Villa spending money at Spurs, Manchester United, West Brom and Preston
Monday, 18 December 06, 10:20 AM
We've got thirteen days until the transfer window opens and I reckon if we're to believe anything it's that we're spending money.
Today, we've seen the almost weekly link to Tottenham Hotspur and this time it's none other than Robbie Keane (expect Defoe by the end of the week).
The thing is, most Spurs fans will say that he's not going to go to a club like Villa but I'll say in our defence that he's given Spurs 150 odd games and won nothing. He's a player, at 26 yeas old, that will see his next club as the one where he has to win something and there is as much chance at Villa right now under Martin O'Neill and Randy Lerner.
How many more chances can he give Spurs?
Other rumours today include West Brom skipper Curtis Davies and Manchester United defender Phil Bardsley. I'd like Davies if we didn't have Ridgewell and Cahill but maybe Martin O'Neill is looking for cover; after all he's a Championship player.
Phil Bardsley is currently on loan at Rangers. He had a publicised fall out with manager Paul Le Guen and is resigned to not getting into the the United team; meaning a permanent move to Villa could be on the cards although a loan move is also an option.
I've never seen him play so can't comment but he's a right back and it's a position we need a fit player to play. If anyone has seen him play let us know below.
Let's not forget the persistent Nugent rumour at Preston. Good player I'm sure but with Robbie Keane scoring a goal every three games he'd be my number one target.
All rumour and all speculation. What do you expect this close to Christmas?
Comments (30)
He's quite decent.
Had a few decent games for united last season.
Haven't seen him play much this season so don't know if he has become any better or worse.
I hope he does get a chance at united and hope he can make it as we need another right back to cover for neville when he gets injured.
trying to work out how you reckon that robie would have as much chance of winning something with Villa as he has with spurs?? we are in still in europe and have a quater final game against southend on wednesday and your a flash in the pan early season wannabee club who without a world class manager would be going toe to toe with Charlton about now!
Keane has 3 realistic chances of picking up a trophy this season at WHL.League cup(in quarters against Southend)Uefa cup(won every game at a canter)and the FA cup,which has yet to start.
Spurs also recentl leapfrogged Villa in the prem,despite their poor start and Villas alleged great start.
The tabloids have nothing else to talk about,so when they need a stroy they look at Tottenhams strikers,put 2 and 2 together and come up with a dodgy 5.
As you say,it will be Defoe by the end of the week even though both player and club have stated that he is going nowhere!!!
Keane signed a 4 year extension last season,is vice captain,is currently injured and gets plenty of starts at WHL due to EUROPEAN football,plus the cup run(s)
Even if he was available to leave,I'am sure O'Neil would'nt want to spend a sizable chunk of his kitty(at least 10mill,forget the silly 7mill being bandied about)on Robbie,who to be honest does'nt score many goals.Spurs are notorious hard bargainers,and it is they who hold all the aces in any particular deal involving ANY of their strikers.
Why would Keane want to play for a club that is 2-3 years behind Tottenham in terms of development anyway???
It would mean that in 2009/10 he would be at exactly the same level he is at now(if Villa get it right of course....)
Forget the tabloids.They have it horribly wrong on this one again....
Keane was 'dead certain' to move to Everton and Celtic in the last 12-18 months.
He is going nowhere.
I really dont know why you keep banging on about your getting keane or defoe, for one you couldnt afford either of them, your sitting pretty high up the table at the moment but thats just flash in the pan, wigan will finish above you thats for sure, your team has over achieved the last few months, it wont last. why dont you look at players around your level that might come?? try teams like watford, sheffield utd or maybe some teams from division one, you might have a chance then??
What an uninformed load of drivel. What is the point of making things up to write an article. Keane or Davies( championship player (?)whose better than Ridge/Cahill !)would no more join Villa than Robinho. Keane has commiteed to Spurs. If it wasn't for your manager you would be sliding all the way back to your normal 16th spot !
I don't want this to turn into anything but why do Spurs fans think they're this great team? I'll tell you why; it's history and hope. Just like Villa. But the thing is Spurs have had a board backing the manger for a while now and still not won anything.
And this drivel about 'three realistic' trophies this season ... why not four! You're still in the Premiership! It's about as realistic as the FA Cup or Europe for you lot.
The Keane rumour came from a Spurs related site. There is usually no smoke without a little fire and this one keeps popping up.
And yes, it is down to our manager but are you suggesting that Spurs could do it without Martin Jol? Get rid of Jol and you'll be back where you were a few years ago; mid table mediocrity.
Why do Spurs fans think they are so great? They'll always be behind Arsenal and Chelsea in their City; maybe even West Ham now ... atleast we are number one where we come from.
Mmmm you might want to consult the bookies, they'll tell you whose more likely to be winning things Spurs or Villa. Chortle.
Andrew, ask your bookies now about next season. You'll get the same price on Villa as you would Spurs. It's not always about the right here right now. Robbie Keane famously turned down Liverpool to play for Wolves because he knew he'd have more football.
He might famously leave Spurs in January because in the long run he might think he's got more chance of winning things at Villa.
The thing is; none of us actually know what Robbie Keane is thinking and this is all rumour and speculation.
Martin Oâ€Neal has no track record for buying class players and making them better one he more suited to bringing Blackpool beach donkeyâ€s like heskey or Sutton and using them like medieval battering ram to bash out a result …what has any of the strikers achieved or done since Oâ€Neal arrival… sweet FA
Villa fan better wake up and realise that clubs from the midlands canâ€t attract class that why Barry will need to leave to get into England team ... villa like a Woolworth shopper who gone to Harrods for shopping trip you can look but canâ€t afford it
More chance of success at Villa than at Spurs. Listen mate i dont what your on but i dont think it is good for you. Villa are delighted with the start to this years season. Rightly so as compared to last year you've come on leaps and bounds. Spurs have had a shaky start to the prem season to say the least!! But look at the league table - Spurs are still ahead, even with playing a considerable amount more games than you this season with our Uefa and Carling cup campaigns going rather well. And as far as the comment by Damian about us being in the shadows of Chelsea and Arsenal and Villa being the best team in their city, i must agree your competition for that gong is fierce - Birmingham, Coventry and West Brom. You must be really pround of your boys........
I don't want to burst you bubble, I can imagine how much you would like Robbie Keane or Defoe but there is only 1 club Robbie will be leaving Spurs for and that is Celtic. That will only happen when he is 30 plus and wants to end his career with his boyhood team. So sorry but Martin Jol is not going to sell one of his top two strikers go!
Fair play to Villa for a better start this season, but after watching Celtic for 5 years under O'Neill don't expect attractive, free flowing football to come with him!
Damien, given that I would imagine Spurs will have yet another Summer of outperforming all of our rivals in the transfer market, I'm sure we'll be stronger still next season, and the bookies will take that into account. Take Berbatov, kind of shows how big money transfers should be done (Angel, Baros).
Damien,you lost any credability you had when saying Spurs could be considered to be behind West Ham!!!
That was pure nonsense,completely unfounded and I for one,would love to see the reasons you can put forward to explain this nonsense(investment is'nt a good enough one,especially when Spurs have been one of the biggest investors in Europe the past few years and are backed by the 2nd richest man in English football behind Roman Abramovich)
We DO have a realistic chance of winning one of three trophies this season.
Go on any bookies website,you will find we are 5th favourites for the fa cup(won it 8 times,recent seasons have seen Milwall,Southapton and Wet Spam in the final,whats to say we could'nt get there?)
We are AT WORST 3rd favourites for the uefa cup.In some cases we are joint favourites...one thing is for sure,we have a damned sight better chances in these two competitions than Villa!!!
Please,tell me player for player who has better team and squad than Tottenham outside the big 4 clubs?
That's why we belive we are a good side,who are packed with youngsters and can only improve over the next few years(especially whilst adding top players like Berbatov to our ranks!)
Andrew; but you keep spending and not producing ... I hope you do win UEFA this season as it woudl be good for English football but nothing is won now and it's all potential ...
Yid, I said maybe; it was to get the reaction ... but its just like saying Spurs have all these great chances ... we don't know what this new guy is going to do at West Ham but to be honest I don't think much. West Ham are after all just West Ham.
The bickering on this thread and previous ones is doing my head in. Villa and Spurs are both massive clubs with enormous tradition and similar records. Spurs are a bit further down the track as Jol has been in place longer - O'Neill will need two seasons of financial backing and squad-building to compete realistically for a UEFA Cup place, Spurs probably will this season if they can build away form on the back of the result at City. Early indications are that O'Neill is obsessed with pace, not with a muscular long ball approach: that will be his priority in building the squad. If he can be successful in some good signings during the January windowm Spurs can expect a run for their money in the battle for places 5-7: but I don't see Spurs getting anywhere near the Big 4.
well said Finn
From a neutrals point of view I think there would be absolutely no point in Robbie Keane leaving Spurs unless it was to move to one of last year's top four - and even then it's only really the current top two who would offer a guaranteed chance of a higher league position (as IMO Spurs have massively closed the gap on Liverpool and Arsenal in the previous few seasons)
Of all the teams outside the current top four Spurs are easily the ones with the biggest chance of breaking into the elite (Newcastle had their chance and blew it) they have a very good young manager, money to spend in the transfer market, a very good (young) first team and also a bigger quality squad than any bar the Champions League qualifying clubs.
At the moment a switch from Spurs to Villa would be a definite downward step for a player like Robbie Keane (same goes for Defoe too) all Spurs really need is one or two more players to genuinely consider themselves top 4 material, they ended up being incredibly unlucky to miss out last season and are probably stronger in terms of their first team and squad depth since then.
Villa have potential to get themselves up there as they have always been a reasonably big club. Obviously they now have a bit of money and a decent manager behind them too, but even if Spurs stand still I think Villa are two to three years behind them in terms of development - and when you look at what Martin Jol has done in only two years at Spurs it looks unlikely that Spurs will do anything other than improve further.
I think that all bar those wearing claret and blue glasses would agree with me here too.
Anyway I'm glad to see the renaissance in both clubs as they are two clubs that I genuinely admire as generally always contributing players to the national side and also having decent support.
RedDevil ... from Lambeth, London. I smells a rat!
So you think that ridgewell and cahill are better than davies??? do me a favour, davies would not go to villa when there are bigger clubs sniffing around
Ive been suggesting Curtis Davies for a while now so im glad if this happens,if he signs then Mellberg can stay at rightback. We badly need 2 strikers, Bent and Keane, i cant see where the next win is coming, charlton perhaps? and then watford towards the end of Jan, by then our european hopes will be over.
spurs fans heres a little prediction,villa will looking down on spurs year after year.
we have one of the best managers in the game& the money to back him.as the guy smith from the matrix film said"it is in
If I was a Villa fan,I would be more worried about losing Agbonalahor to Spurs.
He fits the Spurs criteria,and with Jol still not having hardly spent any of his massive war chest in the summer,money won't(and never will be)a problem.
>RedDevil ... from Lambeth, London. I smells a rat!
From Altringham actually, I do work in London however.
We need Wright-Phillips so that gabby gets his run up front. He is wasted on the right
For the first time all season superstar team spurs are above villa and we get all this crap, your 7th in the league so i would say there are 6 teams with stronger squads, we get to play you pretty soon so we will see how great you are or are not. 2nd richest! check your facts...
Why all the silly bickering? Smells of childish insecurity to me! Here's a good one...'Time will tell' Lets see if any the comments are off the mark and if so, if anyone comes back in humility and say's; I/WE were wrong! To qoute MON "nobody knows anything" Nuff said!
Why all the silly bickering? Smells of childish insecurity to me! Here's a good one...'Time will tell' Lets see if any the comments are off the mark and if so, if anyone comes back in humility and say's; I/WE were wrong! To qoute MON "nobody knows anything" Nuff said!
oi! spurs fans!! go comment on your own blog, I hate spurs, always think they have a divine right to be in top 6 when in actual fact i think you have finished in the top 6 once since the premiership began and once had the nerve to say that ramon vega was a central defender when he isnt even the best central defender in his own house. You make me laugh when you go about all these class players you have like berbatov when i heard all the yids moaning about him on talk sport after everton turned you over at home. I dont even want robbie keane!!! Notice how all the spurs fans are now saying how great there team is now they have strung a few results together. I hope feyenoord thrash you in the uefa cup and i hope we stuff you in two weeks time
oh and by the way...when was the last time you won the league boys?? would it be in the early 60's by any chance?? chuckle chuckle chortle
ASTON VILLA::::::::::;
GOALKEEPERS:MATT MURRAY
L.BACK:M.TAYLOR M.SILVESTRE
R.BACK:L.ROSENIOR L.YOUNG
MID:J.BARTON K.NOLAN
STRIKERS:J.DEFOE R.KEANE A.CASSANO A.SMITH O.G.SOLKSJEAR D.BENT
D.NUGENT