kick it off 1,948 Posted June 5, 2013 http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/12691/8758075/Aston-Villa-target-Younes-Belhanda-keen-on-Premier-League-moveLooks likely to be Villa bound. I''d think the £13mill fee would be enough to put us off even if we wanted him, that''s a hell of a lot of money but I''m disappointed to see clubs in a similar position to us strengthening with this magnitude of signing if he goes there. He''d be absolutely mental to turn down both Milan clubs to go to Villa but that looks like what he''s about to do. The lure of Prem cash now outweighs the prestige of playing for huge clubs like AC or Inter.Before anyone starts for making a Villa thread, this has nothing to do with which specific club he''s going to, nor their manager, merely that a club in a similar position to us is signing really high calibre players. Belhanda is quality, I''m shocked that at 23 he''s already so mercenary he''d turn down huge clubs to go to a mediocre team like AV, presumably with wages being the major factor. I''d rather he signed for Villa than any of the 3 promoted teams though, it''s hard to see past them for relegation spots next season. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
City penguin 0 Posted June 5, 2013 Undoubted quality, should be going to a team at least playing in Europe. You have to question his motives and attitudes turning down AC and Inter for Villa, for him to chose a struggling Villa over two of the most renowned teams in the world they must be offering silly money, a Villa policy that was supposed to coming to and end with the likes of Bent, Given, Ireland and like being shown the door. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bill 1,788 Posted June 5, 2013 "that''s a hell of a lot of money"but still is no more than idle gossip in the mediaas to where promising players go maybe some might wonder why RVW chose (agreed tojoin) us Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PurpleCanary 5,557 Posted June 5, 2013 All he has said is he wants to play in the Premier League. He has said nothing about wanting to play for Aston Villa. Nothing about choosing them over anyone playing in Europe next season. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Highland Canary 76 Posted June 5, 2013 I assume we have a sizeable transfer pot with only Garrido''s signature acquired thus far. Presumably, the RvW money was available, but unspent, from the January window. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bethnal Yellow and Green 1,557 Posted June 5, 2013 This follows on from West Ham bidding around £15m for Negredo - one of the best strikers in Europe at the moment. Whilst a lot of the Belhanda article looks like agent/club talk (I don''t think Inter have £13m to be throwing around at the moment and the comments about wanting to play in England are a gentle nudge to other teams to step forward) - it does show that Premier League spending this summer is going to easily smash all known records, with teams just aiming not to be relegated able to throw fees in excess of £10m around. Southampton started this trend a little with the £12m deal for Gaston Ramires - proving small/average Prem clubs can get ''big name'' players (Norwich of course uped the ante with RvW). By the end of the window Norwich''s marquee signing might not look so impressive, if he isn''t backed up by a few other big deals. Can see a lot of clubs getting a little panicky this summer and making some fairly expensive gambles. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vazzza 62 Posted June 5, 2013 Maybe its not just the lure of money now at Villa, but the future money when a top 4 club picks him up. Much like the RvW situation, he probably is just seeing Villa as a stepping stone to bigger things in the EPL... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BroadstairsR 2,163 Posted June 5, 2013 Villa got the same bonanza as us by surviving so it figures that Randy might now feel more comfortable about loosening the purse strings, especially as Lambert has now established himself well at the club. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kick it off 1,948 Posted June 5, 2013 Its a good point about the stepping stone idea, and one which I should have considered. Does anyone think RVW might not be our record signing by august 31 or is the consensus that we will be a bit more cautious than other teams? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kick it off 1,948 Posted June 5, 2013 And city 1st, its more than idle gossip that villa have bid, Montpellier chairman said yesterday 5 clubs have put in bids that have been accepted and up to the player where he wants to go. Chairman named all 5 clubs and one was villa. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
coachkemp 0 Posted June 5, 2013 It does show that for whatever reason players of substantial quality will come to the premier league and that the "smaller" clubs do have an option to sign these players. Of course you can question their motives, say they are in it for the money etc. but that is irrelivent given that a good player, who performs well and then possibly leaves will provide the club with both short term performance rewards and a nice transfer kitty at the end of it. It isn''t labelling as a "selling club" its called business and if you can buy for 5m and make 10m then you are going to keep doing that until you can afford to become the buyer. A team such as Tottenham for example if they were to sell bale wouldn''t be considered a selling team that need to take on players only to sell them on to a bigger club in the future or I certainly think their fans and supposed ambition would wouldnt want that label. That said with tottenham they have sold modric, berbatov, carrick etc in the past to so called bigger buying teams and are now looking at players like Christian Benitez and in the past signed the likes of Dempsey whose career is on a downward trajectory and had an average season compared to the season previous...I think villa have and we could get it right with signings like this and irrespective of their motives as long as they give 110% on the pitch and don''t take the piss with wage demands then it could all work out very well. I hope Norwich can make a signal of intent and continue in the same vein as we did with Rvw and trade our way to the top as part of a long term project. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chicken 0 Posted June 5, 2013 Yup, I had a look at that article too, earlier in the week. This bit sticks out for me:"Montpellier chairman Louis Nicollin claimed on Tuesday that Villa are one of five clubs to have made an offer for the Morocco international.AC Milan, city rivals Inter, Atletico Madrid and Galatasaray are also reported to have lodged bids in the region of €14million (£11.9m) for Belhanda."Interestingly, whilst it could, it doesn''t state that Villa have bid that much for him, only that the other teams have.I can understand him having a preference to English football though.Considering he is Moroccan there has been a bit of a long list of Moroccan players to have played in the premier league.At the moment of the other teams named two are in Italy and one is in Turkey. Both have had issues with racism in recent years.Also, if players from recent years have been anything to go by the transition from the French Leagues to the English leagues is more straight forward than the others.I still get the impression that the Turkish leagues are not taken that seriously. A good example is Ian Henderson played in their top division when not considered good enough for us in the Championship , Rotherham, Northampton and Luton further down the football pyramid.It''s a logical step, especially if English is a language he knows better as well. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
First Wazzock 902 Posted June 5, 2013 Thought Villa had got enough Bellenders [:D] Share this post Link to post Share on other sites