Re: Summer transfers speculation thread (all links in here until it's official)

[FoxyAV]

Hello Traoré, goodbye Tonev, goodbye N'Zog. I'd like to say thank you for all your effort and contribution but like you, I can't be bothered.

[Peter]

Hope Traore comes off.
Get Embolo instead of Adebayor and its easy top 10 with superb investment value

[villabromsgrove]

Hope Traore comes off.
Get Embolo instead of Adebayor and its easy top 10 with superb investment value

I agree with you about looking for investment value.

[Villa_Dan]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2535898-why-barcelona-are-right-to-consider-selling-adama-traore 

From last week

Adama Traore has been knocking on the first-team door atBarcelona for what seems like ages now.

It was back in 2012 during the NextGen tournament, a forerunner of the UEFA Youth League, that the youngster came to wider prominence thanks to some dazzling performances.
Tottenham Hotspur were just one club whose defenders were destroyed by the pace and power of Barca's wide man.

However, in the three years since, Traore hasn't progressed as well as everyone at the club might have hoped.
Sandro Ramirez, who scored two on the night against Spurs, has begun to make his mark at the senior level, and Munir El Haddadi's rise came out of nowhere. But that has left Traore with nowhere to go.
Too good for Barca B, now relegated to the Segunda B division, equivalent to England's League One, he isn't yet good enough for an extended run in the first team.
Such is the makeup of the seniors at present that even a handful of matches is probably beyond him, and that probably says much more about the direction the club are taking than about the player himself.
According to Sport (h/t Chris Beesley of the Liverpool Echo), it appears Barca have finally made a conscious decision to allow the player to continue his development elsewhere.

The paper notes that the player is flying in to Liverpool to conclude a deal with the Reds, although it is unclear whether it will be a loan or permanent arrangement at this stage. 
Although a jump straight into Liverpool's first team is unlikely, the chance of regular employment there is much higher at this juncture than if he were to stay in Catalonia.
B/R's Matt Jones even suggests that Aston Villa could well be Traore's actual destination.
In any event, Ajinkya Koshti of SportsKeeda recalled the clause inAdama's contract that saw a promotion to Barca's first team as of July 2015.

Whilst there are facets of his game that are coveted and desirable, he is no Neymar or Lionel Messi, and the player couldn't possibly think that he could become an immediate first-team regular at the expense of either player.


Similarly, if Luis Enrique were to consider him in a right wing-back role, he already has Dani Alves in situ and Aleix Vidal chomping at the bit to rival the Brazilian for a starting spot come January.
Factor in that Sergi Roberto has played there in pre-season and is much further forward in his own development, and that Pedro Rodriguez might be considered for the role if he stays at the club and we begin to understand the wider picture that faces Traore.

It's a picture that is beginning to be painted squad-wide for Barca B graduates. Alen Halilovicand his potential move toWest Ham United, per Tom Conn of Inside Spanish Football, is another prime example.
For a club that takes great pride in its production of talent from its La Masiaacademy, the current situation is wholly unsatisfactory.

But like it or not, it is a situation that needs addressing. 

It is criminal to expect Traore to continue to bide his time in the reserves with no chance of meaningful integration into the first team in the short term or longer.
At least if he were to join Liverpool or Villa, Brendan Rodgers or Tim Sherwood would afford him every opportunity to break into the senior setup.

In fact, whatever might be said about the Northern Irishman's forays into the transfer market, there is no doubt that as a true football man, he has a knack for developing and nurturing bright young talent—which he undoubtedly honed at Chelsea under the guidance ofJose Mourinho.
Sherwood is rapidly becoming known as a similar exponent of youth.
Although a sale wouldn't benefit Barca themselves, it would give the highly prized Traore the chance to flourish, and no club in the world should stand in a youngster's way on that basis.
If nothing else, the Catalans can satisfy themselves that they were able to play a significant part in his development to this point.
Equally, this precise situation should serve as a lesson to the club if they want to continue on a path of "Galactico" type signings.

[UrmstonVilla]

Wages and dross is where it all fell apart. Habib Beye is the classic example; a player earning in excess of £2m a year for being 3rd or 4th choice simply isn't sustainable. Not only is it a waste of money but you just won't be able to offload him as no other club will pay those sorts of wages. UNLESS....you give the player away.

Some investment strategy, that is!

And when the owner wants to shed the shit but can't, he has to get rid of the good players. And they get replaced by low priced shit.

And the low priced, low paid shit won't be happy that the players in their shadow are earning 5 times as much. Oh, happy days!

For that unfortunate scenario we can thank Lerner for not having the balls to put a stop to MON's outrageous Give-A-Shit-English-Player-A-Second-Chance-And-A-Mountain-Of-Cash philosophy.

I think that the approach Lerner is taking now is based on the assumption that players and agents will soak up a massive chunk of the new TV money so he's implemented a sell-to-buy policy meaning that Sherwood has had to buy good value players from the continent on lower wages than their English counterparts. Note: good value, not cheap shit. In 12 months when the TV money rolls in, our balance sheet SHOULD look very very healthy indeed and SHOULD make the club extremely attractive to a buyer.

To put it another way, when he first put the club up for sale, it was a shitty ship on a shitty day heading straight for shitty rocks.

Today, the shitty ship has largely been refurbished and had the shitty barnacles scraped off. It looks like it's headed away from the shitty rocks.

By the end of the season, the newly refurbished ship could be sitting pretty off a nice beach in the Bahamas with cocktails and dancing girls waiting to come aboard.



What was the question again?

Lots of comments about shitty ships becoming good ships...its a slow takeover news period...is this a subtle link Micky Arison?

[villabromsgrove]

I have to say that I'm nervous about signing Adama, and I will be until he's seen in a Villa shirt. This guy will at the very least be really entertaining, and at best could turn out to be awesome!

[KMitch]

I have to say that I'm nervous about signing Adama, and I will be until he's seen in a Villa shirt. This guy will at the very least be  really entertaining, and at best could turn out to be awesome!

Same here. He's a talent and anything has to be better than both N'Zogbia and Tonev on the right.

[clarryblue]

wow...Adama..and rumours of Praet too...on top of what we have!!

sod this defending lark......lets just score more than we concede

[villabromsgrove]

At the risk of sounding like a spoilt brat ..... I want Obbi Oulare!

[KMitch]

I don't think Praet will come off, but I'll be over the moon if it does. I somehow got the impression that we made an inquiry, but he was out of out price range and we went for Veretout instead. Getting both of them would be fantastic.

[4BetLite]

just heard on radio talkspoof, We are serious about Traore and he will be here to tie deal up within next 48hrs..........expect this to be completed by next next Friday then.

[4BetLite]

At the risk of sounding like a spoilt brat ..... I want Obbi Oulare!

at the risk of agreeing with everything you say, I'll second the motion. A much better business decision then Adeybayor.

also at the risk of sounding stupid, I think we are 4/5 players away from having a strong squad, there, said it!

[Guest]

I don't think Praet will come off, but I'll be over the moon if it does. I somehow got the impression that we made an inquiry, but he was out of out price range and we went for Veretout instead. Getting both of them would be fantastic.

Me neither. While cover for Grealish and Ayew is needed, we need one player to do this. Not two. If we get this Adama fella I'd rather we went for a RB as a final signing. Not Praet.

[villabromsgrove]

At the risk of sounding like a spoilt brat ..... I want Obbi Oulare!

at the risk of agreeing with everything you say, I'll second the motion. A much better business decision then Adeybayor.

also at the risk of sounding stupid, I think we are 4/5 players away from having a strong squad, there, said it!

Between us we may yet convince Tim Sherwood!

[Cha Ching]

If we get Traore, then we'll have huge competition upfront with Sinclair, Grealish, Gil, Ayew, Gabby and Gestede this season. Should be a huge upgrade on N'Zogbia and Weimann et al.

[4BetLite]

Cannot ever remember a manager not going back to previous club for at least one player, if its gonna happen I'm hoping its walker

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https://bellsareringing.forumotion.com/viewtopic.forum?t=1552

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