Martin O'Neill interested in Willy Sagnol?

Id take sagnol any day, we need some players who have played at a higher level, we need proven winners who have won league titles and have represented their clubs at champions league level. in the long term it makes alot more sense

I appreciate this is what we have been told, about youth and all but maybe some experience, particularly at the back, would come in handy. Belletti was 31 when he signed for Chelsea and i'd pick him over Ferreira anyday.

Besides, MON could go out and pay 4-8m on an up and coming prospect who takes a while to develop, not everybody will step up as much and as soon as Webcam Ashley.

unrelated to this post but.......
Does anyone else out there think it will be quite interesting to see the players that wanted to leave villa and subsequently left, plying their trade in the championship next season with lee hendrie. Were they as good as we once thought?
Samuel, Mc Cann, Cahill, Davies, Hughes. Lee henrie.

I'm a Bayern Munich fan and know Sagnol quite a bit. He certainly is over the hill! Since his last injury he has not regained his previous strength and doesn't even sit on the bench most of the games. To be honest I didn't really see him anywhere near the stadium within the last couple of weeks. It seems like he has fallen into discredit lately and both sides want to him to leave.

Sorry for my sometimes improper English but I'm sure you'll understand what I try to say! ;)

Since we haven't actually bought any of these 'over the hill' players yet, I wouldn't say the policy of buying youth is dead - it could well be that O'Neills decided that there isnt anyone available at the right price for certain positions (eg. right back) - so now hes scouting around for older players. we might only buy one or two of these older players - which still leaves us with a very youthful looking squad.
having said that, from what Joggl says above, I'm not sure Sagnol is still good enough (he would have been a few years back).

If the last few years have thought us anything - its that we dont sign any players that we are linked with!!

Its allright having a policy to buy young players but all teams need experience and I dont see anything wrong with signing players that are only going to be around for 2-3 years. Tierry Henry is 30 - would everyone be giving out if we signed him in the summer??? He is too old - sure he would probably score 100 league goals in 3-4 seasons but what would we do after that!!!

Lets all go to Pride Park a la la la! a la la la!

I wouldn't look into it much, O'Neill was at a Bayern game, Villa need full backs, Sagnol is a full back, Sagnol plays for Bayern... typical media putting things together and coming out with probably the wrong answer. Sagnol wasn't even on the bench in the game O'Neill went to.

I would be more excited if he'd gone to see Lahm, Podolski or Schweinsteiger but they're probably a bit to big for us at the moment!

A few weeks back MON said he may have to get some more experienced players in to gel with younger ones,so im not surprised at all we are getting linked with 31yr olds as long as there very good 31yr olds I dont care either.

I dont see the problem. He'd add experience, quality and a a big personality for the younger players to learn off.

Yes youth should be the policy but it needs to complimented with experience. Damien - you seem to be taking any excuse or opportunity to bash the club at the moment................

I Believe we're going to swoop for Podolski this summer in a loan deal to see how he adapt's to the premier league. Also Sagnol at 30 or whatever is still better than no RB the guy is classy player and has been for a while, Villa need experience at the back and he certainly has experience. But why shouldn't villa sign players in there 30's ?. We need a good season or two in europe before we can think about signing top young prospects and prospects don't always work out to be stars. So signing players like sagnol or any other experienced players in his age bracket i can only see the benefits of them helping us in europe and developing better competition for places. Then we can look at people like bosingwa and lahm, Few examples makalele signed for Chelsea and was a huge factor in them winning the league, Henrik Larsson signs for Man utd and undoubtedly helped them, and we all were saying he'd be good player for us in January. Quick question who would you's prefer Sagnol or Hoyte to be at villa this summer ?.

MON has always bought experienced players to give the side balance with the younger players, he had Matt Elliott at Leicester and Chris Sutton at celtic among others. Also remember the impact Sutton had whem he briefly played for us. I think we have loads of young talent, a few more experienced players would help keep the young lads calm when we hit the skids, like recently.

Id rather sign Damian to be honest.........


@chrisodon, neither but if pushed Hoyte

I don't mind signing a 30-year old. I don't remember the club promising to sign only young players. Experience balances out youth. We can all names several 30-year olds that we'd want on Villa (Bouma will turn 30 before next season, for example, and I hope that we resign him). Granted, Sagnol isn't one of the 30-year olds that I'd want.

The reason Arsenal lost last night was because they lacked maturity in defence when needed most (and they have Senderos playing for them..) My point is, we're losing an experienced defender in Mellberg this summer so buying someone of Sagnol's age/profile would be positive. I think the idea of buying young blood is not the policy

I hope he is intrested as he is a good strong right back and likes to get forward i suppose tho the only reason martin is after him is because he cost less than 5million

Nothing would suprise me about MON. Anyone who would pay 8million for Nigel Reo Joker & start the season without a right back never mind cover at right back needs to seriously look at themselves.
Buying old has been wouldn't bother me if -
1. We had a massive squad & were just getting in cover.
2. If we still had Doug Ellis as Chairman.
People keep forgetting we've got a Billionaire Chairman so wht do we but crap players like Coker & Zat Knight????? We need to think & spend big. MON is not at Leicester or Celtic anymore with no money so stop compairing.
Think Big, Spend Big or i'm sorry Mr MON you'll get hounded out.
This Summer is Xmas eve & if he doesn't spend big the kids wont get any presents & that will be the end of him.

I think Sagnol would be a good signing for us beacuse even though he is 31 he still is a good player and has the experince. I think if we get into europe this season and we was to sign him his experince would be valuable and would help the young lads through the season. Also he would give us the balance we need with experince and youngsters.

maybe oneill is looking for older players who ahve the quality to get us where we need to be because the younger expensive players just wont come, if we can buy older players that can player for a season and get us into Europe then this will open the doors for a younger generation in the following season.

@ Jinksy.

Just because we have a billionaire running the club doesn't mean a load of young top talent is going to want to come they want trophys and money. It's a stupid policy just looking to buy prospects because prospects don't always develop in to top players. You need a steady base of youth and experience some players that the youth can look up to and learn off. If what you're saying was to happen we'd be leeds but with even more thickle fans just wanting instant success rather than a steady progression.

you need youth and experience in a good squad

[quote]All of the rumours we're hearing at the moment are pretty much for over the hill squad players.[/quote]

Hang on a minute we have got loads of young athletic talent with the mixture of chubby old experienced pros we will have a very dynamic team. Don't forget we have the best youth academy in the country to pick from!

Whether we get into Europe or not we need to build on the squad, flashing the cash gets you nowhere look at Man City. Buying the correct players who fit within the team and have the right attitude is a must and there is nothing wrong with the older players admittedly I hope they are Beckham quality.

Lovin the name Willey Sagnol!

Chrisodon - Should be Muppett

What are you banging on about you acuse me of wanting this and that & i didn't say any of it. I just want our manager & Billionaire chairman to invest in top quality players FULL STOP. Not rubbish players like Reo Joker, Zat Knight & Wayne Routledge.

Jinksy, you dont wanna be the kid who snuck down the stairs to find your parents putting the presents under the tree, and ruin christmas for everyone......It takes time mate...Weve been given a sniff (with are early performances this year) but because the sqaud is thin we ran out of puff. I would rather it happen now, than if we had signed any old person or squad players as they are known, we would have stuff our wage budget and jeopardized this summers spending even more. If we didnt have Knight who would your choice be to fill Davies spot and dont cop out and say Cahill....Knights ok, hes not making the big money and hes there as a back up, Reo is ok too. Just remember its Randy with the cash, your talking like its MON coming up with the coin......

Jinksy i can't be arsed giving a proper reply to your comment it's a waste of my time responding to a idiot like you.

in a football team you need experiance so the younger player might be able to learn a little bit more from his fellow oldie ok he might only have 2 or 3 yrs left in him but if hes good enough lets sign him.

I agree with Chrisodon. Look how Bolton fared with mature players, they survived the prem and got into europe. They didn't have the right balance though. Not enough youth in the team.

I think a few experienced players will add to our stamina throughout our season. That's why Laursen has been so good for us. I'd give the experienced players a chance just to pull us up and attract a few other players on the way. Ronaldinho maybe? Or is he over the hill as well?

you need youth and experience in a good squad
[url]www.youtubeline.com[/url]

Jinksy i can't be arsed giving a proper reply to your comment it's a waste of my time responding to a idiot like you.
www.youtubeline.com

As much as Jinsky's attitude sucks like a 10 dollah whore I have to say he has a point. Zat Knight and Reo-Coker don't seem that good to me.

well Man Utd showed how far we have to go last night. they put out pretty much a 2nd team and beat Roma. The following 11 didnt even make there side last night.
Kuscak, evra, oshea, vidic, neville, scholes, nani, fletcher, ronaldo, saha, rooney!!!
i would say we have 1 player that would get in this team. oneil has been there 2 years and has signed such a pathetic bunch of players that only 1 player maybe 2 in our squad would get in Man Utd's 24!!!
I am sorry guys but thats the benchmark and we are further than ever off it!! because the player he has signed are shambolic

I cant beleive no-one has mentioned the scum directors Brady and Sullivan getting arrested....

So who's got the first song to be sung from the Holte End then???

Something about Karen Brady "going down" would be good!

Woodinho

they're not on the radar mate .. let them worry about us - i really dont care what happens to them which is why nothing has been written here - it is in the forum though ;)

ok fair enough... I just burst out laughing when I saw it on the evening mail site earlier! What a shambles though!

I have been watching the russian team zenit st petersburg and they have two very good young players,Arshavin and Anyukov. One is a right back and the other a right sided attacking player. Both are quick,clever and two footed players. Could probably pick them up for a few million each.