Transfer Rumours transfer thread fact and fiction

Ffs, these Tottenham youths really are Tottenham youths!

I’m hoping it ain’t true though, losing him would be a real ****ter.

 

Yep. Andre Ayew.

 

****.

 

With timing that's rather helpful, QPR's fine for pumping in a load of money in breach of Championship FFP has been settled and will result in a £17m fine and a transfer ban until January 2019. That was for putting in £60m of the owner's cash. The original fine was £41m but has been reduced, probably because it would result in the club having severe financial problems and possibly going into a financial tailspin.

However, Villa be warned. Your owners may be as rich as Croesus but you can't pump that money into the club without it having significant financial implications. Villa will have to sell Grealish and make other savings or go all out for promotion and make sure that they stay there. QPR's problem wasn't investing the money, it was getting their asses relegated back to take their medicine.

£17m is a **** of a lot of money to a Championship team. I would expect that any future transgressors will get more, if they transgress to the same level.

 

Surely the way forward is for the owner to buy another business and whether that business makes any profit or not, get that business to sponsor QPR. Then it is clearly "fair play" and not fines will be dished out. And if there are fines they'll probably be smaller than a championship club has to pay.

 

Wasn't there something about City trying/doing this a couple of years back?

 

What, Ethiad Airlines you mean?

 

I can't remember. I thought it was something to do with them trying to use a sponsor from a company their owner owned. And the deal was massive. Way bigger than normal. Not sure if it got blocked or not, or what happened.

 

Plus Etisalat, Visit Abu Dhabi and Aabar. Probably not Tinder, though...

 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2011/jul/08/manchester-city-deal-etihad-airways

Ethihad are owned by the Abu Dhabi government and Cities owners are part of the Abu Dhabi Royal Family. The Crown prince is head of the executive council and has a lot of power so basically I think you can say the Royal Family is the government for all intense and purposes. I ight be wrong about all the detail as I'm no expert so feel free to correct me. Hence, a family owned business has ploughed £400m into a plaything of a family member...

UEFA? Nothing to see here, no conflict of interest at all.

 

Yeah, that's what i'm talking about. Thanks for filling in!

Ok, so they allowed them to do it, so Villa can go ahead with vim's plan

 

Villa are held to a different Fair Play set of rules which are the Football Leagues own ones and are nothing to do with UEFA. I think a club can lose a maximum of £13m a season over a rolling 3 year period. I think an owner is only allowed to cover so much though but not sure how much. Villa are reportedly losing £5m a month and the Chairman, I think, put in £5m to cover last month or this month so might have already reached whatever limit the rules allows. Also supposed to owe about £22m already to the likes of other clubs and the tax man.

So basically, as they did not get promoted they do not in any way shape or form meet the Financial Fair Play rules of the Football League and a new owner cannot just come in and write a blank cheque to make it go away as the League would still consider that a debt and Villa would still be losing money.

 

For example, Brighton lost £39 million in the season they just missed out on promotion to the Premier league. This was partly due to building a new training ground from scratch and trying to spend more money than they had to get promotion. However, as they had not made a loss the previous two seasons, they were not fined. Villa spent something like £70m on players in one season and racked up huge debts that even when spread over three years have eclipsed what they should. They gambled on getting promoted and lost..... the fine would have only been £3m I think if they had gone up and that would easily be offset against the money they would have gained from being back in the Prem.

 

Considering how, just today, QPR were hit with a £42m bill for FFP violations back in 2013-14 (which consist of a £17m fine, paying the EFL's legal fees of £3m, and capitalising on £22m of outstanding loans) while also being slapped with a transfer embargo for January's transfer window, if Villa's new owners have any sense they won't act so bullish.

 

After Zaha removed Palace from his insta bio and left a cryptic message talking about change, rumours are now circulating that Spurs and Chelsea have supposedly had bids accepted and it’s now down to the player.

 

Chelsea will get him...money talks and boy do they they need to talk loudly

 

Yeah you’re probably right. I think they’ll see him as a possible Hazard replacement as well if the latter does go Real.

 

I don't really see a place for Zaha in our squad, given what we've currently got available.
Son, Alli and Eriksen are first choice in the three behind Kane, then Lamela and Moura pick up the wide slots as cover.
I guess we could play all three with Lamela in the middle of the trio, but it seems like a bit of a stretch.

 

Agreed, i'd rather spend the money in deeper midfield.

If he was cheaper i'd be keen on taking him as cover and to piss off Chelsea

 

I think it’s a case of just looking to add some quality, even if his position is an area where we’re most strongest.

Think I read somewhere that Poch isn't supposedly looking for a back up to Harry but instead wants another Sonny type who can play in the three or up front, which Zaha and Martial (and maybe Pulisic?) fall into. I wouldn't say no to either of them signing but also wouldn't be bothered if none joined.

CM still remains priority for me. Ideally I'd want two in for that, shift Sissoko and Dembele on, and have Winks and two others battle it out, Grealish hopefully being one, maybe Andre Gomes or an out of the blue one, dare Levy go for Thiago or Vidal? Both supposedly allowed to leave by Bayern.