Harvey Barnes

[r0cafella]

Villa too slow I think, cant see us selling Gordon and Barnes in the same window. 

[Casey]

Would hate to see Barnes go. Decent player with good output, seems thoroughly professional and likeable. Not a world-beater but your entire squad can't be world class. 

 

Suspect these links will be leveraged for contract negotiations as I don't see us replacing the entire left side amongst all the other work required in the summer, but who knows. Feels like this'll need to be the biggest window in years despite everything that happened last year.

[SUPERTOON]

I like Barnes, but making him your primary target having got top 4 would be quite underwhelming. Don’t believe that article at all.

[kingxlnc]

4 hours ago, SUPERTOON said:

I like Barnes, but making him your primary target having got top 4 would be quite underwhelming. Don’t believe that article at all.

They do seem to like their 28 year olds, they bought Abraham from Milan in Jan

[kingxlnc]

4 hours ago, SUPERTOON said:

I like Barnes, but making him your primary target having got top 4 would be quite underwhelming. Don’t believe that article at all.

Ours was Elanga and Wissa

Equally if not more underwhelming

[Fak]

Feels like one of those where you'd be gutted to see him go, but if we are to be "good sellers" then I think this is the summer to cash in. (Not that I want us to)

[Optimistic Nut]

1 minute ago, kingxlnc said:

Ours was Elanga and Wissa

Equally if not more underwhelming

 

Villa were sniffing around Elanga last summer ironically. 

[duo]

Just now, Optimistic Nut said:

 

Villa were sniffing around Elanga last summer ironically. 

Can we not revive that Interest? 

[HawK]

For the long term, I'd say we take £40m with some performance add-ons.

 

For the short term, I'm petrified of what our front 3/4 will look like as we have no evidence yet to suggest the current regime will recruit any better than we did in the previous summer. I really hope they're better.

[LFEE]

Villa’s whole 25/26 seemed to be based on shooting from distance as much as possible so can see the logic with Barnes.

[kenlau88210]

I can see him being a great squad player for Villa, and playing loads across different competitions 

 

Perhaps 40m plus add-ons (e.g. 5m if 10+ goals) could get it done. Will be reluctant to see him go, but I can see him wanting to play in Europe year in year out

 

 

Edited yesterday at 11:33 by kenlau88210

[Ricksmissinglimb]

Getting 40m all well and good but who we going replace the goals with? We haven't even replaced Gordon yet..

[TRon]

3 hours ago, LFEE said:

Villa’s whole 25/26 seemed to be based on shooting from distance as much as possible so can see the logic with Barnes.

 

Tbf, I watched them gun down Liverpool at the end of the season, and their football was very slick. Not easy to open teams up enough to get clear shots at goal, you do need to move the defenders out of their comfort zones. 

[Ikon]

3 hours ago, Optimistic Nut said:

 

Villa were sniffing around Elanga last summer ironically. 

Most likely wondering where the smell of shit came from. 

[The College Dropout]

If Villa want Barnes I think my Emery theory might actually be true.  He’s trying to win the league in the next 2 years - after that he will leave and join a mega club. 
 

Why would the club with the oldest team in the league and FFP issues sign a 28 year old for a fairly big fee? 

[aussiemag]

I think 40 mill for a wide forward that guarantees 10+ goals isn't enough for our situation. We would need 50 to make it worthwhile. 

[TRon]

Just now, The College Dropout said:

If Villa want Barnes I think my Emery theory might actually be true.  He’s trying to win the league in the next 2 years - after that he will leave and join a mega club. 
 

Why would the club with the oldest team in the league and FFP issues sign a 28 year old for a fairly big fee? 

 

 

Tbf, a manager only cares about immediate results, not the club's balance sheets. Why wouldn't he want Barnes?

 

It's up to the Villa board to make sure they have a financially viable club going forward. They don't have to sign 28 year olds because the manager would like it. 

[The College Dropout]

36 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

 

Tbf, a manager only cares about immediate results, not the club's balance sheets. Why wouldn't he want Barnes?

 

It's up to the Villa board to make sure they have a financially viable club going forward. They don't have to sign 28 year olds because the manager would like it. 

From what I understand Emery has been given the keys to transfers like Howe was last season. 
 

While Howe wanted immediate results the transfers showed he was at least Aware we needed to reduce the squads age and retain some sell-on value (in theory).  Howe see’s himself as a long-term NUFC boss, he just needs immediate returns. 
 

Emery however doesn’t seem to give a toss.  Which makes me think he doesn’t see himself at the club in 3-5 years time. 

[TRon]

7 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

From what I understand Emery has been given the keys to transfers like Howe was last season. 
 

While Howe wanted immediate results the transfers showed he was at least Aware we needed to reduce the squads age and retain some sell-on value (in theory).  Howe see’s himself as a long-term NUFC boss, he just needs immediate returns. 
 

Emery however doesn’t seem to give a toss.  Which makes me think he doesn’t see himself at the club in 3-5 years time. 

 

 

3-5 years is a long time in management tbh. I think he's happy at Villa but if a top tier club with no spend restrictions came in then he'd most likely leave. Managers aren't much different to players in that respect, they want to be at the best clubs and earning the biggest salaries. 

 

I do think that is one big plus for Howe, he has more loyalty baked in than most foreign managers would ever have. 

[Kid Icarus]

Look on the brightside, now that Villa and Emery want him, everyone in out fanbase will rate him now.

[The College Dropout]

13 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

 

3-5 years is a long time in management tbh. I think he's happy at Villa but if a top tier club with no spend restrictions came in then he'd most likely leave. Managers aren't much different to players in that respect, they want to be at the best clubs and earning the biggest salaries. 

 

I do think that is one big plus for Howe, he has more loyalty baked in than most foreign managers would ever have. 

Yeh if true and depending on other transfers they make it’s just a bit irresponsible imo.  Rogers was the only player under 25 that started their Europa League win. 

[brummie]

On 02/06/2026 at 15:47, The College Dropout said:

Yeh if true and depending on other transfers they make it’s just a bit irresponsible imo.  Rogers was the only player under 25 that started their Europa League win. 

 

I'm not sure he'll give too much of a fuck about that, he's just qualified for the Champions League (twice over) for the second time in three years, having missed out on goal difference the other year in which we got to the QF and beat the eventual winners at home and came within a gnat's chuff of knocking the cunts out, and has just won a European trophy, having picked up a side fighting relegation when he arrived.

 

I don't think he'll be worrying too much about these details.

 

We've done incredibly well despite our transfer policy, not because of it. We've sacked Monchi and moved him on because, everything we've done, has been despite the fact that last summer our big signing was Guessand (punted to Palace on loan in January), Abraham (swapped for Malen who then went on a massive scoring spree for Roma), and Elliot (not even seen the pitch let alone got on it because of some contractual fuck up).

 

If Emery gets an actual well formed, sensible transfer policy, he'll do even better than he has so far. I don't really have an opinion one way or the other about Barnes, but genuinely, whilst i'd be surprised given his profile and age, it's not exactly 'irresponsible' is it?

 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by brummie

[Smal]

be interesting to see if Villa’s generally horrific performances over the past year catch up with them in terms of results next season. Hope so, anyway.