Ings, Adams, A. Armstrong and Tella looks a lot better than Adams, A. Armstrong, Tella and Long. I understand selling Ings but we have to sign two strikers now in my opinion.
Agreed. I don't think we're looking to spend more than 15mill on Armstrong which still leaves us money to get another in.
We were a forward light to begin with. I think it’s going to be Obafemi/Armstrong added to the rotation alongside another new forward.
They have generous owners, and have £100m comimg their way. Their fans would be up in arms if they didn't invest the Grealish money.
Ambition is just slang for money in the world of football. I hate this “ambition” talk. Like the leadership at the club are aspiring to tread water. They can only make the best use of what they have. That’s just life.
Villa have surely ended their interest in him now, so that could open the door. I know that Arsenal have been linked, but unless they offer something mind-blowing I'm not sure that Chelsea would be too interested in helping them out. West Ham remain the obvious choice to my mind, but how solid is their interest? And how much are they able, or willing, to spend. Moreover, whilst they're hardly a direct threat to Chelsea, they are nevertheless a bigger threat than we are. I can't see Chelsea having any issue selling to us - maybe even for a bit less than they want. I would though be dubious as to whether Tammy would be willing to fit into our wage structure.
Fabrizio Romano's reporting that Atalanta want Abraham to replace their first choice striker, who appears to be going to Inter to replace Lukaku.
I will have to respectfully agree to disagree with you there! I get the argument that it can be seen as a good deal for us. I hope it works out that way. But Ings is a fantastic player, he has carried our attacking play and scored most of our goals for much of his time here. I’m disappointed more in Ings than the club though tbh. I agree that they didn’t have much choice.
This should put an end to any idea that the club has messed up here. This was a great deal. If Danny is superb for Villa next year, it’s still a great deal and likely the only one that we could have made. It’s 28m to spend on a younger player and saving on a big contract that we’d have had to live with if he’d been willing to stay. The worst part of all this? We could have had Patson Daka for that.
It is a proxy for money, though that's not the only element. When Saints first hit the PL, we were not particularly big spenders, but we moved aggressively for players that might have seemed above our station, and succeeded in signing them. The perception that we were a team on the up acted as a multiplier for the money we did have to spend. Villa's been throwing money around (though most of that is from the Grealish deal), but beyond that they're also saying the right things about pushing on, and in the first season of their new ownership group they improved considerably. It could all come to nothing, but at least for the moment, I can see why they'd be an attractive proposition for a player.
I think they’re the real deal. They have a lot of money and great owners plus a massive fan base. Can see them pushing up toward Europa league this season. Sort of where saints used to be as the best of the rest
A lot of people (some here, but mainly on Twitter) keep calling Ings a '20 league goals a season' striker. In his career, he's only ever scored more than 20 goals a season twice (22 in 38 PL games in 2019/20 and 21 in 40 Ch'ship games in 2013/14). In his time with us, he's averaged 13.6 goals a season, that's a goal every 182 minutes. In his career in all comps, he averages a goal every 200 minutes. So the good news is we do not need to replace a '20 goal a season' player, as that's almost impossible for us. I'm gutted he's left, but it makes complete sense, and I'm going to predict that he'll suffer from more injuries and fail to impress at Villa.
We have a bit of cash now so someone get the bloody Saint Adam! thread started asap. Talks apparently advanced but Norwich rumoured to have made a large bid today.
I would also add that i don't feel grealish is wirth £100 million. I wish we had made an offer for Aguerro - for me the most accomplished goalscorer in English football over the last decade.
There is a lot of cope in this post. When ings is fit he is one of the finest attackers in the premier league IMO. No one is irreplaceable though so hopefully we can pull a rabbit out of the hat. It’s just so frustrating as a fan that the club never gives us a season where we keep the key players and build on the squad. It’s always 2 steps forward 1 step back
