New striker coming in January, for £18 million, according to the Mirror

Definately not Doyle!!! Probably someone like Santa Cruz or Podolski??? Haven't seen much of Lukas apart from internationally and he always looks better than Klose and Gomez!

It appears we can't trust Bill's elementary Algebra as well. 12 + 4 = 18?

Yeah, saw that earlier. Maybe you should be doing maths again tho Damo, its Bill Howell not Howells, theres only 1 of him (Thank the Lord!)

Oh, hang on, its plural. My apologies.

I would definitly go for podolski, maybe santa cruz.
I also agree that we should not go and buy doyle, i think he would be a waste of money, and i dont think he would be able to hack the premier league once again, hes a championship striker, end of. Heskey signed would also disapoint me, we would only have him for a bout 1/2 good seasons then he would be off, also i get the hint hes lazy...

Thanks JonnyWs

I see what you are saying Mr D about amount Torres cost, but what if MON has lined up a player of that quality for less money?

keefvilla

same quality less money would be great and there is nothing to say that a younger player hasn't been scouted which would be fantastic news ..

Read somewhere it was that kid from Ajax .
Hunteelar .
If it is he's worth every penny in my opinon.
However, reports from Nethlerlands and Spain are that he is the primary target for Real Madrid in January to cover hes international teammate Van Nisterlooy.

I wouldn't really want to spend that money on Santa Cruz - he has been very quiet for Blackburn, and considering Blackburn's position at the moment, I think we could steal him for a lot cheaper.
Podoloski wouldn't cost £18mill when yu consider that he is in the last year of his contract! I'd say £10million MAX and that's probably if a bidding war was to happen!!

heskey + defoe

heskey + santa cruz

or someone better than all of them.

NOT JUST HESKEY !!

By the way Damian I didnt comment on the Fulham thread but I thought you were WAY off the mark. We battered them / they parked the bus + rode their luck / We were unlucky not to score. Simple as that. Roy Hodgeson said it was Fulhams 'Sternest test yet'...

We were not AWFUL as some daft fans were saying, we looked solid and created loads of chances. Just because you draw a game doesnt mean you are awful..

Anyway, onwards !!

Podolski or Huntelaar?

PLEASE NOT DOYLE!!!

Mmmmmm...What about balancing the books..?

How much is JC worth..? Does that £18mill include what we get for JC in January..? I'm convinced he's on his way outta the door...

Heskey & Defoe would be good business.

Huntelaar please. Maybe we could get both?

I wrote this for the previous article, but since a new one’s appeared I’ll have to put it here or it will never be seen. Anyway, speculation about transfers is a complete waste of time. We only get our info from the papers and they just make it up as they go along. As Damian pointed out.

I see Liverpool dropped another two points at home last night to a club in the bottom half. And that result followed another two points gone at home to the club that drew with us. They no doubt drew comfort from Chelsea’s struggles against Newcastle and Arsenal – the club we thrashed at the Emirates.

So there you have it: Scolari, Wenger and the waiter – all of them tactically inept.

Oh yea, substitutions. We weren’t losing on Saturday and the players on the pitch produced the chances to win (how Sidwell missed that open goal still haunts me). Why change a winning system? Substitutions sometimes cause disruptions that make things worse. Or not.

And last - buying top four players. Do you think they come from a factory down the road? Don’t you think a top four player would rather go to top four club? Or London? Would someone like to estimate how many of these top four players are available? And how many teams are chasing them?

I hope O’Neill doesn’t read this blog. He might just piss off.

Damian. A word of advice. Leave the politics alone. People don’t come here for that.

Does anyone really believe that MON will spend £18mn on one player? For us to attract a big name they are probably going to have to have played in England pretty recently so they are aware of where we are headed. Also a nice run in the UEFA cup will definatly make us more known. My god wouldnt it be amazing if it were true!

As long as we get a highly rated player that cost a few bob I'll be a happy man in January!

Whoever MON signs they will be English. So lets think who is English, available and would come. Only a few names come to mind Heskey, Owen, Defoe, Crouch and Bent. Now Defoe IMO will return to Spurs in January and then Bent will be shown the door next summer. Crouch has already voiced his allegiance to Pompey, which only leaves Owen and Heskey. I can't think of any others. Therefore, onto the foreigners being banded around:

Santa Cruz will go to Man City to earn mega bucks and be with Sparky again.

Huntelaar if given the choice will join a big Spanish Club.

Podolski, The Hammer might have told him good things about the Villa but there are a bunch of other clubs supposedly after him too.

I honestly think we need a proven Premiership player as any foreigner is going to take a month or two to settle in and we ain't got the depth of squad for that, obviously!

I personally would welcome both Owen and Heskey as backup for Gabby and JC but not for £18million, probably £10million. Which leaves £8million for the next important position, a playmaker midfielder.

Apparantly now we're being linked with Freddie Kanoute for £8m.

I agree with Timmy_Rara's opinion, santa cruz is citeh bound and huntlaar, realistically, isnt going to come to us. signing owen and heskey for a total of no more than 10 mill would be good business and would add real competition, quality and depth to the squad. Its amazing to think owen is still only 28 (although turns 29 in a few weeks). could he become a villa great in the mould of that other injury prone player paul mcgrath?

Reply to churchil:

I wrote this for the previous article, but since a new one’s appeared I’ll have to put it here or it will never be seen. Anyway, speculation about transfers is a complete waste of time. We only get our info from the papers and they just make it up as they go along. As Damian pointed out.

...

"Damian. A word of advice. Leave the politics alone. People don’t come here for that."

Why is that? George W. Bush is an idiot...everybody knows that.

I just don't see anyone worth 18 million coming to VP in January. I think Doyle would be a good addition to the squad. He gives a lot of options coming off the bench. I have seen him play for Ireland live a few times and he is a great all round forward. Heskey, Owen, Ashton are all too injury prone for me, but if we have to buy one it would be Ashton.

My mom's better than Heskey.......and she's dead!
Heskey isn't a striker he's a playmaker, Santa Cruz i think!

I dont think we'll spend big money in jan on someone that is cup-tied.....

Harewood will be out the door so thats 4m in, we only need to cough up 12-15m for a class striker which we are in need of!

We might get owen or heskey in for 1-2m or both because they did work well for england so you never know but both would be very nice!

Big john isnt going nowhere he still got something to offer and if bazza can talk shit and get away with it big john should be alright for the rest of the season atleast.

Look at the games where we have needed someone special to help us grab all the points or kill off the game completely?

hafnarfjordu 1-1
the pool 0-0
litex 1-1
porthmouth 0-0
man utd 0-0
and the worst one fulham 0-0
everton 1-1 (its got a draw all over it)

That's not including all the games we've lost when we needed that extra spark to get us back in the game and maybe grab us a point

Defence = Strong
Midfield = Good
Attacking Forwards = Strong
Skrikers = Poor too inconsistent

IT'S NOT LONG TIL JAN ROLL ON

Timmy_rara do you honestly think that Michael Owen is going to want to come to vila as Gabby's back-up??
And that Heskey is going to come as back up for JC now he has become and England regular, i dont think he is going to want to sit on the bench every week.
We need a player that will put Gabby on the bench so we can bring him on as a impact player.
I think you talking small round objects mate.

Reply to HoofHearted:

Timmy_rara do you honestly think that Michael Owen is going to want to come to vila as Gabby's back-up??
And that Heskey is going to come as back up for JC now he has become and England regular, i dont think he is going to want to sit on the bench every week.
We need a player that will...

Just my opinion based on MON's previous dabblings in the Transfer Market. Don't get too excited about a big name striker coming to Villa. MON will never spend 18million on one player, especially if its a foreigner with no premiership experience. He is more likely to spend £6million on Heskey, £4-5million on Owen (with a huge signing on fee to compensate for wage cut) and then possibly an exiting young foreign prospect such as Defour for £7-8million.

You know Dean Ashton is due back to play in January. He has been out with Os Trigonum Syndrome Injury. It means bits of bone floating around in his ankle. He has been operated on and it is likely to have been cured permanantly.
Buying any striker is a risk but I think he would be worth taking the chance. West Ham have money problems and will proably sell him in January.

Reply to Panos:

"Damian. A word of advice. Leave the politics alone. People don’t come here for that."

Why is that? George W. Bush is an idiot...everybody knows that.

See what I mean, Damian

Ashton is extremely overrated, not that good at all. Good enough for West Ham, not good enough for us.

ashton is quality and when fit has a track record of scoring goals in prem. his finish against villa on the last day of last season was top drawer. i have touted him before as a decent bet for jan given west ham's financial problems and lowish league position.

In relation to owen, i think he would love to come to villa just to get out of the nightmare that is newcastle united. gabby would learn a great deal from playing with owen. lets be clear about this, if owen is fit he would start at villa.

What we could do is sell harewood for 3m and then we could get a striker for 21m!or do a straight swap with wigan with heskey coming here and harewood going to wigan and then we can get podolski or santa cruz on top of that with the 18m!i wouldnt mind having carew,gabby,podolski and santa cruz as our 4 strikers at villa!

diego forlan anyone?

and replace marewood with owen maybe

sort carew out whatever the problem maybe with him we still need the big guy playing

Here are the birthdays of the players mentioned
Heskey 11 January 1978
Owen 14 December 1979
Santa Cruz 16 August 1981
Huntelaar August 12, 1983
Doyle 18 September 1983
Ashton 24 November 1983
Podolski 4 June 1985

Podolski would be great for us but I think the summer would be a better chance of getting him. Owen and Heskey are only short term options because of their age.

I saw on sky sports last night that Marca reckons real madrid are already in agreement with Ajax to sell Huntelaar. But, he is injured and apparently out for the season!

So, obviously, that means whoever he signs for wont be able to play him for quite some considerable time.

I reckon we should go for podolski, youngish, bags of potential. and half polish, so he should fit right in here in england!

_Bob_, I agree, Forlan's a great shout but whether he'd return to the prem just yet remains to be seen.
I don't want to see Ashton at Villa- maybe a couple of years ago, but I think he's peaked and just keeps getting fatter and slower and more injury prone.
Doyle's a championship striker- in the mould of Rob Earnshaw who always looks deadly in that league!
No thank you Heskey- we want champions league football, not to cement our top half status.
I can definitely see us having a bid for Obafemi Martins, or Michael Owen if that fails, and I'd be very happy with both.
Santa Cruz would be expensive for his age, but with Young providing for him he'd be prolific again.
But Podolski has to be the main target, he'd be a top star in the premiership.
A couple of other names for the fun of it- Zaki? Bellamy (Hammers are skint and he's played champions league before)?
Who knows, it could be an unknown player from South America, but I doubt it...

for 18 million we could get a player like milner who can cross! thiery henry or walcott

Huntelaar is going to Real Madrid as Horse face is out for the season....

He would be a great signing for us, altho he did naff all at Villa Park recently...

I dont want Doyle or heskey... We should be aiming higher than those two....

We'll be linked with Iwelumo next!!!!!!

Apparently Iwelumo loves the Midlands but wants European action this season so is looking for a move to Villa in January.

We're being linked with Kanoute as well for £8m. Wouldn't mind that signing to be honest.

i think MON will look for maybe two strikers!
we need a top class finisher (e.g huntelaar,podolski or kanoute)
and i think he will go for a good hard working striker that isnt cup tied in europe!
any ideas?

Defoe & Martins would do it for me with an option on Dean Ashton at a reduced price if he comes back.

Stefan and Luke moore to come back for 10million is being rumoured around today! This would be great news they will give us the push for a top 4 finish!

Henrik Larsson? on a match by match contract wouldn't mind his doing what Harewood should be - ie. impact for the last 15 minutes or so.

Harewood is going inter milan in jan think this would really weaken our squad as in my opinion he is the deadliest striker in the prem!

As I said above I reckon JC is outta here...What's he worth then to put to this here £18million

LINK

Carew is worth around £9m I reckon.

Anyone think Kenwyne Jones could do a job for us as 2nd string striker?

He would if he could actually score. He always looks very dangerous but he just doesn't seem to able to hit the net. There is no way Sunderland will sell him as they are in trouble and are not short of cash.

but in a swap deal plus money for Carew and Harewood, that still leaves us £18m+ for two more strikers.

15. churchil

i cant agree with you more. Some villa fans need to get back to reality! how are we goin to attract top 4 players at the moment when we are fighting to keep hold of one (barry) from goin to a top 4!!! we need the players to break into that but unfortunately until we move to london (which isnt goin to happen) or become established in the top four then we arent goin to be able to sign to Fernando Torres of this world! Remember where we were under O'leary... look when o'neill has taken us. People consider us as main challengers to top 4... so other teams are goin to come and put 11 men behind the ball, and u criticisn villa now for not winnin the game?? The reason teams come with 11 behind the ball it cos we are a good team! fans want to finish in top four?? but dont wanna be treated as a top 4 team when playin against?? Make up ur minds and stay faithful!!! Up the villa!!!

True but while Robinho chooses Citeh over Chelsea (money or no money that's still a bold move) there's always a chance we can nick the odd one - that's all it takes. nobody's saying we should have a team of CL winners but if you don't keep asking, you'll never know might fancy the challenge.

With robinho he burnt his bridges at madrid... he wanted his chelsea move... they cudnt agree a fee so he went to man city, he went for the money and to get out of madrid because he fell out with him. if chelsea had offer accepted he wudnt have gone to Man c! some fans jus need 2 be more realistic... we havent got millions and millions to spend. MON brings in players he wants and are PREPARED to work for him and the team! Some players are Big timers and they dnt give a shit about the club. MON wants players to play 4 the badge!!!

Robhinio will NOT be at Man City next season! He's already started to criticise the team! I still believe his agent told him that Manchester had put an offer in and he thought it was Utd not City.

We either need to get lucky and sign a wonder kid that nobody's heard of or sign a couple of old timers( seasoned proffesionals to make them feel better) to help us get into that Champions League position. Once there, then we can talk about the BIG BIG signings.

Defo! Larsson would be my choice now. We can sign him now his contract has expired! We need to stay realistic coz judgin some fans comments its like u want MON out... and who else u gonna get it?? No one like him!

Martins + Elano. Maybe a little more than 18 million but that would make it a great January.

Reply to George_Templeton:

Martins + Elano. Maybe a little more than 18 million but that would make it a great January.

Add Valencia to that list and it would be some great signings.

Has Alan MacInally got over his injuries yet? we could do with a 20 a season goal scorer

Ive been reading this site all afternoon. Damian.. Do u even have a clue?? dont quit ur day job!

possibly owen for 5million
Doyle/podolski for 13 mill

Podolski and owen YAY

Reply to villavillavilla:

Ive been reading this site all afternoon. Damian.. Do u even have a clue?? dont quit ur day job!

Were all f*cked then, because this is his day job..

its got to be podolski or hunteelar or maybe diego ribas from werder bremen
all summer ive been saying to my dad we shud get him and i think hes worth around that mark
go on yutube and watch videos of him hes brill

two strikers for me are henrik larson & michael owen, with these two we would win the uefa cup & finish fourth in the premier league. probably get the two for less than 10 million. money well spent for me

Why do people think Carew is going !!???

Hes been injured, and said he wants to finish his career at villa ??

You make a good point mate. We just need to add that fire or spark. This is what i was trying to say at the beginning of the year when Barry was lobbying for his departure. Ok, De la Red was the apparent option and it turns out "lucky" this didnt happen as he has had some heart problems. But the fact remains, we need a striker or midfielder that can create a goal. All the top teams have these sort of players and if we consider our self to be a top team, we need these type of players also.... If we offered 12mil for Martins and 8mil for Elano that is only 2mil over the reported 18mil (or equal if you ask knob head Bill). I think both clubs would seriously consider the offers and it would without doubt give us plenty of options, class and creativity.....

Just read your post then, i was replying to Goldie then i saw your post.....i guess great minds think alike...

I hope we get someone it soon when the window opens on the 1st jan? Whoever they are its new blood and i'm guessing they'll be good additions to the squad and not just players

When we play hull on Tuesday 30th Dec there's no game until Jan 10th, i really hope oneil gets somebody in in those 10 days so we can thrash west brom at home But we all know we are a club that buys late and pays over the odds!!!

How longs it been see we had a Yorke at villa, it's getting on 10 years since we had a striker that worried other teams?

How long more... Gabby is good but he's not as good as owen was when he was his age or rooney or walcott

29 days till all the speculation slash bullshit starts secretly i love it 'we all love it, Remenber theyll be teams putting bids in for our players aswell!

I think we'll get a loan deal for someone we seem to like doing that sort of deal in jan

*corrected

I hope we get someone in soon when the window opens on the 1st jan? Whoever they are its new blood and i'm guessing they'll be good additions to the squad and not just players

When we play hull on Tuesday 30th Dec there's no game until Jan 10th, i really hope oneil gets somebody in in those 10 or so days so we can thrash west brom at home But we all know we are a club that buys late and pays over the odds!!!

How longs it been seen we had a Yorke at villa, it's getting on 10 years since we had a striker that worried other teams?

How long more... Gabby is good but he's not as good as owen was when he was his age or rooney or walcott

29 days till all the speculation slash bullshit starts secretly i love it 'we all love it, remenber theyll be teams putting bids in for our players aswell!

I think we'll get a loan deal for someone we seem to like doing that sort of deal in jan

flog harewood, buy owen and podolski......id be MORE than happy with that!!

Real Madrid have confirmed Huntelaar will be joining them in january.
Cross him off the wish list.

I would like to see a bid for Martin Petrov, as I can't see him getting into the Man City side and think he would be a superb impact player coming on.

As for a forward, fair play to the person who brought up Kenwyne Jones. Let's not forget that neither Yorke nor Henry weren't 'goalscorers' before they were placed in a thriving attacking team. From what I've seen of Jones he could be monstrous under the right tutelage. What a time to pry someone away from Sunderland, who I think would not miss him in a relegation dogfight and would rather a Doyle type.

Let's get bloody Christmas over so we can start ranting about fantasy transfers. I find this is the real festive season when all Villa fans live in peace and harmony.

Heskey

Huntelaar and Defoe.

That would be brilliant, especially with Agbonlahor showing his worth over Carew...

18m for owen and martins, newcastle would jump at the offer.

I would buy Adriano from Inter for 8mil and Podolski of Bayern for 10mil....There done!!!

I really like what you did there Nan...You carrot dangler you!

if we have got 18m pounds get out there and buy something with a touch of class. don't purchase an english striker as in my opinion there really aren't any around with any class besides agbonlahor which we already have, rooney well he wouldnt leave man utd and defoe. get out and get podolski at all costs the guy is electric and would be a great fit for us.

Hi everyone
I started to get a little worried after reading the first 50 or so comments because it seemed that the buy English thing had really stuck and only Owen and Heskey were being mentioned as possible additions...please no !
George Templeton and Ghosthunter had it right for me with Martins and Elano. That is exactly what we need,
littlevillain...Diego is fookin mint mate and I really wanted us to put in a bid in for him in the summer. Do you think he would come now that we have got UEFA and a high position in the prem ?
I'd love it. Those three players would really make this current Villa squad complete for about £30 odd million ?
Imagine all that with what we already have...we'd win the bleedin' league !

By the way, give Damo a break lads. I don't know what the problem is because i've been a little bust lately but quite a few on here seem to have a bit of a vendetta against him.
I think he's sound, it's a blog for opinion and i think he does a great job administering the site.
Personally, I preferred the pre-ole days when things were a bit more personal on the home page but thats just me. Good work anyway mate, I like to read your opinions anyway.
Up the Villa for Thursday, should be some interesting changes to behold...Fonz / Hare up front, Brad in goal etc. Should be good.

UTV

I think it's pretty obvious Heskey is coming to Villa park but hopefully along with someone else. Owen would be too much of a gamble but either Podolski, Kanoute and Martins would be good signings. Or just fuck it off and spend it all on Diego!

Diego, gets my vote.

Told you that Huntelaar is off to Real Madrid.. £17m transfer in January....

Next.......

I'd have Owen....

well tbh i would love us to buy Vagner Love from CSKA bcs he is a mint player a good goal scorer! n we shouldnt sell harewood until the summer bcs he cn b a bk up, and MON should buy another striker to add numbers: (podolski, adriano, lisandro Lopez or Henry)
then get Diego Ribas frm bremen for around 8/9mill and also get elnao man shity and buy another Rbk... Bruno Alves (porto)?
then why doesnt he get a scout to look around europe n south america for talented youngsters.... lyk keko (atletico madrid meant to b th nxt torres), canales (plays lyk xavi), douglas (nxt kaka), carioca (played well in brazil ths yr), felipe mattioni

how about ashton?
but please not heskey or doyle
best would be podolski or santa cruz
random would be owen

Reply to __AA__:

Mmmmmm...What about balancing the books..?

How much is JC worth..? Does that £18mill include what we get for JC in January..? I'm convinced he's on his way outta the door...

Not a chance, Carew loves it villa park and is playing some of the best football he's ever played,but talking of value he would bring in at least 14million if not more up the villa

Just to backup runner,

LINK

I heard on skysportsnews that Huntelaar is going to Madrid and is pretty much a done deal ready for January.

Reply to Mattyp:

well tbh i would love us to buy Vagner Love from CSKA bcs he is a mint player a good goal scorer! n we shouldnt sell harewood until the summer bcs he cn b a bk up, and MON should buy another striker to add numbers: (podolski, adriano, lisandro Lopez or Henry)
then get Diego Ribas frm...

That would be great, but lets be honnest you must be living in dream world to get any of them lol
Would be great tho

pitty david villa is worth more than 18 million!

I recon podolski would be a nice signing for us!