Willing And Able Lansbury
New signing Henri Lansbury certainly made the right impression when he was officially unveiled as an Aston Villa player today. “If you’re willing to lose, then what’s the point of playing?” The spirited midfielder declared in his in-house interview with the club.
The good news is Lansbury will be eligible for selection for the Preston North End game and is expected to make his debut at Villa Park, a ground where’s he’s already scored this season. The midfielder’s paperwork for his move from Nottingham Forest was ratified by both the FA and the EFL in time.
He will wear the number five.
Dead End Rhodes
As MOMS has kept saying on these Transfer Daily updates, Jordan Rhodes was always unlikely to happen. Considering they had Jonathan Kodjia, Ross McCormack and Jordan Ayew in their ranks, all £10m+ strikers, it was unlikely the club was going to front up £10m for another striker, which was believed to be the asking price.
Of course, he was worth trying to get in on loan or putting in a cheeky £6m feeler bid for.
Ashley Barnes?
With the Bristol City game moving and there only being two games left to be played that both Kodjia and Ayew would miss (after the Preston game is played), the need for a new striker might not be such a priority for Bruce, considering he’s made a thing of promoting Gabby to the first team squad.
Surely with new midfield reinforcements, Ross McCormack can do a job for two games? Whatever happens to Gabby.
Still, it won’t stop the rumour mill. The Birmingham Mail have run with the rumours seen in North West local papers that Bruce will now turn his attention to Burnley striker Ashley Barnes.
Barnes has had a few injuries in recent seasons, but having seen him a couple of times playing for Brighton, MOMS personally wasn’t super impressed. He did a good job for Brighton when they were in Division One, but was never their main man in the Championship. He’s a one-in-four striker at that level.
Having been in and out of the Burnley team in their two recent spells in the Premier League, I don’t see any long-term benefits to getting Barnes in, if Villa were promoted this season or next.
Yes, a decent enough hard-working and earnest squad striker, but would the summer be a better time to get him, if Villa are still in the Championship?
I’m calling this as simply a rumour.
Hourihane Socialising
Yesterday, while the ITK’s have been announcing medicals the past few days for Conor Hourihane, MOMS has maintained the deal was in limbo a little. After all, Hourihane is in a good position to haggle for a better deal with even the option of a summer move instead (with added signing-on fee bonus ). From his end, there is little rush, despite Villa’s growing urgency.
Still, judging by what Steve Bruce told the press and supporters (via Facebook live) and the manner he spoke about Hourihane, it’s seems only a matter of time until the deal is done.
Judging by the fact that Tony Xia and Conor Hourihane have started following each other on Twitter today, in the same way the Aston Villa owner and Lansbury did, that’s as big a sign as you’re going to need that it’s all systems go. Plus, Hourihane has favourited a tweet about himself with Villa accounts, including MOMS, tagged in.
It’s a shame the deal couldn’t have been done quicker, but you can understand it from the player and Barnsley’s POV.
Johnstone Short-term?
The Birmingham Mail have confirmed that while Villa wanted an option to buy keeper Sam Johnstone at the end of his loan, he is very much an on-going concern for Manchester United boss, Jose Mourinho. United will be sending scouts regularly to watch the 23-year-old and monitor his progress.
UTV
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No more loans. Loan players arn’t commited to the cause, especially if they hope to go back to their Premiership club.
McCormack should be given a chance in front of a midfield that can supply him.
He gets no passes from Ayew or Kodja and whilst he hasn’t been great he will score if given the ammunition. He missed one last week but most strikers need 3 or 4 chances to score one. Get behind him when we have a better midfield and see him score then
Couldn’t agree more we should go again for Rhodes. Surely if Boro wanted Gestede that much we should have struck a deal there and then. If we can let Aeyu go then that will surely finance the Rhodes deal.
Otherwise why didn’t we go for Bamford or try to loan someone in from a top club. If Hepburn-Rush would just sign his contract surely we be playing him instead of Gabby.
He will undoubtedly help us but we need a striker now Let McCormack go back to Fulham and resurrect the Rhodes situation, he clearly wants to leave and Middlesborough have just paid out 9 mil for Bamford. No way we can rely on Agbonlahor as a striker.