I'm guessing Levy competed with that? if he didn't, then he's the only one to blame. if he's chosen to stay in spain, fair enough. It means we must spend. there wont be another bargain like that. what a steal for athletico. Unbelievable jeff.
Looks like to wanted to stay in Spain after all that, says we failed to get in Jan presumably for the same reason
CL football must have been a factor, but staying in Spain was probably the main thing. At 31, being past your best, would you have the hunger and desire to try a new challenge?
Palmeri's an idiot, but Balague gets a fair amount of stuff right, so it's probably true. The fee's ridiculously low though, so **** knows what we put on the table.
He was provisionally signed for 3 clubs, I knew of us and an Italian team, didn't know the other, but a Spanish one is no surprise, could be family not wanting upheaval who knows, its gone now, move on.
I am a little disappointed Re:Villa but at the same time not too upset. He would have been 32 by end of season and probably only had 1 more in him. Now maybe we can get someone who may not be as exciting, but will be around for longer! Glad we missed out on Villa rather than Paulinho.
Well that's a kick in the bollocks. Had a good feeling about Villa joining us. 5.1m Euros is incredibly cheap for him though even if he is slightly passed his best. I'm hoping his reasons for joining Atletico are because Atletico offered him fantastic wages or that he wanted to remain in Span, because if we supposedly agreed on personal terms but couldn't meet that sort of asking price we need shooting. Oh well, just means we'll have to get Soldado now
The ITK meltdown on this has been hilarious. So many people trying to claim that wrong isn't actually wrong really, if you look at it from the correct angle. At night. With the lights out.
Im actually more disappointed with this - Bony Close to £13m Swansea Move than I am about Villa. Really feel he could have been our perfect player. And just seen this - Gomez Moves to Fiorentina There goes another great chance at a striker.
Very few players come from Spain to play in England we should have more joy in Northern Europe where the play and climate are more similar. The South Americans have a different view of Europe and a high interest in playing in the home of football. These area will be more fruitful for us I think. Having said that we have a Manager from sunny Portugal who no doubt sees the Spanish league as a place to pillage.
Missing out on Villa's a huge kick in the nuts. I wouldn't have thought we stood a chance normally but given all the "ITK" and media reports suggesting it could well happen I was starting to dream. Massively disappointing, I guess it's going to be a summer of chasing strikers from clubs who are asking for ridiculous prices for players who ultimately aren't even that much of a step up from Ade.
True, good poacher, but lazy off the ball, no good for the PL imo, and as for Boner or whatever his name is...never heard of him, and I don't believe anyone else did before this link to him, so i find it difficult to be disappointed about him. If the likes of Swansea are in for him with all due respect he's probably an ok player, will no doubt score against us!, but is probably below what we need....cue Benteke style season!
Losing out on Villa is incredibly annoying. I don't think we'll sign a striker now - the remaining options are: Benteke - too expensive Soldado - too expensive Negredo - too expensive Damiao - Any others are too expensive. If we do sign a striker it'll be a cheap player that is probably considered 'promising'. However, nearly all the teams in the PL have 1 '20 goal a season' man - we do too - his name is Gareth Bale. I think Bale will be turned into a striker next season - rather than a player floating around the strikers. With Paulinho signing, it seems like we'll be changing to a 4-3-3. I think Bale will be in the middle of the 3 and we'll sign a winger - someone like Jese Rodriguez to go out on the left. It's cheaper and the position is at least somewhat covered - it's got Levy-tactics written all over it. On the topic of Jese Rodriguez - I can't see Real dealing with us tbh - not after our refusal to bend over for them re. Bale. If they do sell him to us, it'll be full all conditions regarding the transfer of Bale for next year I bet - and we all know what Levy would say to that. So back to Villa - yeah it's annoying - he would've improved us I think - maybe he was about to sign and then saw our kit for next season
We were linked with Bony last summer, I think. Definitely last January, anyway. Had a big season, but I haven't seen enough of him to know if he's good enough.
Soldado is the man I've wanted from the start, and he's practically the last one left. Don't think he will be too much given Valencia's money worries. His goalscoring record warrants a fee of £20-25m.
So which Daily Mirror article should I click on on Newsnow? The one that says we've signed David Villa ("in principle" whatever that means) or the one that says he's signed for Athletico Madrid? Does it just depend on my mood? It's a good job the "Street of Shame" section in Private Eye doesn't focus on sport at all - they'd have to double the size of every edition.
Twitter is awash with comments claiming that Benteke is the main target now. I'll believe it when I see it - Villa will want way over £20m for him - plus, if Chelsea are sniffing around as well (they've pretty much lost Cavani to PSG) then he'll pick them every time. I maintain we won't sign a striker this window.
