The Summer Transfer Thread 2022.

[Burnley Hammer]

I still want Gianluca Scamacca

[Aztec Hammer]

Went on the Rennes forum to see what they thought of Aguerd.

They think he’s class. Best left-sided CB in the league was among the comments. As well as only Marquinhos being better. They think €30m is more like his worth.

And they think we are ‘a beautiful club with a beautiful stadium, even if not a football stadium’.

Can’t argue with that.

[IronZ-79]

I think half the problem with players like Watkins and Antonio is that they do so much graft that when a chance presents itself they are f'd and lose all composure.

[Aztec Hammer]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... -keen.html

Still just about being linked to Bassey, even if it feels like we are just chucked in as a footnote.

Come on…

[Colours never run]

And I think we all agree that for £50 million we'd want more than fine.

What is Watkins currently worth then?

[bonzosbeard]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... -keen.html

Still just about being linked to Bassey, even if it feels like we are just chucked in as a footnote.

Come on…

Diamonds are forever blowing bubbles.

David Goldfinger.

This season we're over the moonraker.

I'll get my coat

[Bubbles Fortuna]

What is Watkins currently worth then?

To a club without a forward already better, maybe about that.

I wouldn't spend more than £35 million on him, he doesn't start over Antonio, he doesn't fix any of the problems in our starting 11, it would be a shocking use of resources.

[Bubbles Fortuna]

Knock 6 years off Antonio's age and name a price?

We'd be asking for £50 million as a "he's not for sale" price. But he wouldn't be worth that, just like Watkins isn't.

[NedN]

Diamonds are forever blowing bubbles.

David Goldfinger.

This season we're over the moonraker.

I'll get my coat

This joke never dies (but it really needs to)

maybe another day

[bubbles1966]

£50m for a player who is, at a push, as good as but also equally as frustrating and profligate as Antonio, would be a shocking use of resources for us.

We are in a catch 22 situation.

Antonio's numbers - irrespective of the aesthetics - are 18 goals and assists in the PL. That puts him in the top ten most effective players in the league, measured purely by total numbers.

It isn't as easy to replace that, let alone surpass, as some seem to think

Calvert Lewin's best is 16, Watkins managed 19 last year.

Getting a player who manages to achieve the same as Antonio but who has age on his side is going to be ball-park £45m-£55m, unless we go abroad/lower league or pick up a relatively old, top drawer player on a free with huge wages.

[bubbles1966]

We'd be asking for £50 million as a "he's not for sale" price. But he wouldn't be worth that, just like Watkins isn't.

So, what price would you sell at?

[Colours never run]

As for comparing Antonio's record to Watkins, that doesn't interest me. What does, is adding Watkins goals and assists to what we know Antonio can produce. It's the squad game that interests me most, not who is a better individual player.

We need more reliable goals to the side and I truly believe Watkins is one of those kind of players to manage that. A possible interchanging Forward line of Antonio Bowen Watkins excites me for next season.

[Bubbles Fortuna]

We are in a catch 22 situation.

Antonio's numbers - irrespective of the aesthetics - are 18 goals and assists in the PL. That puts him in the top ten most effective players in the league, measured purely by total numbers.

It isn't as easy to replace that, let alone surpass, as some seem to think

Calvert Lewin's best is 16, Watkins managed 19 last year.

Getting a player who manages to achieve the same as Antonio but who has age on his side is going to be ball-park £45m-£55m, unless we go abroad/lower league or pick up a relatively old, top drawer player on a free with huge wages.

There's too many holes elsewhere in the squad that we need to spend the money there, whilst also trying to find the player that will replace Antonio.

We do that by finding Watkins before he moves to Villa, rather than paying the inflated £50 million we need to be finding these players ourselves like we did with Bowen and Soucek.

[Bubbles Fortuna]

So, what price would you sell at?

I wouldn't, much like Villa probably won't.

I don't understand what point you're making.

Much like we have no interest in selling Rice so we're asking for a fee he's not worth.

[Ironing Board]

Defoe is 10x the finisher those two are. Yet he lacks in other areas.

That’s not what his wife said!

[Colours never run]

To a club without a forward already better, maybe about that.

I wouldn't spend more than £35 million on him, he doesn't start over Antonio, he doesn't fix any of the problems in our starting 11, it would be a shocking use of resources.

Villa (rightly in todays market) paid Brentford £28m, rising to £33m for Watkins 2 seasons ago and since then he's successfully proved he's a regular 10+ goals in the Prem a season man, as well as contributing to 1 in 2 goal involvements during the same period. Plus regular call ups to England scoring 2 in the process within a good chance of making next seasons World Cup. For a regular goalscoring Striker for both Club and Country right now at 26, you're going to be asking for a lot more than what Villa originally paid for him, or even £35m as you suggest. Around £50m sounds about right to me and we'd have a Striker on the books who will score regularly for us during the length of a likely 5 year contract. You're not going to get much cheaper for what a player like him has already produced at 26yo.

[hammerman11]

Totally agree. Proven PL player ..
Toney has done it for one season
Nunez in an inferior league
Broja first season in PL
Dennis as broja
Abrahams proven PL and series a thusxseason.
Watkins, toney and Abrahams all around 40- 50m mark!

[Gsbgsb]

Aston Villa weren't newly promoted... It was their second season.

And that one impressive Brentford season came after two seasons of 10 in 40 in a league where Mitrovic scored 40 goals. Even Solanke scored 29 in that league this season, Watkins managed 10, 10, then 26.

Watkins had a good season in a league thats golden boot has been won by such goalscoring greats as Teemu Pukki, Alexandr Mitrovic, Sylvain Ebanks-Blake, Vydra, and Daryl Murphy.

He didn't even win the Golden Boot, he was beaten by Mitrovic!

To be fair to Watkins his first couple of seasons at Brentford he was played mainly left side, they had Maupay as the main man through the middle. It was not until Maupay left that he was really switched to the middle.

Who is the top scorer in that league is hardly relevant. Over the years we have had people advocating Adams, Armstrong, Karlan Grant, Bereton-Diaz, Maupay himself and countless other none of whom were top scorers in the league or, when given the chance, proven themselves at PL level.

Watkins is not the second coming but he cost Villa the better part of £35m and has since gone on to show he can cut it at PL level. He is hardly going to be worth less now. If £50m is over the top so be it, I recall how last summer many were adamant that either Abraham was not good enough or certainly not worth more than £35m tops etc. As he has shown he is both in the right team.

If Watkins is the player Moyes wants and he will cost £50m then if the budget allows for this to try to get him for a few million less or not go for him at all is the very Sullivanesque trait so many complain of.

[bubbles1966]

I wouldn't, much like Villa probably won't.

I don't understand what point you're making.

Much like we have no interest in selling Rice so we're asking for a fee he's not worth.

Antonio is 32. His time as a consistent starter will be up in the next 12-24 months and he already looks as though his body, like Fabianski's, is not really suited to regular bouts of three games in seven days

A player needs to come in to support initially, but replace relatively soon in all likelihood. A signing of some kind is an almost unavoidable requirement.

The player that comes however, needs to match Antonio's levels or team performance will suffer. If we are looking for players who can deliver 18 PL goals and assists , they are most likely going to cost £45m-£55m if they are peak age footballers in the PL, whether we like it or not.

I get the sense that there is one group people who want the kind of striker that will never come to us in a month of Sundays - the superb all round player who is also a great finisher - and then there is another group who would rather we punted because they feel uncomfortable about paying the price that is required for a relative guarantee of performance of an above-average PL footballer at peak age.

But there is a middle ground - full of players like Watkins, Calvert Lewin, Phillips, Raphinha, Ward Prowse etc - who are very good PL players who aren't elite but they offer a virtual guarantee of performance/quality up to a level that is consistent with top 6/7.

[upton o'good]

Ollie Watkins isn't special, he isn't Harry Kane, there are countless Ollie Watkins' out there, and they'll cost less than £50 million.

well if they are so common, how the feck did we manage not to sign one to share gthe load with Antonio in the last 18 months