James

Whatever we get I will be glad to see the back of Wini, clearly one of the worst personalities ever associated with the club. Good riddance and I hope he fails for the rest of his life and ends up destitute and bankrupt and loveless.

I'm confident that if we have competition for places it will benefit us and the best players will ultimately get the starting berths they deserve. So any signing is fine by me - so long as Rafa approves.

Just get cash so we can get the best available player and not the best available Spurs player.

Scotland and Scottish football is horrific right now and other than a tenuous link to Hanley that I don't think is going anywhere I doubt we will look at the Scottish leagues

Of Sissoko and Wijnaldum I think I would rather have Sissoko in the team as he will try to influence a game you just have to motivate him to give his best in all games. Wijnaldum on the other hand is a coward and hides when the going gets tough even when Rafa took charge, whereas Sissoko clearly upped his game. Having said that we have got at least a year in this division, and the first year up won't be easy (target 10th to 14th). We need a dependable spine we can add quality to later on. Them too can't offer that.

No one. Let's see who earns it.

Well escalated Linford Christie?

i am glad Stevieintoon is not around to see this thread, he would shit his pants.

Apparently after he head butted Neymar, Neymar said: "he is not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy"

Going to make a decision over one last supper

His Dad is pretty good too. Would be good to have him on our side

So basically if this goes through we would have signed: Belgian League goalkeeper of the year 2nd choice right back at Atletico Madrid Best Championship winger from two seasons ago, now a regular PL starter A 1 in 3 Premier League striker with something to prove.

Is there a rule out there that necessitates the presence of a so called 'club captain' We have one man in charge, his name is Rafa Benitez. This year is a chance for a few players to step up, wear the captain's armband when picked to do so, and prove that they can lead the cob going forward. Giving so much sway to a single club captain did not work out well for us in the past, we need to go back to when we had Nolan and half a squad of team captains.

Solano did not have pace but could move the ball forward quickly. I think the pace Rafa refers to is speed of play rather than raw straight line speed

It won't work out for him. Should have stayed at Nice or gone to Southampton.

How are the Villa fans taking this

Did Hodgson leaving England have any bearing on Townsend reportedly leaving? Ithink Townsend felt more secure about his England prospects with Hodgson as boss.

What the hell? Rafa has a whole underground basement dedicated to his encyclopaediac knowledge of all players. He knows about the packet of quavers that Mark Noble ate when he was 14.

Oh well I trust Rafa to know how to respond to him leaving. To be honest since Rafa was confirmed I've trusted him to have a plan for all eventualities like when he replaced his coach within 24 hours.

He is about 3-4 years past it now

SIGN EVERYONE

15 from 29, ignored by Pards isn't it?

This transfer fills me with more hope. A number of people thought we could 'make do' with our keeper options in the Championship even if we lost Krul. The fact that we've gone and spent a high fee for a keeper with probably the best reputation we could manage to persuade to join us immediately after relegation speaks volumes for our ambition.

Had £20 in the 8 qualifiers to win £300. Had Croatia but 4 mins before the end I had a gut feeling that Portugal would get something. Cashed out literally 30 secs before their goal at £13 profit, will just reinvest it in the remainder of the games.

Didn't Slovakia beat Germany 3-1 last month? Republic knocking out France seems like poetic revenge for that playoff. Could be destiny. I would cash it