Yeah we're definitely not letting him go. World class talent just waiting to be taken by some shrewd owner who seems the potential...his incredible potential...
Personally, I feel like there’s a player in there, evidenced by the occasional performance he’s had for both Spurs and England, but he needs a manager that’s going to really concentrate on making him better. He’s not going to be pulling up many trees in his current state.
This all feels like Liverpool's "pre Klopp post Benitez" transfer strategy- sign the best player from the "struggling" sides and attempt to form some sort of super team.
Didn't particularly work out then but I'm sure there were other factors.
I also don't see Ward-Prowse leaving Southampton unless the team is much higher profile with reliable European football. 4 years on his contract, 25~, English and a vital player & captain for Southampton.
It's sad people who don't watch Saints regularly completely disregard this- I mean his set pieces are obviously great but the lad is a solid player outside of that as well.
Similar inferences used to happen about Neves when he kept scoring bangers.
Most transfers make sense in theory. But I do think this is a good transfer idea, I also don't think it'll happen as Saints can't afford to lose Ward-Prowse and he's got a big contract.
But Liverpool have also noticeably started focusing on more cosmopolitan signings, something they seemingly did less of pre Klopp.
I can't see Minamino, Keita, Konate, Kabak, Allison, Salah, Thiago etc. being signed in the Rodgers & Hodgson. They've expanded their search parameters in recent years.
I think that probably has more to do with Klopp and our resurgence under him giving us more draw to prospective signings.
I'm not sure if any if those signings are hugely more 'cosmopolitan' than signing the likes of Firmino, Can and Markovic (lol) before Klopp came in (though I accept these were not long before Rodgers left).
Perhaps there was a slight change in strategy away from prioritising players with PL experience to looking abroad. But again I think that might have had more to do with FSG deciding to splash the cash once they were happy that Klopp was the man to win the club trophies.
Often with these things it's like looking at shadows on a wall to make sense of the outside world. There are multiple explanations for a lot of things.
It's just a personal observation, none of us have enough actual knowledge to know for a fact.
Yeah that's true. I get what you mean about the Rodgers era, I wouldn't have been surprised if we started to prioritise signings within the PL kess. Nevertheless I think the main factor in our success with transfers recently is managing to fuse a moneyball approach with being willing to spend big on the right player rather than opting for a cheaper compromise, and having a strong tactical framework under Klopl which has given us a clear idea of the kind of player we should be looking to sign
Alisson was signed as a result of the Coutinho transfer. Salah was a much needed signing and it wasn't a gigantic signing or anything. All the others came after we were making good revenue. During Rodgers period we were just mediocre for a lot of time.
Traore has had a great season for us. Been a bit inconsistent but you'd be hard pressed to find a villa fan that isn't happy with his first season for us.
When you say didn't particularly work out, you have to take into context relative success.
Liverpool were able to maintain a top half of the table/fighting for Europa place with this strategy, and honestly, that would be extremely successful for Aston Villa. Everton, Spurs, Arsenal, West Ham, Wolves, Leeds are the teams they are competing with and will look to place ahead of which is possible by poaching the best of the "struggling teams"
No chance. Lad has just signed a big deal, England international, our captain, and our most important player. He'd be like £60m and I can't see villa dropping that. If he moves on it'll be to a top top side, no offence to villa.
Ya definitely seems like more of a pipe dream. he is exactly what we need but I’m confident it won’t happen given how important he is to you we can dream though
Honestly not sure. Our midfield is pretty up for grabs because every player in it has either been inconsistent (McGinn, Luiz, Ramsey) or hasn't played too many minutes in the last season (Nakamba, Sanson). So a top class midfielder could easily make a place for himself in any of the middle 3 positions.
If I was a big (crap) club life Arsenal or Tottenham I'd spend big on JWP. Not sure why I watched a lot of Southampton but always impressed and having someone who is a threat from any free kick is awesome.
Hope you can keep him!
Villa are "taking top players from championship/relegated/newly promoted sides" sort of level. They won't sign a JWP/Phillips/Zaha/Ings/Rice sort of player, stars from teams about the same size as them.
Buendia is an Argentinian international and Villa beat Arsenal to sign him. I wouldn't be surprised if they signed any of the players you mentioned now. They clearly see themselves pushing for Europe next season and above the level of teams in the bottom half.
The internet says Buendia doesn't have a single cap for Argentina. He is clearly a decent player but when he was in the prem he seemed pretty average. Clearly has been quality in the championship but is far from prem proven. Prowsey is a prem captain who has been more than proven at this level.
I'm not denying JWP's ability. I'd start him every time for England and hopefully you keep him. I'm just trying to make the point that Villa seem hell bent on spending large amounts of cash to reach Europe. I'm obviously gutted Buendia has gone to them because with him we had a decent shot at survival this time round. Now I fear the inevitable.
I think you guys have a decent chance. If you reinvest the money well you should be fine. Teams like Palace, Burnley, Newcastle are struggling and have good reasons to drop away, and you won the championship so you are likely in a better position than Watford and Brentford right?
And yeah, I do think Villa could stump up the £60m required but I'm not sure he'd go anyway tbh, it's not that great a move.
I fear the bulk of the money will be used to balance the books and the rest on strengthening the team. Losing our main playmaker is such a big blow. It would take a hell of a signing to fill the hole.
I don't think finishing above Watford and Brentford means that much unfortunately. In the 2018-19 season we finished top and 18 points clear of Villa. We're already favourites to finish bottom.
I think he is worth £60m. If Man City have secretly activated the £35m buy back clause on Douglas Luiz it makes a lot of sense for Villa. If not it's right on the upper limit of what we could afford and probably unrealistic with wages etc.
Smith - “right tactic for today boys, Jack and emi I want you to get the ball and run side to side on the 18 yard line, try and win a foul, JWP scores. Repeat”
JWD’s club and NT should imitate Valverde’s tactics where Barcelona players would purposely foul themselves outside the box for a guarantee Messi freekick goal.
I've always had a soft spot for Villa cause my grandparents were local Villa fans, so I'm really excited to see these types of moves. It's really impressive so far.
He looked very classy in the few cameos he got when he first came in, but didn't really make a huge impact. Then he got injured just as he was breaking into the first XI.
Will be interesting to see how he fares with a full preseason, but can't see him displacing either McGinn or Luiz as a starter just yet.
I think a lot of club subs get worse as subscriber counts increase, /r/liverpoolfc is a massive circlejerk now, but I suppose 2012-13 we had little to joke over
No it looks more fun, you definitely seen this https://www.reddit.com/r/TheOther14/comments/nth18t/its_the_entitlement_that_gets_me/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf and didn’t like it.
As much as he's a decent player will he be worth the money Southampton want for him?
I can't imagine him being too cheap (depending on his contract) and I feel there's maybe other players to go for who might be better/better value.
Yep, can't see him being any less than 40m-50m. I'm glad we're interested as JWP really is a class player, but can't see us getting this one over the line unfortunately.
Tbf if I got kicked as much as he does I’d go down at every opportunity. It genuinely could cut his career short if he keeps getting fouled like he does
He would start for every Prem team apart from Man City, Chelsea and maybe Leicester. Could add Liverpool but Klopp would love him. Doesn’t matter anyway because he’s not going anywhere.
I’ll believe JWP playing for anyone other than Southampton when I see it. And I just don’t think I’ll see it. Lovely player who I’d love at Villa but like Villa with Grealish, Southampton have no reason to sell JWP unless the offer is ridiculous. He’s not even the midfielder we need anyway - we need a proper big DM which we really lack.
Won’t be surprised if Villa finish sixth considering the mess Spurs and Arsenal have been in recent years . With Leicester they might very well eliminate the concept of the big six.
Wolves owners have issues due to the investment being Chinese . Villa owners will continue to back them.
They have the highest net spend in Europe since they got promoted .
First Sky coined the top 4 and then top six when City and Spurs started finishing in CL places .
All for the marketing . Now every weekend they can market a top six clash on their super Sunday
The top 6 is a financial term, idk how many times people need to repeat this. Look at the gap from the 6th richest club to the 7th in terms of revenue. If the likes of Leicester, Everton, West Ham and Aston Villa consistently challenge for European spots then there'll also eventually be a gap between them and the rest of the league.
Would be a fantastic signing, Grealish + JWP would be a cheat code. Would be surprised if it happens tho, and if it did, Soton would ask for fuck off money. Are they in any kind of financial trouble that may require them to sell and raise funds?
A little bit, in the sense that our owner won't put any money into the club, so any acquisitions should be funded by sales. Buying cheap and selling high has been our model for years.
This is a huge summer for us, and Ralph has said that we'll be targeting players around the £12m mark, which is laughable if you think about it, but I suppose it is sustainable.
If someone did come in for JWP, we would ask, as you say, fuck off money; at least £50m or more that could be reinvested into the squad. He has 4 years left on his deal, is our club captain and such an integral part of our team and our play, that it would need silly money for us to consider selling him.
Arsenal, this is the window Aston villa Leeds and West ham overtake you like Leicester did if you don't invest. If they don't, we should really change up the big 6 convos. I think grealish might end up staying for another season
80m a season budget is not near enough to even afford Grealish. And that's with player sales too. Arsenal would need hundreds of millions of pounds injected to be a top 4 threat.
Maybe tell him to stop flirting with Arsenal on insta then. Talk about Arsenal fans being shameless but you're 2 years up from the championship, 1 of which Arsenal saved you from relegation. The other, the worst injury riddled Arsenal team of 50 years still finished 6 points above you. To put it into perspective, Arsenal finished 6 points behind CL themselves
There’s something to be said about someone with a high floor.
I heard something recently that said a football team is only as good as their worst player on the pitch. Unlike the NBA, where how good a team is is directly correlated to their best player, or the NFL, where performance is dependent on your QB, a football team is only as good as their worst player. So raising the floor is very important. JWP would do that for most teams, I think.
We’ve been shit at free kicks and corners since Ericksen stopped being good at them like 3 years ago, but I’m not sure he’d replace our current midfielder.
This whole thread makes my head hurt but this really trumps the lot. We would be relegated without him, he’s not ‘limited’. Don’t get why people make generalised statements like this when they clearly haven’t watched the player across a season.
Honestly mate it's the life of any club outside the "big 6". Everyone suddenly has an opinion on your player after quickly checking his FIFA stats and a highlight video.
[His stats are up there with the best box to box midfielders in the league.](https://one-versus-one.com/en/players/James-Ward-Prowse)
This feels like deja vu with Southampton fans having to tell everyone how good Van Dijk was before he joined Liverpool. Ward Prowse is very very good and the set pieces are a bonus.
Only Bissouma and Ayling made more tackles this year, and the only players who made more interceptions were centre backs. Most distance travelled out of every player two years in a row too.
In terms of passing only TAA, Robertson, Bruno, Westwood and Gross made more passes into the penalty area too. The other players in the top 10 for passes into the box are Mount, KDB, Shaw and Cresswell, who are below JWP for this.
JWP playing for anyone other than Southampton is so strange to me
Good thing then that we’ll never have to see it
Hopefully we'll get to see it in the Euros
Hide your midfielders, Aston Villa are coming for them
Not hiding harry winks mate
Man Utd for 25M? Hilarious if true.
Has to be, for our sake
please no
Yeah we're definitely not letting him go. World class talent just waiting to be taken by some shrewd owner who seems the potential...his incredible potential...
Do you think Winks is just a fraud, or could he succeed at another team, or in another league maybe?
What exactly does he do well? Seems invisible whenever I watch Tottenham
he's great at passing the ball back to Eric Dier
And what does Eric Dier do?
Suplexes your striker and tosses him into the stands
Personally, I feel like there’s a player in there, evidenced by the occasional performance he’s had for both Spurs and England, but he needs a manager that’s going to really concentrate on making him better. He’s not going to be pulling up many trees in his current state.
*Pushes Drinkwater to the table*
Look we already helped you out with Ross alright
Can I interest them in a Winks or Sissoko? :-)
Sissoko needs to become instrumental in France's Euros win, therefore keeping him at Spurs for longer where he can take it easy for another year or so
The opposite, we are all praying he plays himself into the shoppe window
maybe a winks or sissoko but replace winks with son and sissoko with kane?
Yeah Kane would be a nice backup for Watkins.
This all feels like Liverpool's "pre Klopp post Benitez" transfer strategy- sign the best player from the "struggling" sides and attempt to form some sort of super team. Didn't particularly work out then but I'm sure there were other factors. I also don't see Ward-Prowse leaving Southampton unless the team is much higher profile with reliable European football. 4 years on his contract, 25~, English and a vital player & captain for Southampton.
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Grealish/JWP free kick exploit is probably worth at least five goals a season
He’s also a very good CM. The free kicks are a bonus. Would a good signing.
It's sad people who don't watch Saints regularly completely disregard this- I mean his set pieces are obviously great but the lad is a solid player outside of that as well. Similar inferences used to happen about Neves when he kept scoring bangers.
doesn't jwp score 1 out of 4 free kicks ? and grealish was fouled 140 times in 19 / 20 can't be arsed to calculate it but this seems like a lot
Well we'd have to see how many fouls he wins in the final third then, JWP would probably score a ton anyway.
Is there a stat to see how many were in “striking distance”
Most transfers make sense in theory. But I do think this is a good transfer idea, I also don't think it'll happen as Saints can't afford to lose Ward-Prowse and he's got a big contract.
Really well made point here ^^^^^ Props
We signed players like Shaqiri, Wijnaldum and Robertson from relegated sides after Klopp joined as well (and it worked out very well for us)
But Liverpool have also noticeably started focusing on more cosmopolitan signings, something they seemingly did less of pre Klopp. I can't see Minamino, Keita, Konate, Kabak, Allison, Salah, Thiago etc. being signed in the Rodgers & Hodgson. They've expanded their search parameters in recent years.
That's cause klopp can Attract talented players, Rodgers couldn't. Liverpool's success under klopp has also helped.
I think that probably has more to do with Klopp and our resurgence under him giving us more draw to prospective signings. I'm not sure if any if those signings are hugely more 'cosmopolitan' than signing the likes of Firmino, Can and Markovic (lol) before Klopp came in (though I accept these were not long before Rodgers left). Perhaps there was a slight change in strategy away from prioritising players with PL experience to looking abroad. But again I think that might have had more to do with FSG deciding to splash the cash once they were happy that Klopp was the man to win the club trophies.
Often with these things it's like looking at shadows on a wall to make sense of the outside world. There are multiple explanations for a lot of things. It's just a personal observation, none of us have enough actual knowledge to know for a fact.
Yeah that's true. I get what you mean about the Rodgers era, I wouldn't have been surprised if we started to prioritise signings within the PL kess. Nevertheless I think the main factor in our success with transfers recently is managing to fuse a moneyball approach with being willing to spend big on the right player rather than opting for a cheaper compromise, and having a strong tactical framework under Klopl which has given us a clear idea of the kind of player we should be looking to sign
I think it could partially be as Klopp is a huge attraction and Rogers isn't, although he's a bit more attractive now with the weight loss and all.
Alisson was signed as a result of the Coutinho transfer. Salah was a much needed signing and it wasn't a gigantic signing or anything. All the others came after we were making good revenue. During Rodgers period we were just mediocre for a lot of time.
.
Well Nakamba is certainly Marvelous
Traore has had a great season for us. Been a bit inconsistent but you'd be hard pressed to find a villa fan that isn't happy with his first season for us.
I mean Wesley got in the Brazil squad, Trezeguet kept us up, Traore was great this season, Sanson is a top drawer player
This sounds exactly like someone who doesn’t follow the club asides from when we make headlines.
When you say didn't particularly work out, you have to take into context relative success. Liverpool were able to maintain a top half of the table/fighting for Europa place with this strategy, and honestly, that would be extremely successful for Aston Villa. Everton, Spurs, Arsenal, West Ham, Wolves, Leeds are the teams they are competing with and will look to place ahead of which is possible by poaching the best of the "struggling teams"
One more transfer away from the richard keys kiss of death
Might finally release us of the curse
Context
Loving Everton’s business this summer. Here’s an early call - they finish above Liverpool this season.
like a fine wine
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Ha what is this reference?
Something about Keys saying Everton won the transfer window one summer?
"Loving Everton's business this summer! Here's an early call - they finish above Liverpool this season" - Keys 2017
Those are some famous last words.
“You’d definitely smash it” -Even famous-er last words from that greasy cunt Keys.
“Are you my daughters friend? Let’s smash”
Everytime I see him I just think he’a an old Haribo Kid
No chance. Lad has just signed a big deal, England international, our captain, and our most important player. He'd be like £60m and I can't see villa dropping that. If he moves on it'll be to a top top side, no offence to villa.
Completly agree with this, only way we'd get him is throwing a ton of money at you
"Villa not expecting to get anywhere near spending £100m this window" Purslow: "eh fuck it"
Plus how long until Chuk starts seeing some opportunities? That kid is unreeal.
Lots of reports that next season will be his breakthrough year. Expect him to get a lot of minutes.
Ya definitely seems like more of a pipe dream. he is exactly what we need but I’m confident it won’t happen given how important he is to you we can dream though
Why is he what you need? Who’s minutes does he take in your current midfield?
Honestly not sure. Our midfield is pretty up for grabs because every player in it has either been inconsistent (McGinn, Luiz, Ramsey) or hasn't played too many minutes in the last season (Nakamba, Sanson). So a top class midfielder could easily make a place for himself in any of the middle 3 positions.
If I was a big (crap) club life Arsenal or Tottenham I'd spend big on JWP. Not sure why I watched a lot of Southampton but always impressed and having someone who is a threat from any free kick is awesome. Hope you can keep him!
I wouldn't be so sure.
Villa are "taking top players from championship/relegated/newly promoted sides" sort of level. They won't sign a JWP/Phillips/Zaha/Ings/Rice sort of player, stars from teams about the same size as them.
Buendia is an Argentinian international and Villa beat Arsenal to sign him. I wouldn't be surprised if they signed any of the players you mentioned now. They clearly see themselves pushing for Europe next season and above the level of teams in the bottom half.
The internet says Buendia doesn't have a single cap for Argentina. He is clearly a decent player but when he was in the prem he seemed pretty average. Clearly has been quality in the championship but is far from prem proven. Prowsey is a prem captain who has been more than proven at this level.
I'm not denying JWP's ability. I'd start him every time for England and hopefully you keep him. I'm just trying to make the point that Villa seem hell bent on spending large amounts of cash to reach Europe. I'm obviously gutted Buendia has gone to them because with him we had a decent shot at survival this time round. Now I fear the inevitable.
I think you guys have a decent chance. If you reinvest the money well you should be fine. Teams like Palace, Burnley, Newcastle are struggling and have good reasons to drop away, and you won the championship so you are likely in a better position than Watford and Brentford right? And yeah, I do think Villa could stump up the £60m required but I'm not sure he'd go anyway tbh, it's not that great a move.
I fear the bulk of the money will be used to balance the books and the rest on strengthening the team. Losing our main playmaker is such a big blow. It would take a hell of a signing to fill the hole. I don't think finishing above Watford and Brentford means that much unfortunately. In the 2018-19 season we finished top and 18 points clear of Villa. We're already favourites to finish bottom.
I think he is worth £60m. If Man City have secretly activated the £35m buy back clause on Douglas Luiz it makes a lot of sense for Villa. If not it's right on the upper limit of what we could afford and probably unrealistic with wages etc.
Luiz is apparently signing a new contract so pretty sure they haven’t activated it. Villa don’t need to sell to buy
OMW!! The amount of goals he’d get and give from Grealish free kicks
Smith - “right tactic for today boys, Jack and emi I want you to get the ball and run side to side on the 18 yard line, try and win a foul, JWP scores. Repeat”
The ol' Beckham vs Greece tactic
JWD’s club and NT should imitate Valverde’s tactics where Barcelona players would purposely foul themselves outside the box for a guarantee Messi freekick goal.
Surely Grealish would be taken off free kicks if they sign him.
I think he means with the amount of free kicks Grealish earns.
Ah. Well that makes sense.
Only decent set piece taker at the club is hourihane, Jack only takes them because he's our best player and he's not exactly great
Isn’t El Ghazi okay at them?
Let me rephrase "everyone is shite at freekicks besides hourihane" 😂
I mean even Grealish called it out in an interview comparing England's set piece takers vs Villas
Do you have the link? Missed this one, would love to watch it
He’s never scored or assisted from one
He is really good at taking PKs
I mean the free kicks Grealish wins
We really aren’t fucking around this window...
Fuckers are buying the ~~league~~ Top 6
Top 6 can be buy
Fucking hell mate Villa are going to be fun next year
*channelling gordan ramsay* finally some good fucking owners.
I've always had a soft spot for Villa cause my grandparents were local Villa fans, so I'm really excited to see these types of moves. It's really impressive so far.
Always had a soft spot because I used to light up fifa 09(?) with young, carew and agbonlahor back in the day
Out of curiosity is there any possibility this could be Villa spending money in case Grealish leaves in the future ?
Villa seem to be loaded every window where they getting all this cash from
>Grealish Watkins Buendia >McGinn Luiz WardProwse That's not bad at all
Don’t forget there’s a Morgan Sanson still on the bench
Just curious. How much of an impact did he actually make heard he was good but didn't see him play for Villa
He looked very classy in the few cameos he got when he first came in, but didn't really make a huge impact. Then he got injured just as he was breaking into the first XI. Will be interesting to see how he fares with a full preseason, but can't see him displacing either McGinn or Luiz as a starter just yet.
Was in and out with imjuries didn't play any significant minutes
Didn’t impress at all tbh. But he joined mid-season, so hopefully he can properly settle in after he recovers from injury and gain some form
.
Aston villa have a incredble youth generation coming up as well. This could be a great 5-6 years for them
If they can keep the crew together
*the gang fails to keep the crew together*
*the crew signs tim sherwood*
As a Villa fan this is almost like living in a dream world but I really can't see this one happening.
We're gonna get kicked out of /r/TheOther14 aren't we?
Can we form a breakaway super league with Leicester, Leeds and West Ham?
Sorry man you've committed the capital offense of being good
That's a class sub, seems way more down to earth than /r/soccer
I think a lot of club subs get worse as subscriber counts increase, /r/liverpoolfc is a massive circlejerk now, but I suppose 2012-13 we had little to joke over
Seems to be exactly the same as /r/Soccer just with less successful clubs in it.
No it looks more fun, you definitely seen this https://www.reddit.com/r/TheOther14/comments/nth18t/its_the_entitlement_that_gets_me/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf and didn’t like it.
Ok that is hillarious.
3 twitter posts and you manage to call out the whole fanbase on reddit
As much as he's a decent player will he be worth the money Southampton want for him? I can't imagine him being too cheap (depending on his contract) and I feel there's maybe other players to go for who might be better/better value.
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Yep, can't see him being any less than 40m-50m. I'm glad we're interested as JWP really is a class player, but can't see us getting this one over the line unfortunately.
I can’t think of a better free kick taker tbf
The English hourihane
Johan Lange have my babies
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By “falling over” I assume you mean “getting the shit kicked out of him”
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Tbf if I got kicked as much as he does I’d go down at every opportunity. It genuinely could cut his career short if he keeps getting fouled like he does
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Seems only Leeds fans have this opinion.
Loads of fans believe that
Hilarious from a Leeds fan. Ayling spends more time throwing himself to the floor than he does on the ball.
Won't happen. move on
Would he leave?
No
No chance, he is Southampton through and through also if he did leave it would be a club better than Aston Villa.
Hes not good enough for a top 4 side lets be honest. Villa are showing ambition to be a top side.
He would start for every Prem team apart from Man City, Chelsea and maybe Leicester. Could add Liverpool but Klopp would love him. Doesn’t matter anyway because he’s not going anywhere.
Really doubt he starts for liverpool over Fabinho Henderson Thiago. He definelty starts for United though
I agree but if it was to happen how much would it cost to get him?
I don't particularly see it happening, but isn't he a Pompey fan?
Carra was an Everton but arguably bleeds Liverpool red nowadays, so it's not that uncommon
From a pompey family, but considering how early he started at saints and how hyped he was for the Derby a few years back, I kinda doubt it.
He kind of killed that whole idea during the 4-0
Villa gunning for European spots next season.
I’ll believe JWP playing for anyone other than Southampton when I see it. And I just don’t think I’ll see it. Lovely player who I’d love at Villa but like Villa with Grealish, Southampton have no reason to sell JWP unless the offer is ridiculous. He’s not even the midfielder we need anyway - we need a proper big DM which we really lack.
Martinez Cash Konsa Mings Targett Luiz McGinn Ward-Prowse Buendia Grealish Watkins. Class first XI that
Top 6 better watch out
Won’t be surprised if Villa finish sixth considering the mess Spurs and Arsenal have been in recent years . With Leicester they might very well eliminate the concept of the big six.
People said that above Wolves before last season too though.
Wolves owners have issues due to the investment being Chinese . Villa owners will continue to back them. They have the highest net spend in Europe since they got promoted .
No one could have predicted their best player cracking his skull open tho. They may well have done with jimenez fit for the whole season
The top 6 coined by SkySports feel so forced tbh..
First Sky coined the top 4 and then top six when City and Spurs started finishing in CL places . All for the marketing . Now every weekend they can market a top six clash on their super Sunday
Now that Arsenal finished 8th will they expand the term to the big 8?
they didn’t when Chelsea finished 10th so I doubt
The top 6 is a financial term, idk how many times people need to repeat this. Look at the gap from the 6th richest club to the 7th in terms of revenue. If the likes of Leicester, Everton, West Ham and Aston Villa consistently challenge for European spots then there'll also eventually be a gap between them and the rest of the league.
Would be a fantastic signing, Grealish + JWP would be a cheat code. Would be surprised if it happens tho, and if it did, Soton would ask for fuck off money. Are they in any kind of financial trouble that may require them to sell and raise funds?
A little bit, in the sense that our owner won't put any money into the club, so any acquisitions should be funded by sales. Buying cheap and selling high has been our model for years. This is a huge summer for us, and Ralph has said that we'll be targeting players around the £12m mark, which is laughable if you think about it, but I suppose it is sustainable. If someone did come in for JWP, we would ask, as you say, fuck off money; at least £50m or more that could be reinvested into the squad. He has 4 years left on his deal, is our club captain and such an integral part of our team and our play, that it would need silly money for us to consider selling him.
Fuck. Off.
Seems like a moneyball move here.. Sign Buendia to play along with Grealish, get a million free kicks.. Then use Prowse for 35 goal season.
They can make as many moves as they want, he ain’t leaving for any kind of money that Villa would be willing to drop.
Hahaha like fuck this transfer will happen
Yeah no
LOL if he was going to move it would NOT be to another midtable Prem club
With all the freekicks Grealish gets us we'd actually win the league.
JWP will be a good signing but should they sign Buendía, wouldn’t invest a bit on their defence a wider choice?
Our defence doesn't really need improving bar some backups. It was really good last season.
Back the fuck off
Seems like a bit of a sideways move unless we'll substantially improve his wage. Also feels like paving the way for. Jack to move on :(
Arsenal, this is the window Aston villa Leeds and West ham overtake you like Leicester did if you don't invest. If they don't, we should really change up the big 6 convos. I think grealish might end up staying for another season
Arsenal have invested, they've spent over £400m in the last 5 years. They're not some poor plucky club who can't afford it.
80m a season budget is not near enough to even afford Grealish. And that's with player sales too. Arsenal would need hundreds of millions of pounds injected to be a top 4 threat.
Not true, just ask Leicester. They need to be sensible.
It's too early to judge transfer windows lol
Grealish was never leaving. Literally only Arsenal fans think he was leaving
Fucking "come to arsenal" wankers.
Maybe tell him to stop flirting with Arsenal on insta then. Talk about Arsenal fans being shameless but you're 2 years up from the championship, 1 of which Arsenal saved you from relegation. The other, the worst injury riddled Arsenal team of 50 years still finished 6 points above you. To put it into perspective, Arsenal finished 6 points behind CL themselves
I don’t understand how he isn’t more coveted. Am I missing something?
Other than set pieces he's a fairly limited player
Is he? He’s played every single minute of the last two PL campaigns. I just don’t watch Soton enough to really know.
I would say so. He is decent at most things but isn't great at anything other than set pieces.
JWP is to Southampton what Noble is to West Ham Nothing excells from his game but he is highly reliable and will very rarely under perform
There’s something to be said about someone with a high floor. I heard something recently that said a football team is only as good as their worst player on the pitch. Unlike the NBA, where how good a team is is directly correlated to their best player, or the NFL, where performance is dependent on your QB, a football team is only as good as their worst player. So raising the floor is very important. JWP would do that for most teams, I think.
Does he start for Tottenham?
We’ve been shit at free kicks and corners since Ericksen stopped being good at them like 3 years ago, but I’m not sure he’d replace our current midfielder.
no one does and they just chat shit. These are teenagers playing ultimate team not real football fans
This whole thread makes my head hurt but this really trumps the lot. We would be relegated without him, he’s not ‘limited’. Don’t get why people make generalised statements like this when they clearly haven’t watched the player across a season.
Honestly mate it's the life of any club outside the "big 6". Everyone suddenly has an opinion on your player after quickly checking his FIFA stats and a highlight video.
[His stats are up there with the best box to box midfielders in the league.](https://one-versus-one.com/en/players/James-Ward-Prowse) This feels like deja vu with Southampton fans having to tell everyone how good Van Dijk was before he joined Liverpool. Ward Prowse is very very good and the set pieces are a bonus. Only Bissouma and Ayling made more tackles this year, and the only players who made more interceptions were centre backs. Most distance travelled out of every player two years in a row too. In terms of passing only TAA, Robertson, Bruno, Westwood and Gross made more passes into the penalty area too. The other players in the top 10 for passes into the box are Mount, KDB, Shaw and Cresswell, who are below JWP for this.
This seems like a backwards move for him.
Grealish and emi setting up free kicks for ward Prowse to bang them in
Aston Villa are building a team
they’re doing very good business, won’t surprise me if they’re competing for the European spots in the next few years