Matt1892

Apparently he failed a medical at Milan in 2020 due to a heart condition. Worrying.

How is he worse than Targett from a technical basis?

Probably not defensively but there is things like his positioning when he doesn’t have the ball that Howe could work with quickly. I also think Burn is better defensively than Tierney by the way. He is very good at getting up and down the left hand side and carries the ball well, he also has recovery pace which we are crying out for and is comfortable in possession.

Robinson has matured and completely turned his career around at Fulham, he is coming off the back of an excellent season and a good showing in the World Cup. Howe will make him even better but I think he might end up at Man City.

I’m presuming anyone signed before July 1st would need the first year of amortisation to go on the 2022/23 accounts, which we felt we were at the limit with. I’m not sure if the new shirt sponsorship will go on from 1st July but the Chris Wood sale will.

Maybe we don’t think he’s worth that, it will be interesting to see if anyone else does.

The club have already signed a deal with adidas for next season.

I’m not sure Spurs can spend more than us by the way, we are debt free and have owners that will commit to spending out of their own pocket what they can above what we bring in from income. Spurs on the other hand have the highest level of debt in the league to Morgan Stanley (I think) for their stadium and don’t have any owner putting money in as far as I’m aware. Plus, they have already spent about £70 million on Porro and Kulusevski this transfer window which doesn’t improve their first team from what they finished the season with.

The funny thing about this is the only Spurs player there who could tap him up seems to want to leave himself.? I’m completely relaxed about this, if he signs then great but if he ends up at Spurs we move on.

There are people further up the scale though, for example a vegetarian might not eat meat due to issues around animal cruelty yet still drink milk, which is arguably a more cruel practice.

When it comes to animal exploitation people have different levels of what they think is acceptable, while cognitive dissonance often means they justify certain actions to themselves when they act against their beliefs.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we sold Miggy and Wilson if decent offers come in, their value will decrease dramatically after this window. Interesting article by Caulkin and the talk about budget is believable, he says that while the club has stretched their budget every window that there comes a time where you have to balance the books with it. I think the issue for the club is that there are fans that believe the club tell journalists a deliberately low amount every season to try and get better deals in the transfer market, whereas journalists say there is a ballpark figure we want to spend but can stretch for the right player. However, that extra money has to come from future spending budgets and this will catch up with us eventually.

I think some people are going to be in for a shock if they think talk of a net spend of £100 million is playing down our budget.

I have never seen this lad play but he ticks a lot of boxes as to what we could be after as cover for Schar. The article below is 2 years old so no idea how he has developed since then. Tomás is arguably the most complete center-back SL Benfica has produced in recent years. If you think of the characteristics center-backs should have in order to stand out nowadays, then Tomás ticks most of the boxes. His performances since the UEFA Youth League last season have had me in awe. I previously had some doubts on how high his ceiling could be but his development in the last two seasons has been much better than I could have imagined. His transition to the B team was as smooth as possible, he didn’t miss a step and has been able to consistently put up solid games. Let’s start with his defensive qualities without the ball. The youth teams usually play with a high line, so he is used to having to control the space behind his back and adopting the correct body orientation. In case of need he can make use of his speed to catch up to opponents. He is very good at winning aerial duels on both ends of the pitch, which also makes him a threat offensively. He is not as aggressive without the ball as he is with it, sometimes he loses ground duels owing to the superior physicality of older players, but this growth will come naturally with time. His ability on the ball is incredibly good, with passing and ball control being two of his biggest strengths. Vertical passes, diagonal passes, passes under pressure, dribbling through pressure, you name it. He can comfortably do it all. The center-back position is a delicate one since there is little room for error. To me, Tomás stands out because he is not error prone at all. He understands his positioning is crucial at the back, therefore he doesn’t make rash decisions. His jumps and tackles are always well thought and timed. https://footballtalentscout.net/2021/08/27/tomas-araujo-another-diamond-from-seixal-by-helner/

Smartened it up now he’s got a girlfriend.

He played at left back and LCB according to this. https://totalfootballanalysis.com/article/marc-cucurella-2022-23-scout-report-tactical-analysis-tactics

That’s because over the last 2 seasons Villa have a net transfer expenditure of €48 million whereas we have a net transfer expenditure of €300 million over that time.

I thought Burn was every bit as good defensively as Trippier last season, there was the odd incident where his body movement wasn’t the most graceful but I think that is down to how big he is. The issue with him is that he offers hardly anything when the team is going forward and even when he does make an overlapping pass the opposition know 9 times out of 10 he isn’t going to receive it, so that causes a problem. It really hits home when you watch compilations of Antonee Robinson and Tierney when we were linked with them the difference then offer going forward from a left back position, you see what we are missing. I think the question is does how want a left back that can get forward as much as Trippier or is he happy, someone that can drop in as the third centre back or maybe he wants a hybrid that can do both to a reasonable standard? As the Prophet has said further up the page, the three obvious positions to look to strengthen are those currently held by Burn, Longstaff and Almiron, along with consideration that we lack cover for Bruno and up top. An upgrade on Longstaff that can also cover Bruno if needed should be our top priority, then the RW and before LB.

I would have been happy to sign Tielemans as a bit of a project and I don’t believe he is wanting anywhere near £200k a week. However, we would be opening ourselves up to all sorts of issues if we make a punt of a squad player one of the best paid players at the club and would cause ourselves all sorts of issues when it comes to contract renewals with or current players. There was a supposed ITK post put on villa talk that was posted on Reddit a few days before Tielemans joined Villa saying he was joining in the next few days and that Villa were the only club in for him. Also that they were speaking with Harvey Barnes.

€18 million release clause according to reports.

Yeah, I think the special tax rate is for players moving to the country rather than homegrown players who have never left.

The BBC have an article about us on our transfer window but there isn’t anything new in there that hasn’t been posted here previously, more of a round up. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65891523

I’ve just seen the 6 of Phillips’ 12 appearances this season have been on the 84th minute or later in the game.