30 May 2024 10:12:13
Seeing reports of Slot wanting Ollie Watkins. While I really like Watkins and wouldn’t mind the signing at all, I just can’t see us spending the money Villa would demand when he is 29 in a few months. If we are after a striker, Isak looks a lot better in terms of value for money, someone who I think will score plenty and is only 24.
{Ed002's Note - Liverpool has no interest in Isak.}
30 May 2024 10:43:15
Depends on the price. Isak would probably be pushing 80 million whereas I doubt Watkins would be over 60 million.
He’s 29 in December so I would give him a 4 year deal.
Gives time for Danns/ Koumas to break through.
Watkins is a good finisher.
30 May 2024 10:36:50
Fair enough ed002. I saw on another post that you said Watkins’ agent has approached a handful of clubs including Liverpool. Do you know if liverpool are interested in taking it further?
{Ed002's Note - I don't know I am afraid.}
30 May 2024 11:05:14
Nunez is quite a fan favourite so the new manager coming in and laying his cards on the table by replacing Nunez would be quite the move.
Lots of fans believe Slot is the coach that will unlock Nunez's potential so for him to come in and look to replace him from the off would be a potential gamble.
30 May 2024 11:11:23
Watkins makes absolutely zero sense as a signing. His age and the English tax make it a non starter. Villa aren’t going to sell for less than £100m given what he’s worth to them and the fact he’s English, and quite honestly he’s not worth it for maybe two or three good seasons at best given his age.
30 May 2024 11:28:40
I'm not vehemently against signing Watkins but I don't think it is the best use of what will probably be about £80-90m for a homegrown key player with 4 years left on his contract. If he wasn't 28 we'd be talking well north of £100m given the fees paid for Grealish and Rice recently.
30 May 2024 11:29:46
Wow we are scraping the barrel if Watkins rumours are true, actually no I just cannot believe this it will never happen.
30 May 2024 11:55:55
Probably a made-up story TBH as that kind of spend on an older player is a complete step change from our usual MO. Also I hope it's not true as I don't think we have that much of a problem upfront and there are obvious issues in midfield and defence.
30 May 2024 12:39:55
English tax is a myth. Premier League tax is real though.
30 May 2024 12:53:02
Ah all the rumours are starting now and we'll go sign someone we've all barely heard of lol.
30 May 2024 12:57:55
If like ED002 said that hs agent has been hawking him around, then I'm guess the agency may have leak made up stories of interest to either get interested clubs firm up. Or using stories for Villa contract negotiations?
30 May 2024 15:15:37
Torres was a fan favourite and justifiably so, but we sold him and bought Suarez.
Coutinho was a fan favourite, sold and replaced by multiple players.
Movement is normal in football, fans will quickly move on from Nunez if he’s sold.
30 May 2024 22:39:00
Then again agents looking for interest in their clients is par for the course - it doesn’t mean anything.
I have no idea when Watkins’ contract at Villa is up but it could easily be a ploy by his agent in (pre) contract manoeuvring.
We don’t have our new Head Coach yet and the transfer window isn’t open for over a fortnight - a step back and a couple of deep breaths may be the order of the day.
30 May 2024 23:16:34
With @Victor on this one, too. Watkins makes NO sense at all and the fact is that he is only marginally better than Darwin in front of goal and is not that of a huge improvement on him either. Also, Darwin has a lot more to his game than Watkins and Haaland, I might add so signing him to replace Darwin is just wheird and pointless, IMO.
Whether Slot is the guy to unlock Darwin is another story however, I am pretty confident he can look forward to iproving Darwin cos let's face it, the kid's got ability and potential. He just needs a maager that will clean out the rough edges, just like Slot did with Gimenez, someone certain fans think we should sign which like Watkins, would make no sense either, IMO.
30 May 2024 23:31:21
Transfer window is just the period you can transfer a players registration.
You can do the deal any time.
31 May 2024 00:19:22
Watkins is a good player and would suit us. Well, under Klopp anyways, so making a bit of an assumption.
19 goals and 12 assists in this league is no fluke.
Regards his age, he could perform well into his early 30s, so don't see what the issue is here. other than we have spent a bit on Nunez so we'd need to balance those two investments.
31 May 2024 08:04:22
@Ron, provided you have permission to speak to people at the right time, of course. The point is, Arne has even got into his office yet, let alone take his coat off and we have people giving credence to every dumb thing written on social media as though it’s the end of the world.
31 May 2024 07:41:39
Ron didn't mean it in a sense that we can't sell fan favourites mate.
Meant as in it would be a bold move from the new manager to do it from the off. Torres and Couts both pushed their moves and were sold under Kenny and Klopp.
Whilst I'm not an advocate for Watkins coming in to replace Nunez he does have 34 PL goals in the league the last 2 seasons so that is marginally better than Darwins 20.
I'm looking forward to Slot unlocking Nunez's potential like he did that 1 striker in Holland. With a bit of luck he might unlock more than Nunez as there's a few players in the squad who have more potential or can perform better more consistently than what they have.
It is silly season though and the media reports cannot be believed. This time last year they were making out like we were going to replace our whole midfield.