I think you are getting a bit ahead of yourself, i'd love to see these players linked with villa but we have no chance of attracting those sorts of players, we are not even in the uefa cup for christ sake. We'll be doing well to get the players we are linked to, because there will be about 5 or 6 other clubs that have just as much money to spend that will be after the same players.

Let's face it, we're going to be linked with everybody and his dog during the window! And the really big signings - Tevez, Eto, Berbatov etc - are going to be made by the top 4. Rio-Coker is a good option, as is Bellamy, to help take us to the next level (top 6) but both are hideously overpriced if the rumours are correct!

Dont rate him anyway, has done nothing special so far.
It does'nt always matter if your in europe some players want the challenge to get to europe and with a big name manager that we have i would expect 1 or 2 big names to come on board. If the money is right players will play anywhere.

Sneijder, Ribery, Tevez? Are you serious? They will only play for a club in Champions League.

Phase one of plan is compete with Spurs, Newcastle, Bolton, Everton and get in front of the also rans like Reading, Portsmouth etc.

Bellamy, Reo-Coker, Taylor are the kind of players who will get us there when added to the likes of Carew, Young, Bouma, Barry, Mellberg, Laursen and Petrov.

When we are in Europe, then we can talk about the big names.

if you honestly think we are going to sign players of the likes of Sneijder you are deluded...we don't even have european football to offer next season....players like Nigel Reo-Coker, young hungry and with bags of potential are the kind of players we should be looking to sign.

Lets face it, what have we got to offer a world class player just now! Villa is a team in progress and are already a million miles from where we were this time last year. Reo-Coker would be a fantastic addition to the squad offering youth, quality, energy and of course he is English. He was unlucky not to go the 2006 World Cup finals. It is stupid to think we are now going to sign Henry, Eto, Tevez, Lampard etc. So enjoy the expectations set by the club and lets not be to early to judge. MON knows what he wants and what is achieveable! The season only closed two weeks ago.

Spot on liamo,we can't even offer European football! Lets concentrate on trying to break into the top 6 on a regular basis then try to push on. A bit like Tottenham are doing now.

Everyone we seem to be linked with is after by a top 4 club so it feels like we have no chance of signing the decent ones

Its a better link than the likes of Kepa blanco, marlon harewood and konchesky who we've been linked with.

agree with the others really .. we are gettin slightly carried away suggesting ribery, he was a star at the world cup with clubs like real madrid interested so that looks unlikely.

lets start with decent players with potential like reo-coker. patience is the key here, lets get behind martin.

up the villa!

GK: BORUC
RB: JAGIELKA CB: MELLBERG CB: LAURSEN LB: BOUMA
RM: A.YOUNG CM: PETROV CM: REO-COKER LM: BARRY(c)
ST: CAREW ST: BELLAMY

Reo-Coker would be the ideal eplacement for Gavin McCann he's english, young and a great leader this buy may just
be the foil for Stilian Petrov to get forward more and do what hes best at, scoring goals with his long range shots and darting late runs from midfield. I reckon this is the team that will get us into europe next season, as we will be able then to attract the bigger name players the following season. Also 5 BRITISH players is not bad going with the likes of gardner and gabby coming through aswell.

TRANSFER COST:
BORUC(celtic)=£4mill
JAGIELKA(sheff utd)=£4mill
REO-COKER(west ham)=£8mill
BELLAMY(liverpool=£6mill
TOTAL= £22mill[u][/u][b][/b]

Iam a West Ham fan i have just read some of the comments. Reo-Coker is a good box to box player but thats about it!. With a soft spot for the Villa (with family supporters) i was xpecting more from Villa with all the talk i was xpecting them to jump on the Hargreeves deal or go hell for bent on getting Sidwell.

i like it!

Hang on guys. I don't think we're going out to sign Ronaldinho or anything, but don't overstate the importance of European football.

Bouma joined us when we weren't in Europe rather than stay at his club in Holland - why wouldn't Schneijder? Unlike Schneijder, Bouma had just played in a Champions League semi-finalm which PSV deserved to win. Petrov left Celtic - guaranteed to qualify for the Champions League every year. Carew left Lyon.

Don't underestimate the attraction of playing in the Premiership and don't underestimate money - because that's what players care about really.

Sure, Schneijder etc would prefer a move to one of the top four, but if it doesn't materialise they could well look to move to a club like Villa as a stepping stone. Then it's up to the club to start challenging the top four/six to show them they can make that step with Villa.

Well said JR someone not talking sh*te for a change, as i said earlier you dont always have to be in europe to get bigger names, of course it helps but like you said about bouma and petrov they could get champions league every year but the lure of the prem is just as big, thats where you prove yourself week in week out.

I would love to see a big name player come to us but i dont really see any household names coming to us this season. If we pay over £8M for Bellamy we will be getting ripped off. Reo Cocker i think would be a good buy at £8M think about it we paid about £9.65M for young (when the transfer price rises) and i would say that Reo Cocker is at least as good as young. I would liek to see us table a bid for Bent to show our intentions as a club and with a manager like O'Neill at the helm whose to say he wont pick us. I think Bent for £12M would be a sound buy if we can get him.

I think expecting the Tevezs, Henrys & Ronaldinhos of this world to come to Villa is very optimistic to say the least but i will never count it out after Tevez & Javier went to WHU. You cant count anything out in football and i think alot of people who are saying we should sign all these quality footballers are just being optimistic not stupid. I respect their faith and optimusum and i think in the future we can draw some big name players.
Nick i think we are already ahead of Newcastle & this season will overtake Bolton.

As far as this summer goes i hope we sign:

Boruc/Gordon - upto £6M
Jagielka - about £3M
Reo Cocker - upto £8M
Bellamy - no more than £7M
D. Bent - upto £12M

The only problem with signing 2 strikers in the summer will be that at least 1 of our strikers will have to be on the bench then possibly 2 and i wouldnt want to see any of our youth leave as they are very promising and can take us into the future.

I really want the Reocoker deal to happen, he is a top young player. At this stage it seems we are struggling to attract even the names mentionned above(Bellamy, Nugent and co) so no chance yet of getting any real top stars.

Sneijder isn't going to happen. i wouldn't mind Reo-Coker, he's had a duff season but he definetly has potential. Bellamy isn't the kind of player i'd want at the Villa. Ribery is another Saviola type rumour, there is 100% chance of him rejecting us. We may be moving in the right direction but we don't have much to offer quality players other than the chance to work with MO'N and a top class training ground. Reo-Coker is around the quality we'll be getting in the summer.

I agree with most of your comments. We can't offer European football at the moment so it will be just anbout impossible to attract the likes of Ribery, Tevez etc. I must say I admire the way Tottenham are going about trying to break into the top 4. They realise that it can't be gone immediately so they are bringing in quality young British talent who are progressing into top players. I believe that we should go about trying to do the same this summer with plenty of young home-grown talent up for grabs such as D Bent, Reo-Coker, Nugent, Milner,Curtis Davies, to name a few. With that said I would also like to see a few established quality players join the Villa which I believe is possible with M'ON at the helm and the well-known ambitions that we have.
Here's how I'd like to see us line up next season:

Boruc McShane Wes Brown(strongly linked) Mellberg M Taylor Young Reo-Coker Petrov/Sneijder(possible?) Barry Carew D Bent

Just been onto Football-rumours.com and copied this directly from the site. Anyone care to comment?


ASTON VILLA RUMOURS
Martin O'Neill has had a change of heart & will no longer be bringing in Artur Boruc from Celtic. His chief scout Ian Storey Moore persuaded him to watch the Hearts v Kilmarnock game last week, which has resulted in O'Neill lodging a bid in the region of £6M for CRAIG GORDON. Next on the list is a Right Back and after scouring here & in Europe O'Neill has decided on PHIL JAGIELKA and again a £6M bid has been lodged to secure his services. Next will be a quality midfielder and on O'Neill's list is WESLEY SNEIDJER & MANUEL FERNANDES both will join the Villa in £10M & £12M deals respectively. A centre forward will be next on the list and Villa are finalising a deal for DARREN BENT in a player swap plus cash deal (Villa have offered Liam Ridgewell & Alan PArdew is interested) . These are exciting times at Villa Park with an unlimited budget and the best owner and board in the the Premiership ! the team starting next season will look like this :

4-4-3 formation

G/ Keeper : Craig Gordon
R/ Back : Phil Jagielka
L/ Back : WilFred Bouma
C/ Half : Olaf Mellberg
C/ Half : Martin Laursen
Mid : Gareth Barry
Mid : Wesley Sneijder
Mid : Manuel Fernandes
C/ F : John Carew
C/ F : Darren Bent
C/ F : Ashley Young

# Squad : Sorensen / Hughes / Petrov / Gsrdner / Davis / Agbonlahor / Moore.

This information is directly out of Villa Park and WILL be happening !

people saying i want better players is not as impossible as it seems i think. look at some of the players arsenal have picked up hleb? toure? ther right back (cant remember his name). the point is no one heard of these players and they are quality, but not impossible atall for a team like us to get.

I've seen a few of your starting 11's and you all forget to include gabby...which i find ridiculous. Also, i'm worried about luke moore. we started off so well with luke and gabby playing wide of angel early on and we never really had the oppurtunity to try them both with carew. i dont think we should bring in any strikers unless they are WORLD CLASS. with luke, gabby, and ashley we have 3 young and very quick gems. I do like reo-coker, but is davo already off to fulham? we already have a solid squad, now we need world class players to jump to the next level. i'm talking about 20 goals a year strikers.

Reo-Coker has got potential but you certainly wouldn't be getting the finished article! Good Luck for next season!

i hear villa are after 2 new strikers, dean ashton and david villa, as nike want our new strike force to be
9 10
ASHTON VILLA
lol

i heard a rumor about sevilla's LUIS FABIANO coming to the villa, personally i think this is unlikely but i do think we need that kind of player, someone who can play a free role and win games, porto's RICARDO QUARESMA for example who has been linked with a shock move to reading. I would like to see BORUC brought in and REO COKER maybe but i dont see why on earth we would be looking to sign PAUL KONCHESKY, the latest rumor is that NIEL LENNON and FREDDY KANOUTE are set to join villa in the next few weeks.

First of all theres no chance of us gettin david villa wen chelsea are sed to be offering 40m for him. I'd like to see Reo-coker at villa, good player for building are future.
Does anyone know about wesley snijder, remember him from the world cup, is he any good cus lots of people want him at villa.

i think we have a great chance of signing snijder. we will get reo coker by tthe end of next week. craig bellemy, i dont like him personally.i think we should go for young brazilian players like kerlon or queresma. we need to step the game up we have the money so use it but not stupidly on players like konchesky and mcshane. we need another goalkeeper i would like gordon he looks ace.we also need a defender i wouldnt mind steve taylor. there has been link with nakumura. yes plz he is amazing. bruno alves looks great from porto. lets get some good signings. come on villa

Nige Reo-Coker is not just rumour. He told me himself when I spoke to him after the U21 game with Italy. See this thread:
LINK
If the clubs cant agree about a fee, that is a different matter. But when I spoke with Nigel, as far as he was concerned he had all but swapped the Claret and Blue shirts for a Villa one!

we will get reo coker for 8.5 million.wright phillips could join adn that would let steve davis go. we need a central defender and a right and left back like drenthe and maybe jageleka. MON wil up his attempts to get graig gordon from hearts and if that doesnt work he will go for either jasskurlienen or a unknown foreign keeper. we just need competition for places to up are performances and to step in in case of injuries

reo coker 8.5 million
gordon 7 million
wright phillips 10 million
drenthe 7 million
hoyte 4 million
taylor 7 million

going out
davis 4 million fulham
hendrie free unknown
luke moore 9 million middleborough

we will go for defoe for 10 million. i think we will go for craig gordan for 6 million and we will get justin hoyte and steve taylor both for 6.5 million. we will make enquiry on drenthe the will reject but we will put in a good offer of about 7 million. we will sell luke moore for 9 million. that will be it for the summer then

im very annoyed we havent got gordon he is amazing. how can someone chose sunderland over villa. we have better wage structure better plans for the future e.g europe and titles not tying to stay in the premiership adn hope they succeed. I think its mons fault because he is being a bit slow look at sven hes brought in loads more players who are great. all he has done is sell 8 players and bring in 2. he was complaining last year about not having enough depth well hes made it worse!!!!!!!!!!!!!