It's in the Mail, not a direct quote from our recruiting department. Come on malts, I get you don't like what's going on but you're a better poster than this
Another one that was randomly linked by Leventhal with no substance at all - just as with Piroe. Move on, nothing to see here.
It’s not a mention in isolation though is it. We’ve been linked with him before, by other sources. Our recruiting department have done little so far this window to make any of us happy.
A young homegrown player like him certainly fits the profile. Let's give him a 5 year contract and see how he develops before we sell him on.
A few years ago he'd have been very good in the Champ. However he didn't even play 2 matches worth of football last season; who knows what level he's at now?! Archer on loan would obviously be preferable; surely we wouldn't move on to someone like Gayle unless Archer is staying at Villa?
One of those who you've seen score goals in the past but never actually watched him play a 90 mins / checked out the rest of his game. Stinks of an Andre Gray let down without the wasted fee.
I reckon Gayle could get 10+ this season which would be very good for him. I'm talking about appearances, not goals obviously.
Gayle wouldn't be a bad signing. Played 100 championship games, scored 40 odd goals. The step to the premiership was just a step too far. No different to the likes of Nuggent, HH, Vydra. We have a lot of youngsters in the forward line, to have some experience around them wouldn't be a bad thing. If he gets 10 to 15 goals, which could be priceless
My worry is the lack of minutes over the last few seasons. We cannot afford to hope that he might find some form and score some goals. Archer or Davies should be higher up the list. In all honesty I'd even wait u til the window is nearly finished and see who clubs are trying to offload instead of making do. Shaq Forde or one of the other young forwards might impress Rob into not panicking.
We didn't say that when HH came back, that was overlooked. Half the fan base would be happy to have Vydra back, but his only played half a season for the last 3 or 4 years. We are signing forwards from Barcelona B who have played 60 games in 5 years and Bayo who has only played 95 league games in his career. I'm not to concerned to be honest
True with HH. On that note we knew exactly what we were getting with him. I've not witnessed a winning mentality like that in a player for ages. Again we signed Shaq on a pro deal. They must see something in him so what block his route with Gayle and Manaj?
Maybe the plan is that Shaq makes a few cameos from the bench replacing a Gayle or Manaj and if he impresses, cements a starting place. I think it would be a risk to just assume he will make the grade this season at this stage if we are genuinely targetting promotion.
True. But as I said I'd prefer if we waited and observed what Villa decide on Archer and Davies. We still have JP and I suppose I could handle him and Bayo as a starting two in August.
On a joyous day where somebody is finally forced from office for being completely incompetent (as well as many other awful things), is it too much to hope that our recruitment team could fall on their swords too for the same reasons?
There are of course advantages and disadvantages in waiting and I guess it's a question of whether to gamble or not. Maybe we already know or suspect that we won't get Archer and Davies and the alternatives will get more and more limited as the summer progresses ? I'd much prefer an Archer loan with an option to buy if possible. EDIT - just seen on the archer thread that @Burnsy says that AV would prefer to send him to QPR who are also interested and he knows Beale.
Not a good sign when the teams we are battling for his signature are Boro and BCFC. That should be a warning signal. Would have loved to have signed him 3 or 4 years ago but not now.
Or panic and get in players like Manaj and Gayle! My biggest concern is midfield it is the weakest I've seen in a long time. Walace onloan from Udinese should be looked at imo. A very good screening midfielder.
Doubt Troy will play much of a role. He barely played last season I believe. Might retire in the summer ?? Wonder if he will hang on there hoping to pick up the manager role ?
I'm sure I read somewhere that he was speaking about returning to Watford in a coaching role in the future.
To be honest, I'm not sure we can read much of anything at all into us giving a youth player a pro deal as an 18-year-old. It means they just about see him as competent enough to potentially make a career as a footballer, and outside of that guarantees him absolutely nothing. I would put the house on us not having any particular plan for him, or imagining he'll play any genuine first team role in the near future.
Obviously if he got 15 goals that would be priceless, as would be true of literally any player given our position, but that is extremely up in the air/pie in the sky. As I mentioned in an earlier comment, he has barely played in 2 years, he's very much the wrong side of 30 (turning 33 in October) as a player who relies at least a decent amount on movement and energy, and to boot he suffered an MCL injury 18 months ago that kept him out for a 1/3rd of a year.
