No deal for Sidwell yet and O'Neill is apparently interested in Darren Bent from Spurs

Hes on about 90 k a week at spurs we'd never be able to compete with that kind of money.

Bent would be ok but as pointed out spurs wont be lettin him go unless its somewhere near what they paid for him. We can get better 4 cheaper. Wish the club would say something on Sidwell. Anything.....

Bent is on 35k a week you toby...

Apparently Bent is on 40k a week and the 93k quoted in the telegraph was considering his recent singing on fee. Just thought i'd clear that up.

The question is whether or not Ramos rates bent and on last season, one would think not as high as berb or keane. If that's the case, he may tell the board it's better to get some cash now rather than later after he's not played him.

I think you'll find Bent is on about 45k a week but his signing on fee made it look as though he is on 90k and thats from Spurs fan's.

Would love Bent at Villa. He IS a 20 goal a season man and with Young's delivery it will be a match made in Villa Park :)

I dont understand why you are saying not even MON would spend £16.5mn on him as I have seen no evidence of MON splashing the cash really. Id like Bent at Villa if we can get him for around the £8mn mark, he would score goals for Villa and I remember when I first came to this site there was talk of us buying him for just under £12mn and most of us were happy for the club to spend that on him. He is proven in the PL and im sure if he played more for Spurs he would score alot more.

He maybe on 90k a week but if he isnt playing surely he would look to move to another club where he will be playing week in week out.

We are playing in Europe and only 7 other clubs can offer that, he is playing at one of those, the top 4 wont be interested. That leaves us, Pompey, Man City & Everton. Of those only City would offer high wages and they are currently after Jo. I think we should have a little bid on him see where it goes, rumour is Ramos wants to get rid of loads of players.

Look at Defoe ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) Bent is the better player, strong aswell as fast, possibly one of the best candidates for a chelsea style 4 - 3 - 3 with gabby an young on the wings ( only place gabby is useful, get over it :D )

I dont know if he is strong enough for that, but either way proven quality...

I wish martin o neill would climb out of him own arse and splash some cash.

He's not on 90k here, nowhere near that - our top earning AFAIK is Berba who is on £60k. I think that Bent is on around 40k, no more.

Bent is on 45k a week (reported in the times last month)they kept his wages down with a big signing on fee... Ive heard the sidwell transfer is down to his payoff, he wants half the £5.5 mill for himself..!

I was told that spurs wage structure isnt that different to Villas, and nobody is on 90K

Apparently Spurs wage structure is simila to ours, nobody is on 90K

It's not August so don't hold you're breath. Why does MON struggle to buy players when all the other teams find it easy. Is it because he's out of his depth or just hasn't got any money to spend? I'm asking the questions not stating anything. Spurs for example have spent £24mil already. All we get is how hard it is to sign players & that youth will be given a chance. It sounds like last year all over again. The thing is if he doesn't get at least 10 players in of better quality than we already have then the fans will turn on him & he better be looking for a new job.
Another point - Why sell Barry he's got 2 years left on his contract?

bent? why are we after rejects?

about that ferdinand rumour.

most of the papers are saying about it today

sidwells on his holls in dubai

90k is rubbish.... and spurs want to cut there loses to get some cash back in there kitty plus i imagine he would get a massive amount of cash him self as he did not ask for a transfer

Let's also not forget that Bent was Jol's signing, not Ramos'. So if they do make a significant loss on him they can just blame the old guy. I can see the press release now:

[i]"While we were delighted that Martin Jol signed Darren for £16.5m, he is not in our immediate plans anymore, and Sergio feels it is best for Darren's career to move on. So even though we only got twenty quid and a few free car-washes out of the deal, it's best for both parties"[/i]

Alright there chaps? Is anyone else absolutely sick and tired of this and every transfer window there has ever been? I don't blame anyone on the blog for speculating, but I am tired of the media fabricating stories from titbits of useless information from tenuous 'sources'! I seem to remember that last summer we had exactly the same type of speculation on this site: 'he must sign someone, we've got the smallest squad', 'maybe we'll get this big signing, or that big signing', I think we should resign ourselves to the fact that we will more than likely end with the same size squad as last year with no superstars. It doesn't mean we won't do ok again next year - but major advances are very difficult to make........

I would take bent all day for no moor than 12m, would fit in to our play well and give carew something to think about lets just go and get him. sidwell gets back off hoilday today so expect somethink to happen by monday.

sidwell is on holz, he's bk 2dai, the bid has been accepted by chelsea, its just sidwell hasnt agreed personal terms because he's been in dubai. he's bk 2moz so hopefully within the next 48 hours sidwell will b a villian! :)

oh yh, n i wuldnt mind darren bent for around 12 million, we've gt the money - spend it! he's a proven goal scorer in the PL. n com'on think bout it, if he can score 20 - 30 goals for charlton in the season they were relegated then i think he cn get just as many for villa wiv the quality balls young puts in! :)

n until O'Neill gets bk dnt expect many transfers, no1 reli has made many signings yet so calm down and wait, he knows what he's doing. just you wait until O'Neill gets back, thats when we can see whats in store 4 the villa squad 4 nxt season!

com'on u villa (n btw Germany r gnna win Euro 2008)

how about a new keeper, boric please

I'd be very happy with Bent and I think Spurs know they'll never get their money back.

He always used to be one of the top scorers in the Prem when he was at Charlton. He'd be great for us. £8m would be ideal.

i wonder if o'neill keeping everything quiet until hes got more people to reveal like he did last season. maybe he has been told until the new kit has been revelead.

Bent cost £12m plus 4m in add-ons - non of which have been reached yet i'm reliably informed. Therefore, i'd suggest £8m would represent a bargain for us, and relief for both Spurs and Bent. He would be outstanding for Villa.

This is more like it. Bent is an excellent player with a top goalscoring record. I really hope we are after him as if we insist on every signing being English he at least is one of the best!

I am not a fan of Bent to be really honest. I was hugely suprised when Spurs paid so much for him. I think he is a lot like Carew; A goal poacher. I tihnk Kris Boyd would be better value for money as they are very similar players. Boyd is also younger and has lots of potential!

We're not exactly flush with strikers. But I'd prefer to use that money on a top-quality RM, CM, RB, and Keeper.

I think bent would be an excellent purchase. In his last two seasons at Charlton, he was in the top five premiership scorers for each season. With Young's delivery i think he could set the place alight!

With regards Anton Ferdinand, surely we must look at the right and left back positions before we get another center half. Buy a decent left back for cover for Freddie and when we are stuck push Freddie into center half (he plays there regularly for his holland). When curtis davies returns from injury its as you were lads - simple as!

Craig Gardner is talking about Sidwell in the papers as though he's already signed and also saying what a good player Bentley is. This is more like it! Have faith in MON.

There is already a £12 million offer on the table for Bent from Sunderland, so you would have to at least match that. The 'reported' 90K a week for Bent was due to the fact that he picked up a sizeable portion of the fee that we paid Charlton for him. He is on £35K a week at Spurs (which was quite significantly less than what West Ham were offering Darren). Note that wages and 'signing on fees' are always lumped together anyway when player wages are reported - £35K a week is a combination of both.

Contrary to most reports Bent was not a 'flop' at all last season he just didn't get much game time due to having two better players (Berbatov and Keane) in front of him in the pecking order. His goals to minutes ratio was actually pretty much identical to Keane and Berbatov's.

Personally I think Bent will be at Spurs for at least one more season - especially with the threat of Berbatov leaving.

Sidwell and Bent for a combined total of around 13 million would be a very decent deal. Throw Wright-Philips into the mix along with Boruc, Cuellar and Miguel and let the good times roll!!!!

[quote]It's not August so don't hold you're breath. Why does MON struggle to buy players when all the other teams find it easy. Is it because he's out of his depth or just hasn't got any money to spend? I'm asking the questions not stating anything. Spurs for example have spent £24mil already[/quote]

Acording to the BBC confirmed transfers so far this pre-season

Aaron Ramsey has joined arsenal
Zoltan Gera, David Stockdale have joined fulham
Giovani Dos Santos has joined spurs for 4.7 million
Luke Moore and Do-heon Kim have joined West Brom
Jose Bosingwa has joined chelsea for 16.2 million

Thats it....

If you add the Curtis Davies deal into that list then we are the second biggest spenders in the premier league so far. So its a bit harsh to start questioning the ability of MoN when only 5 other clubs have made a handful of signings

Damian. Call me a technologically inept douch bag, but for some reason i can never get updated comments. Even when i refresh its the same stuff from this morning, but later i check my home pc and it shows tons of responses. The frustration is driving me crazy... i'm trying to slack off here!! I guess i'll catch you response when i get home. Until then Bent, Bentley and Periera will do just fine. p.s. the email address is fake. Sorry!

Well hasnt oneil played his cards close to his chest as always - NOT!!!!
As always the press and everyone knows months before we are going to sign sidwell and we drag it out for the entire transfer window.
the people that came on here saying oneil keeps his cards close to his chest a while back and who always say it really have no idea. Just sign the player up and move on Mart otherwise it will
distract from the sigining of other players!!!
The players better be arriving soon - its what 15 days to go till pre season and at present we read 5 players out and none in!!! what an absolute joke considering we had the smallest squad last seaosn by 5 players!!! our first sompetitive game is in 30 days now!!! I will give oneil a week but after that the whole summer has become unproffessional and a shambles again. you cnat be 4 weeks from your first competitive game and a week from pre season with no signings in!!!

We've got money, we need players. People seem to be moaning that we are linked with players who play in positions that we're not desperate for. Well I can guarantee that we will sign the positions we are desperate for and also cover for those and the other positions, hence some of the latest rumours. If our first 3 signings are centre-backs then who cares! We will still be buying other players in other positions.

As for people doubting whether we have any money to spend, if we didn't have money we wouldn't give free sponsorship away, we wouldn't have spent £4m doing the Holte pub up, we wouldn't be spending money on mosaics for the ground and Lerner wouldn't have donated £5m to an art gallery. We have loads, we just don't shout about it as prices will go up (as happens whenever Chelsea bid for someone - £21m for SWP, £17m for Duff, etc). If we're rich and desperate the price will go up even more. The only problem is waiting for the right players and convincing them to join us, something that will be easier this year as we'll be in the UEFA cup. Once we get one top player it will be easier to attract others and the cycle continues. Why waste loads of money on players who are average just for the sake of buying them - everyone slagged off MON last year for not buying, yet we finished 6th. Have faith.

We're not going to sign them all before the end of June either - clubs need to line replacements up before they will sell, which is why loads of deals go through on the final day. Hopefully we'll get some players in before then though!

By the end of August (and maybe July) we'll have 10 quality new players in - guaranteed.

i quite rate Darren Bent, would deffo add something up front, pure pace with Gabby. Not sure why we haven't tied up the Sidwell signing..??

bumhug - luca modric

i want sidwell now!

as for bent i dont care what the f****** wage is!

UTV ;D ;D ;D

p.s. put SQUEAK at the end of your message if you like donuts!

Is it not typical that we havent completed the sidwell deal yet i mean come on it takes martin o neill a good two months to sign someone expect him to sign on deadline day maybe or again we will just miss out only just tho >:(

As for bent we should take him but only for the right price id go no higher than 8 Million

But again when it comes to aston villa and transfer martin struggles to find it in himself to give away 10s of million pounds on player's if martin signed bentley for 15 Million you can bet you life martin will struggle sleeping cause of how much he has to spend

By all means go for Bent...Need more competition and poaching up front. Not sure about the price, but everyone keeps urging MON to just go splash the cash that isn't his, so we really shouldn't be concerned about that. If he could score with Charlton, he'll certainly be able to score for us.

And Ferdinand? Why not. Another CB is not a problem, cover for Laursen, competition for places. If Villa are in the UEFA and hoping to progress, there'll be a lot of games, and though Laursen seems fully fit, obviously, there's no reason not to have some younger, quality backup at the position.

A CB, a RB, perhaps Bentley, Sidwell, maybe Bent...Starting to turn into a tasty smorgasbord of players. And MON will have stockpiled an English team, so we could be selling at very high prices if the 6/5 comes into being, then fill the places with quality foreigners the big 4 can't sign.

>:( >:( >:( >:( >:(

i hate ferdinand... i think bent is real quality, pace strength.

but ferdinand, he may be an OKAY player, but he is also somewhat associated to being chavvy

Miguel, Sidwell, Boruc, Bentley & Bent, bring them all on board, Anton no way, not half as good as his brother and never will be.
With the five i have mentioned i think villa will be on fire next season.

lets not get carried away people,its ok to talk about bent,bently,sidwell etc,but the fact is still no signature on dotted line,ill say again no other team has to sign as many as us,why do our deals just drag on.im getting really frustrated.

damien your a fucking cock munch think you know loads of shit bout football you think your legend but ur clearly not, your fucking wannab. ASSHOLE fucking think your right all the time but your just a fucking twat face coon face cunt face. FUCKING BELLEND, you dont know fuck all about football just dont bother even posting on this website its too good for your standards. infact dont use the internet.

doesn't the Darren Bent "link" appear every year? :S

Just waiting for the Beattie one also!

Bent: not good enough. Next.

I think martin o’ Neil has learnt his lesson now from previous transfer windows because the players we are been linked with are AMAZING and they are truly realistic targets. We have been heavy linked with: Nicky Shorey, Anton Ferdinand, Shaun Wright-Phillips, David Bentley, James Milner, Steve Sidwell, Darren Bent and Jaua Pereira. All of these are brilliant players. If we signed these we would have 8 new players and we would be definitely top 6. And the best part of all is IT REALLY COULD HAPPEN, it is not one bit unrealistic.
Martin o’ Legend is getting serious in the transfer market.

Shorey amazing? Darren Bent amazing? Anton Ferdinand amazing? Aye, in the Championship perhaps..

alright them 3 might not be amazing but they are still pretty good. Shorey has played for england a few times. im sure anton ferdinand will one day and darren bent is still a good player. probably better than carew and harewood.

Villa must make that step from signing good/average players. Villa need to make the step and make a big signing which will make it easy to attract bigger name players. Spurs have signed Modric for £15M, they finished mid table last year. Villa have an excellent chance of UEFA Cup this coming season via Inter Toto (If it gets Villa European football it doesnt matter) and if we get UEFA Cup football Villa must really push to make these so called big signings particularly in Europe. Hopefully MON is taking note of some of the Euro 08 players while hes doing his BBC gig. This Young & British policy he has ie Reo Coker, Young and now seemingly Sidwell is OK to an extent. But MON needs to really push to make a big signing and with a good placing last year (6th) and a real potetial for European football. If we dont try to make the step up or at least attempt to break into top 4 this season then we never will. Now is the time to really build a squad, we need numbers in and lets not be crying that we have the smallest squad come Xmas time.
Potential targets - SWP would be a good signing hes realistic and has to be tired of warming Chelseas very large and talented bench. Bentley would be the obvious 1st choice but may not move to Villa and Milner too is been mentioned not sure about still. We need a Right back, 2 in fact not 1 at the club i dont care as long as we sign a decent 1. Villa have been linked with ever RB in Europe, lets sign 1 of them, we were exposed in that position last season sticking Mellberg and Gardener out there, not RBs but they did their best. This season we must sign 1, Villa are linked with ever RB in Portugal it seems, let get 1 of them, dont want to see Carr been signed on a free or Chimbonda (dont rate him). In Centre Back postion we have 2 quality players Laursen & Davies, a rumoured signing is Anton Ferdinand. A bit of a muppet i know but it looks possible, West Ham are willing to let him go, hes young & british ticks all the boxes for MON signings and his good friend Reo is here so looks highly possible. Hes only 22 so could improve which he would need to but may not be a bad signing. There all the real possible signings from all the rubbish ive read since the end of the season. We need to sign a couple of quality midfielders £10-15M region. Barry is off so must get in a quality centre mid players. Villa need a Modric like signing, let get out the cheque book and show ambition. Also need a decent striker and a keeper, they dont come cheap these days again i think Europe is the place to look, english player are over priced and very hard to sign. Some many names mentioned for keepers i wont start and and endless list of other midfielders. On the GK either we sign Carson or move on get someone else. Its a key position so really need a good 1. Not decided on Carson really but if we do sign may be OK in that position.
Anyway we need 6-8 signings, Barry is off (i think we all know that), Sidwell is on the way, SWP??, Ferdinand?? GK?? RB?? 2 CM?? & Striker. MON tactic does seem to be waiting late August so we may need to sit tight to see what happens. Not mad about the waiting till the season is about to kick off but MON is the manager. So hopefully we see min 6 players in if not 8. Villa need to make that step up and the time is now.....

Bent is just the kind of player for villa, pacey, good in the air and just needs regular games. Needs a chance to pick up form and get some goals

Bent is useless!!! We dont want him