buy right this month.

We seem not to have a clue / plan, again. >:(

Doyle, Hoyte, Brown, Milner, Upson..yeah we are ready to take on the world alright. 7th place and more long balls and back passes, now this is what I call ambition! God help us, mediocrity seems to be the name of the game, when is Lerner going to start splashing some serious money? Because all this pretty "young English team" bollocks is beginning to wear a little thin..let's add some bloody experienced, European quality to what we have, people who can actually pass the ball and have no fear of the Man Utd of this world rather than grafters punting the ball up front hoping for the best.

P.s. Robbie and the Doyle comment. 8 million for him..are you on crystal meth? Seriously mate, I'll never understand why British players are so bloody expensive when not 1 of the home nations even managed to qualify for the European Championships and most successful English teams in Europe are packed with quality foreigners. Doyle's worth 2m at the most, Wenger paid similar money for Van Persie but then Wenger knows the world transfer market whilst at the Villa they seem to watch only the English Under 21 team or the Scottish league. Naturally moaning is bad and we cannot aim for big players because we're not in Europe and all that bollocks. Go tell that to Eriksson, who managed in 20 days to put together a team able to challenge our "5 year plan" team with the likes of Elano and Martin Petrov in it. I don't get it, this is not a "not being in Europe" issue, this is having been accustomed to years of Lee Hendrie-like mediocrity. After last summer's fiasco I'm bored of being linked with Arsenal reserves and Reading donkeys, we are hardly going to challenge Man Utd with Kevin bloody Doyle up front are we. Yet someone claims 8m for some Irish striker would be money well spent. Incredible.

I tend to agree with Michael P

£8mn. is quite a lot for him. i wouldn't say £2mn. though, maybe £3.5 ... £4mn

but its interesting that someone has mentioned what sven has done at manchester city in 3 weeks ... i was going to wait until the end of the season and see where they finished but if he spends as i suspect he probably will this month i wouldn't be surprised to see them go 4th ... then quite frankly, we'd have every right to moan a bit and sell gareth barry

On a separate note, look at last Sat v Mancs. 70 mins into the game and we bring on Luke Moore and the Mancs bring on Rooney. That said everything to me about the difference in the top and the rest.
We and any of the others "will" need to spend big to get the absolute best unless Arsene Wenger is going to start giving lessons on how he does it cause I cant see any other way of breaking the strangle hold that the top four have got on the league.
If Villa could make that one big signing and make a statement of their intent, perhaps a few other big names would then start to follow them and "want" to come to Villa because they could see the potential.

Sam Allardyce has just been sacked, so expect our targets to be target by next Newcastle manager too

we need big signings big time but it looks lik mon wont spend da money..i really hope im wrong but i can c villa fans disappointed at the end of jan window..we r a week into window and he still didnt buy the rite back he said had agreed 2 cum in this january. i am honestly very unhappy with lack of singings so far, he had 6 months 2 look around and make few calls.is he afraid 2 spend so he'll put himself under pressure 2 deliver?cum on martin splash da cash.. it aint yours!!3 r 4 top class singings wil kick us on 2 europe big style

Kevin Doyle is not premier league standard. Yes had a good season last year but not this one. Villa should sign Diarra, Milner, Hutton, Barnes, Santa Cruz. If this dream came true we would challenge liverpool for fourth. in the summer then we could concentrate on big money signings

Look. I love that the Villa have a core of young English players and I think the likes of Young and Agbonlahor can really flourish and stay with us even when the club is ready for the next level. I'm not convinced at all by the likes of Barry and Reo-Coker, honest, grafting players with a decent passing range (especially Barry) and a solid physical approach. But as we have seen against Man Utd once again, these players cannot construct inventively and cannot create. We lack imagination, skill, personality and even more worryingly we seem to play a style of football far too British to challenge beyond a decent position in the Premier League. This is because we don't have quality but have a lot of quantity: we run, close down opponents, score a lot from set pieces or rely on the odd piece of skill from Young, Petrov, Agbonlahor or Maloney. Overall the team is still lacking in numbers, lacking in inventiveness and we can't get the best out of our players. Witness John Carew, a skilful player on the ground whom, despite this, spends most of his afternoons trying to control missile-like passes from the back. As much as I agree with the fact that Villa have somewhat progressed under MON, it remains clear that this slow process of rejuvination and Britishness is probably not good enough to take us beyond the position we are in now. I don't want to see a Leeds happening at the Villa and obviously we are not going to attract Robinho and Kaka' but if Hamburg managed to get Van Der Vaart - for example - surely a club the size of Aston Villa should - finally - spend some stupid money on 3 quality (European) players who can also help the progress of some of our youngsters, teaching them how to develop into cultured passers rather than mainly rely on speed and organisation. My other serious concern remains that MON and his men don't seem to have a clue when it comes to scouting abroad, hence the links with overpriced, untested and to a degree unproven players like Barnes and Doyle.

@ Michael p. spot on post mate. I hate the 5 yr plan, why not 5 weeks or months or 10 years or whatever, why put a time limit? maybe cause in 5 years we will have forgotten about it and the pressure is off for now. Villa, signal your intent, yes we are doing well but it seems they are praying and keeping fingers crossed we don't get tired/injured/bookings. but when we do whatever good we have done until now, (which is good) we will fold like a pack of cards and it will be wasted opportunity. No right back? Imagine an american football team without a quarterback Randy! It just isn't professional

A few suggestions: set up academies in Holland, link up with Ajax/Feyenoord/PSV and understand how they develop cultured players from a young age. By cultured I mean players able to pass the ball, not punt it up in the air. Organise a network of - foreign if necessary - scouts based in all the main leagues as well as less competitive European leagues traditionally famed for producing quality players such as Serbia, Croatia, Ukraine and Portugal, to name a few. Set up - like AC Milan have done recently - an academy in Brasil and Argentina, hotbeds of talents. If we are not prepared to spend on established talent, we may as well be happy with 7th place for a few more seasons and invest the 4 million we could spend on Hoyte and the likes on creating an intelligent, modern network of scouts able to have 1st option on young talent out there. Because it seems to me that - despite his incredible work - no one has picked up on how Wenger does it. Look at Benitez at Liverpool, he has spent a fortune and - a gifted Champions League aside - has won sweet fa. The European brand in South America sells, kids love watching the main European leagues and would jump at the opportunity to be part of such a project. Just a thought.

again Michael P .. all mostly good

i agree with you on the barry front, 100% - great player but you're not going to break top 4 with him and you're going to struggle to break top 6 but i think MON knows this and thats why he bought petrov and reo .. and always relegates barry to left back

still - we've got a few weeks left and he'll get the summer but next season is all about getting UEFA cup - even if we get it this one and i cant see it happening when you look around at the squads ... MON needs to spend and bring in .. quality - not just young prospects

call me unambitious, but if the likes of man city go in for anelka, etc, then why dont we have a bid? even if we failed, at leasts its an attempt to get top class signings. the most frustrating thing is hearin clubs like man city, everton gettin linked wit excellent players, yet we are sitin quietly.
now if we sign someone tomoro who is truly top class, il eat my shorts.

i dont think there is anything wrong with barry so dont c y we wouldnt make top 4 with him in the side,its the likes of harewood moore knight and bouma will hold us back.. i like michael p's idea with setting up academies in europe and linkin up with top clubs. but first i would like 2 c us bringin in more quality.. we r more than capable of makin europe this season but mon needs 2 buy top players.. bosingwa bently diarra nd defoe r the players id like 2 c in claret n blue then bring on europe

@ pazzler, being linked with the players and signing them is a totally different thing,i dont care about who we are linked to aslong as we sign players that win things

I 'm trying to resist commenting on any transfer rumours, but i just can't do it! Bloody game :D

Barnes may be a prospect, but a prospect at right-wing is better than no winger at all. besides, it's only rumours, so i dunno why people are digging O'Neill about rumours.

How about getting Fred from Lyon? Might be worth a pop..a Brazil international too. AND a chance for him to play alongside Carew again.. I'd love to see Lassana Diarra at Villa, i'd hate it if Newcastle were the only club to make a bid and end up getting him. It'd be great to see a bit of experience in to compliment the youth.

M.O.N should also sit down with the likes of Laursen and Bouma to get all that sorted out. I think we're all expecting Mellberg to leave in the summer. But Villa being Villa, we won't sign anyone until the last week!!

Osbourne off ??? Why would we sell him surely he is going to be a decent player in years to come his like tom huddelstone from spurs i think we should keep him

As for wenger he should just let hoyte go cause all he is doin ins wreckin the poor lad its not as if wenger plays him week in week out

Silly frenchman wenger >:(

Just one point on the great Sven every club he has been with has ended up in financial meltdown and they all had owners who were wealthy but couldn't live with his spending. His biggest financial disasters were Benfica and Lazio, both clubs took years to recover from his stay with them although they both won things like Leeds they paid a big price. MON's approach is 100% correct he buys players who are going to develop and who he thinks will move us forward.So far he has been right and those who call for spectacular signings have been wrong.

Dizzy: Spot on, Barnes is just about 100% lock to sign with us. It may take him a year(like Young) but he has raw talent. MON gets the best out of young guys and we dont have a right wing so its a no brainer really. Again, after our signings before the start of the season people on this site were next to tears thinking mid table is the best we could hope for. Well with a wafer thin squad we have already proven that we are better. Lay off MON he is doing his job, which is to get us higher on the table. What players we use to get us there is just opinion.

I tell you what it does my head in too but lets just wait til 31st Jan, if you remember o’neill signed young in the last few days and Carew and Maloney last minute…..

I drive past the church that is Villa Park every morning on the M6 and I look at the beautiful neon lights and illuminated crest and I say a lickle prayer….

We are getting the same two names crop up the last 48 hours Owen and Milner,. I can not for the life of me see why them Geordie gets would want to sell either of them.

I think Defoe move is more likely…… we need some squad depth and fast, another holding midfielder, Right sided winger, left back cover and two right backs and a striker that can score!!! Hence my realistic list would be;

Hoyte and Diarra, who can play both rightback and centre mid. O’neill admitted he wanted him in the summer. Funny how lickle is he though; smaller than wright Phillips!! Matt taylor and bouma to battle it out for left back!

Barnes on the wing and Defoe up front. I wouldn’t mind crouch as well, we’d have real quality up front then. Carew/ Crouch and Gabby/Defoe

Hoyte, Diarra, Taylor, Barnes, Defoe and maybe crouch, 5 or 6 players that will get us easily into Europe and maybe even a cheeky fourth place depending just how much Liverpool can mess up!!!!

Disappointed with crazy horse’s comments but he is just playing the game. He will sign a three year deal along with bouma. Mellberg may yet stay too but im not bothered about him.

Outs; Moore, Harewood, mellberg sold to highest bidder!

Osbourne, o’ halloran cahill loans

I think ive got too much time on me hands!!

Up The Villa!

is it not worth going for Wayne Routledge?...
He wants to move and he plays on the right of midfield, where we struggle...

i think villa shud buy a good defendr like vanden borre, green, kewell and bojan
i wud buy lots of good players that will inprove the team but i think we shudent buy doyle at all i think fred ,brown ,freedy adu, adriano and arturo vidal
well wot do u think!!!!!!!!!!