Jermaine Pennant high on the list of wanted men at Aston Villa

From what i saw when he comes on for Liverppol he dosent actually do that bad a job.The only worrying thing is that because he's a Liverpool player i can see him being part of a swap deal involving Carson in a trade for Barry.

If a young English right winger is needed why do we not go for Milner???? It just makes too much sense thats why!

He is strong, both footed (allowing him and Webcam to switch) and quick, we all already know what hes capable of from a few seasons ago. He has apparently fell down the pecking order at Newcastle as KK does not seem to fancy him so maybe available for £5M or less, which is a bargain.

Please MON, please sign James Milner.

I'll never forget being up in Birmingham buying a sandwich & Pennanet was standing in the doorway of the shop on the phone spitting through his teeth onto the pavement........Why would Villa wany this piece of scum at our club?????? It wouls sicken me if we brought him....The bloke can't even read & write & thats fact............Please no.

I'll alsoo add befor i get shot down. It is that good either. In fact he's average.

An ex bluenose, which never helps! .. But he is a typical MON signing, lost his way in life a bit .. Got real potential and under a good manager, playing every week would become a good player.

We currently have no right wingers ... So yeah sign him up, along with another one!

Hopefully there is no truth in this rumour. We'd be as well off signing Joey Barton. I would much rather James Milner or David Bentley, both are better footballers, and more importantly in my mind, neither would be likely to bring disgrace on the club

had talent as a younger player, but dont think he is gonna get any better, and not even mon can help. sum players wont improve and i tink he is one of em. no thanks. bid for bentley or milner, atleast. please.

Yeah,pazzler, ur right, i have two examples, prime examples ad FAILURES:

Luke moore.
Stefan moore.

I used to be told that they would turn out as fantastic players for aston villa and england, and that was a good assumpition to make, but the players effort really has to be there to be a success story... does he really have it?

I think he will be content with his wage and the subs bench.

- Josh C.

Trouble-maker, no thanks.

who next, lee hughes and joey barton? fred west gets released soon aswell doesnt he (or is he dead?)

I have to agree with the comments made, i have seen pennant on quite a few occasions this season, my relatives are season ticket holders at Anfield (freebie tickets!!)
Truth is that though good in spasms he tends to go missing for long periods and is not that strong at picking out the right pass.
Milner however is a much more consistant player two footed and a lot stonger on the ball. IMO there is no comparison, Milner is the better option.

Ive always said we have no money to spend and Lerner is just here for the honey! and that all us fans are being taken for a ride, the momoment mon is offered a real top job he'll be off!!

Yeah hopefully buying the players not good enough for Liverpool will REALLY want Barry to stay and show our aspirations.

I think if we're going to grab a few Liverpool players in exchange for Barry (and i do think Rafa the imbecile will get bored and buy some Spanish w*nkbag instead), we really should boost our numbers a bit. Personally think Finnan is excellent despite his age (£2m), Riise is also top notch and has european experience in abundance (£5m). They can keep Carson, but Pennant really does impress when he comes on, and his badboy days seem behind him. Completely agree Milner is first choice though, and he would truly play his heart out for Villa and the fans would chant his name allday long at VP. Still can't see Bentley coming, although he was talking yesterday about his England aspirations, so Capello might just have a word and say the majority of the England Team plays for Villa anyway so get involved!! Anything on Sidwell yet? This is driving me crazy.

I think Damians already mentioned it. It's just that at what point can we sign players that are not jaded and are good enough on their own without this MAGICAL MYSTERY that MON apparently does? If he is that good then why hasn't it worked on knight,maloney,petrov,salifou,berger,sorenson,young,routledge etc?

Who wants a player in their squad that used to be under police curfew and had to wear an ankle tag when playing football? Seriously, this guys a thug and not a good thug like Roy Keane was, he's a crap thug like Robbie Savage. Also, more importantly, you don't want to be doing business with Liverpool full stop, whether it's players going out or coming in. They're just a club we shouldn't be dealing with, especially at the moment.

On a larger scale, we need to be looking at bigger players than Pennant and Sidwell if we expect Barry to stay at Villa Park.

for once taglor is actually making a good point buying liverpools cast offs is no sign of intent to barry that we want to replace liverpool in the top four im with damian and taglor we need to think bigger and better than pennant,

hes a good player but we need better milner anyone?

why are people saying don't sign pennant because hes not good enough for liverpool, but go and sign james milner who is not wanted at newcastle? surely the newcastle reject would be a step down from the liverpool one? i loved milner in his villa days but pennant must be the better choice, saying that we do need more players so why not sign both? another thing, taglor you say this MON effect has done nothing for many players, but in that list you include ashley young. not even you could possibly deny that he has improved a million times over under O'neill. also zat knight, he really has not been that bad, certainly better than when he was at fulham, MON has definately got man management ability up there with the best and dont denyit, also how can you judge salifou and routledge when theyve not played yet?

The best football shirt www.thefootballshirt.com

bob avfc, with routledge and salifou that proves my point they are that bad they haven't played yet and I totally agree with you I got it wrong and typed young, I meant to have typed moore! I ballsed up lol

He's a waster, i'll be even more unhappy if we sign him than if we sign carson.

There's plently of good right wingers available, Lennon, SWP, Milner.. All of whom, would be available if we put sum cash on the table..

As ive said before tho, Quaresma would be my number 1 choice, he's up there with Ronaldo in terms of skill. Check him out on Youtube... He's a big enough name to cause a stir at Villa Park and amongst the Premiership.

I've never really understood the way Benitez has dealt with Pennant. He played pretty well for Blues that season (with the stats on crossing yadda yadda) and warranted a big money move, was hyped to link up with Crouch, and it never really happened.

Feel semi-sorry for the kid but although I think he could do a job at Villa, there is too much stacked up against him (attitude, history) to ever get a move to Villa Park.

I think with the way rafa has been pricing his players Crouch(15m)and Carson(10m)It wouldn't surprise me if pennant was priced between 5-10mil! so i think Milner would definatley be a better and more cost effective option. N'zogbia has shown signs of real quality and could switch wings with young. I think their are better wingers which could be bought Downing(10m), Bentley (15m), SWP(10m). all 4 of those which are players which would show our ambition and would be as good or better than the quality we already have. Add the MON factor to the quality which these for have shown already throughout their careers they might even become more influential than young!!!

To be honest i'd love to see mon go mental this summer and sign three wingers unless steiber gets a few games. routledge is great cover on the right (I know that he hasnt played much but always impressed me at palace), so a cheaky bid for Joaquin and offering him whatever wages he demands. Milner because he can play both sides and then a nani/babel figure who is up and coming and doesn't mind only playing a few games. Then go all out for Nelson (says he doesn't want to play in England but make him a millionaire and he'll come). A youngster as cover at RB; perhaps that young leicester lad and his 17 year old mate. with the wings sorted Diego/van der vaart to strengthen central mid and a cheapish experienced centre half (van buyten from Munich) to act as cover for Davies and Laursen with knight moving to 4th choice. Leave the strikers alone because i'd like to see what Delfouneso capable of. But that would be 60mill well spent.

oh yeah, jaakseleinen on a free or cudicini at bargain basement would be nice!

Q. Why is Rafa getting rid of Pennant?
A. Because he's fucking shit and thick as fuck, which is why he can rarely pick out a decent pass.

Q. Why is he getting rid of Riise?
A. One trick pony who's getting slower. He can also trap the ball further than I can kick it.

Go all out for Bentley, or SWP if that fails. At least aim high to begin with. I think these are realistic targets and at least shows our intention to rough the big boys up next season.

I posted this link over on Villa Talk, and added that ive also heared that Scott Carson is also involved in the deal, with a slight cash adjustment.

The Post has mysteriously vanished, without an explanation as to why!

Read into that what you like, but as you all know, the General reads the posts!

Very strange!

LOL taglor's made the most sensible comment on this thread! he's right we cant challange liverpool if we are only buying their cast offs

anyone know if we had looked at degen before liverpool got him? or if any prem clubs have been linked with the likes of millito, d'alessandro or zapater from relegated zaragoza?

also govou is a right midfielder and he's leaving lyon - at last he's a bit more exciting

stuart downing £10 mill are you serious ive watched a lot of his games and hes not that good has a decent left foot but misses 9 out of 10 shots cant pass for toffee and cant run at people
bently however is another story he would be the typeof player we could unilise as he has pinpoint acuracy with crosses likes to run at defenders and is a quick thinking player who reacts well to regain possession etc... everything downing cant do
milner is in the same bracket as bently but cheaper younger and knows his way around the villa most of the squad already know his playing style and could adapt very well being in the villa squad again

I just want to know what taglors "excitment" rating is for Pennant as a signing.......

Practically every player we are linked with makes me cringe...Pennant along with Steve Carr and Scott Carson would easily make the premierships worst 11.
Why do Portsmouth, Spurs, Man City etc get linked to serious players while we go to Aldi to get our buying.
We finished 6th last season - to improve we need players better than we have allready. Whats the point in signing castoffs from our rivals - sure you may be lucky but WHO is the last decent player we transferred from a top 10 side????? McGrath??

It seems no matter who we are linked to - people are happy. Jermaine Pennant???? Where is our bloody ambition?

If Randy and Mart dont back up all their talking - all the goodwill from fans will evaporate and yet another big chance will have been blown and we wont have deadly to blame this time.

No...please not Pennant. I can't stand the guy and someone above said how thugs like him would never fit into what we have at Villa Park nowadays, and they're dead right.
I was talking to a Nose today and he said we should stay well clear and mentioned his ASBO tag and him turning up off his nut for training to be sent home (i didn't know about that one).
You can usually tell a lot about people from their facial expressions and mannerisms and Pennant is just like his vile cousin who was on Big Brother. That Charlie bird made me want to kick my telly in and it's the same when I see Pennant on the telly, he is simply way too arrogant.
I admit his style of play would suit us and i'm not disputing the fact that he is an excellent crosser when he's on his game, but please MON...don't do it !! He'd be more trouble than he is worth.
Let's have Bentley instead plus Diego, Jussi and some more real quality, but better than what we have or what's the point ?
As for the thing that we won't be spending much money this summer, that has royally racked me off that has.
We missed a good opportunity to strengthen in January when threadbare and we were so lucky with injuries, suspensions etc.
This is now surely the time to kick on with the Villa Revolution and start spending the money on some class. Come on Randy, get the cheque book out and give us something to get excited about !

UP THE VILLA
;) ;)

I Read somewhere we've gone in for aaron ramsey of cardiff.

Hate it when all these people get worked up over SPECULATION!

If a newspaper links us with Carr, it means we are deffo getting him and MON is doin a crap job.
Get linked with Diego and its rubbish and will never happen!

Its stupid rumours, wait to see who we actually sign ... rather than goin ... uwww but man city and spurs are gettin linked with better players! So what, they aint signed anyone!!!!

AV33, that Charlie bird from BB is Kieron Richardsons cousin not Pennants but I agree with your sentiments

So.

What is your excellent book? You really are just a big tease Damian.

Totally agree with K4AVFC, c'mon people for fucks sake, who us fans want down at villa means fuck all, who the papers say we are looking at to get down villa park means shit all too! And who our friends moms uncles nans sister says she saw talking to MONs hairdressers scissor polishers wife in connection with some player we are after means nothing too... yeah this chinese whispers scenario we get every close season means fuck all also!!! Its all just pure speculation and thats why i cant be arsed writing on here and haven't for a good while, I've simply had enough, I am speculating about speculation now!!!! ITS BECOMING TOOOOO MUCH!!!!!

Until we see that god-awful title on the official villa webshite (yes the H is intentional!) "WEBFLASH" we may as well stop wishing and wanting and face up to the fact that MON wont let on who he is after, he wont play the media games that other managers play coz he is an old school gentleman (although sometimes i wish he would get a bit more of a mean streak) so all these names we keep hearing, and god knows there have been almost 100 so far this summer, mean shit all until we see them holding the shirt on the Villa site!

Its that simple and its really the only way to look at things coz if you dont then you are only gonna end up disappointed when we buy more average players! I'm not saying MON is the man with all the answers transfer wise coz he has been dodgy on that front from day one, but just wait and see, and then, if you aint happy with the players we buy, well sorry, but that also means fuck all too! :'(

One thing that everyone seems to be overlooking with regards to transfers is that our chairmain runs a credit card company and are we not in the middle of the 'credit crunch'?

@ViLLaN....I really thought she was Pennant's cousin for some reason but thanks for correcting me. Although i'd probably say the same if it was Kieran Richardson we were rumoured with.
Arrogant little man in a similar if not identical mould to Pennant with too much money than he knows what to do with. I wonder how long it will be before we're linked with him as well...god help us !
Prima donnas all over the gaf before we know where we are !
The dodgy part to all this is that both of them would probably benefit the shape of the team but i would think that they will upset the Villa Revolution (!...give us some proof Randy) and the dressing room at some point if they were to join.

UP THE VILLA ;)

Dont expect big signings eh?

I thought that was what we were told to expect at the beginning of last season... ;D

Woodinho - You're right. I can't beleive some people are moaning about MON and Lerner because the rumours don't link us with the right quality of player. It seems to me that there are a number of people just waiting for MON and co. to screw up, never wanting to admit that the guy is an excellent manager and the club is in better hands than it has been for years.

We performed well and finished 6th (despite all the doomsayers saying we'd fall away after January) and it's not true to say that if we had bought in extra quality we would have finished higher. It simply cannot be proved and there are plenty of examples at other clubs where it failed to work.

It's fun to comment on whether you think a rumoured player will fit in etc. but stupid to start berating the management team for not showing ambition. They keep their cards very close the their chest with signings. I doubt we will see any top class european players (as we would see it) as it doesn't seem to be the way of MON but I will continue to judge on results and, at the moment, they are excellent.

P.S. Stopping the headline at "Jermaine Pennant High" would have made much more of a realistic piece of news ;)

Last summer the reigning champions spent about 100million on four players. Spurs have just signed Modric - one of the most exciting prospects in europe who crapped all over englands 'star' midfield - twice. Portsmouth signed Defoe. Man City seem to have brazilian forward Jo signed for 18million. Boro signed Alfonso Alves for about 12 million. Chelsea have signed Bosingwa and will probably spend 100plus million this summer. Arsenal have Nasri and also look to be spending big. Everton signed Yakubu. Newcastle and sunderland will spend big

The fact of the matter is that standing still means moving backwards. To stay where we are now will need strong re-inforcements and big money. To actually improve our position will require massive amounts of money - thats the sorry truth. I realise our linked players are merely speculation but for the majority of them who are crap - people say we would like to have them....I dont get it...where is our ambition!

Eoin 1981 i could'nt agree with you more. I can see us sitting still again this summer while the likes of Spurs, Pompy jump ahead of us again. How the hell can we realistically think we can ever catch the top 4 by buying players that can't get in their teams. By the way Ghosthunter i would say that we did fall away after Jan this year becase when you looked at our fixture list at that point and the stupid points we dropped then it was obvious to me that we needed to strengthen and MON in his great wisdom only brought in the great Wayne Routledge . Spurs have now signed 3 players (Woodgate, Hutton, Modric) which would all walk into our team and i'l bet you that they are not finished yet. I honestly believe that MON has'nt a clue when it comes to the transfer market. GET YOUR FINGER OUT.

taglor - u r definately a bluenose in disguise. never a positive comment an the seasons over!!! how can u say MON hasn't helped ashley young????? prob one of the best players outside the top four!! an slating routledge??? we avent even seen him yet so give him a chance!! if not go watch doncaster v blues next season with your m8s. >:( >:(

Eoin I totally agree, I can't get my head round fans that try and make crap signings sound like a good thing. I think they have a playground mentality that if you say anything other than good things about your club it makes you less of a fan and that keeps tham happy thinking they are more of a fan. Do some of you really think we are waiting for MON to slip up? why would we be on a villa blog worrying about whether Villa will do well or not? Try opening your mind beyond spaghetti junction and see that there is a world of football out there.n As for defending RL because of the credit crunch?!?!?!!? does that mean all the players will take a pay cut to play for loyalty instead? will they my big hairy ARSE!!

Please explain how oneil keeps his cards close to his chest. this is a complete Myth.
Reo coker last summer - -everyone knew he was coming 3 months before he signed. Harewood was rumoured over a month before, young went on for 3/4 weeks, davies likewise, Even Knight was mentioned over 2 weeks before. Carew we didnt here about only because MON was offered him last minute as part of the Baros deal otherwise we would of heard about that months before. Now the sidwell rumour has been going on a month - in 2 months after endless more info/rumours coming out about it we may sign him. To say Oneil keeps his cards close to his chest is complete BS!!!

why dont we go all out for bentley, hes a brilliant crosser of the ball not that much pase but neither does barry,strength good free kick taker hes got all the qualitys to a great right winger

I would say that Routledge is open for criticism. The guy has come to a club where in reality he is the only senior player that plays on the right wing and he still cannot make the position his. There was a reason why Spurs and Pompy didnt want him. Because he he just isnt good enough.

after sitting and watching all the post come through over the last 24 hours i must say i dont know what people really expect. lets all get real for once and stop dreaming.

we are a massive club but lets face it in todays realm we are an unproven side. in the last ten years we hve won the carling cup and finished in the top six twice. how does anybody expect us to attract world class players with that record.

i know you will ll have your opinions on this and all say that clubs like spurs are showing ambition and going out and getting the players we should be BUT there are reasons as to why that is. spurs have an intonationally renowned manger that can attract those sort of players and they can pay better wages than we can.
Martin Oneil is a fantastic manager who is regarded as one of the best in the business but not in the eyes of the rest of europe. i say this because he did wonders at Celtic but you dont see world class players flooding into Scotland as the scottish league is not strong enough.

we are all asking where are the qulity signings we where promised. well we have had them Ashley young and Curtis Davis (who was wanted by Arsenal but put off by the price). the point is we will sign 5 players this year and spend £20 - £30 million.
what you will get for that is one player of quality ie David Bentley (i hope) and 4 spuad players of the same sort of level already at the club or some young talent that may prove to be quality.
look at everton they have been top six for the last 5 years or so and they have signed Yakubu what makes us so much more attractive.

Tonebone - we are linked with every player under the sun and it's usually only during the last couple of days when the speculation reaches fever pitch. If you throw enough s**t at the wall some of it will stick. Look on the official site for a list of who we have already been linked with!! I'd like to bet that we end up with at least one of them. Hence, MON plays his cards close to his chest IMO.

Taglor - It's OK to criticise but I rarely, if ever, hear anything positive coming from you. We finished 6th despite your crap predictions. So we haven't got the most instantly recognisable names on the pitch, it's not all about who but sometimes about how. I would love to see some big name signings but I don't, for one minute, think it's as simple as that. I do think you're waiting for MON to slip up, that way you can turn around, as you sometimes do, and say that you don't know why everyone is surprised and that you knew this would happpen etc. etc. At some point, simply through the law of averages, you're gonna be right.

AK23 - We fell away!! you can't be serious!! I can look at games before Jan and say that we lost 'silly' points (Spurs!!)

Just enjoy the fact that we had a decent season, we could be playing UEFA Cup football next season. We 'might' make some good signings and it might not rain all summer!!

Can we have Arshavin and Sobis please?

Arrlui...no problem mate. I'm agent to both of them, they'll be only too pleased to come to Villa. They're £300 each and they prefer to keep things quiet and only deal in cash. Can you meet me on Friday so we can make the transaction?! (before the bookies shut if you can)

UP THE VILLA ;)