Villa shopping quick and economically

[jmh]

As for Fulham, we are always looking at the 29/30 year olds who had some good times and are coming to Fulham to see if they can have one last comeback, the ones that do have a good season or two are then no longer of any interest to another club as they have hit 31, 32, 33 etc....

Is that really true?  We've signed some players like that, sure, but "always" is hardly accurate.  Last summer Berbatov and Petric and Karagouns, but also Dejagah and Rodallega.  The year before that Diarra and Grygera and Riise, but also Ruiz and Kasami.  The year before that Greening and Gudjohnsen, but also Dembele and Senderos and Kacaniklic and Halliche.  They're not all players that worked out incredibly well, obviously, but that's the nature of signing any player, whether he's young or old, unless you're paying the big bucks to sign Robin Van Persie or someone like that.  Seems to me that there's a far better balance between players who are at the tail end of their primes and players who are on the upswing and might have some resale value.

[JHunter_Fulham4Life]

QPR rushed and look what happened

Yeah, but that was for a bunch of over-the-hill mercenaries. Looks like Lambert's setting in for the long haul. These guys may not pan out this year as starters, but I can see them backing up Weimann, Gabby and the rest.

[JHunter_Fulham4Life]

As for Fulham, we are always looking at the 29/30 year olds who had some good times and are coming to Fulham to see if they can have one last comeback, the ones that do have a good season or two are then no longer of any interest to another club as they have hit 31, 32, 33 etc....

Is that really true?  We've signed some players like that, sure, but "always" is hardly accurate.  Last summer Berbatov and Petric and Karagouns, but also Dejagah and Rodallega.  The year before that Diarra and Grygera and Riise, but also Ruiz and Kasami.  The year before that Greening and Gudjohnsen, but also Dembele and Senderos and Kacaniklic and Halliche.  They're not all players that worked out incredibly well, obviously, but that's the nature of signing any player, whether he's young or old, unless you're paying the big bucks to sign Robin Van Persie or someone like that.  Seems to me that there's a far better balance between players who are at the tail end of their primes and players who are on the upswing and might have some resale value.

The problem now, though, is that we're not signing anybody -- just getting them on loan! The only name we're currently linked to is Andre Wisdom, and (again) that's only on loan. It's a disturbing picture, to my mind, because if we aren't going to commit to players, how is Jol (or whoever) going to get them to commit to the club?

[God The Mechanic]

As for Fulham, we are always looking at the 29/30 year olds who had some good times and are coming to Fulham to see if they can have one last comeback, the ones that do have a good season or two are then no longer of any interest to another club as they have hit 31, 32, 33 etc....

Is that really true?  We've signed some players like that, sure, but "always" is hardly accurate.  Last summer Berbatov and Petric and Karagouns, but also Dejagah and Rodallega.  The year before that Diarra and Grygera and Riise, but also Ruiz and Kasami.  The year before that Greening and Gudjohnsen, but also Dembele and Senderos and Kacaniklic and Halliche.  They're not all players that worked out incredibly well, obviously, but that's the nature of signing any player, whether he's young or old, unless you're paying the big bucks to sign Robin Van Persie or someone like that.  Seems to me that there's a far better balance between players who are at the tail end of their primes and players who are on the upswing and might have some resale value.

The problem now, though, is that we're not signing anybody -- just getting them on loan! The only name we're currently linked to is Andre Wisdom, and (again) that's only on loan. It's a disturbing picture, to my mind, because if we aren't going to commit to players, how is Jol (or whoever) going to get them to commit to the club?

There have been very few occasions where the club's business has been drawn out in the media.  Everything is usually done very quietly, so there should be no real surprise that players aren't being linked.  I doesn't mean there is no attempts to sign players.

[Apprentice to the Maestro]

As for Fulham, we are always looking at the 29/30 year olds who had some good times and are coming to Fulham to see if they can have one last comeback, the ones that do have a good season or two are then no longer of any interest to another club as they have hit 31, 32, 33 etc....

Is that really true?  We've signed some players like that, sure, but "always" is hardly accurate.  Last summer Berbatov and Petric and Karagouns, but also Dejagah and Rodallega.  The year before that Diarra and Grygera and Riise, but also Ruiz and Kasami.  The year before that Greening and Gudjohnsen, but also Dembele and Senderos and Kacaniklic and Halliche.  They're not all players that worked out incredibly well, obviously, but that's the nature of signing any player, whether he's young or old, unless you're paying the big bucks to sign Robin Van Persie or someone like that.  Seems to me that there's a far better balance between players who are at the tail end of their primes and players who are on the upswing and might have some resale value.

The problem now, though, is that we're not signing anybody -- just getting them on loan! The only name we're currently linked to is Andre Wisdom, and (again) that's only on loan. It's a disturbing picture, to my mind, because if we aren't going to commit to players, how is Jol (or whoever) going to get them to commit to the club?

We have signed three players in addition to taking up the option on Riether.

We have not taken anyone on loan.

We have been also recently been linked with bids for Vydra and McCarthy and several overseas players. But, as usual, 95% of these rumours for purchases or loans will turn out to be just that: rumours, having little or no truth to them.

Fulham do the right thing and keep their targets and deals very quiet. Berbatov to Fulham? Was that rumoured in June 2012?

[Arthur]

whereas Villa don't really have much of a youth policy    

At the same time our U19s were lifting the Dallas Cup in the USA, Villa's U19s won the NextGen Series in Italy.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/aston-villa/9965508/NextGen-Series-Final-Chelsea-U19-0-Aston-Villa-U19-2.html

An excerpt from the above report:
'Villa have beaten European giants including PSV Eindhoven, Celtic, Ajax, Olympiakos and Sporting Lisbon en route to the showpiece and overcame Chelsea in an all-English final on Monday night to earn the ultimate prize in European youth football.'