Ross Barkley

[Jype 6,398]

7 minutes ago, Vesper said:

this is BULLSHIT

raging atm 

serves no purpose

if you do not want him, sell him!

loan plus MANDATORY buy clause next summer

He has a contract till 2023, what's the rush? Play a good season at Villa and then sell next year for a good enough fee.

Now Villa pay his wages and I would also assume some loan fee, so his costs for this season will be small or zero.

Only real risk is if he gets a bad injury (like Zappacosta at Roma) and becomes impossible to sell but I'm guessing the club have done some risk assessment and concluded he might fetch better value next year than just desperately sell for any price now.

It's easy to shout from the forums that the club should sell players but if nobody is willing to pay fair price now, the only options are to loan or keep as a backup.

[Tomo 21,733]

7 hours ago, Superblue_1986 said:

Disappointed about this. I'm probably in the minority judging by the abuse that he gets at times on this forum, but I think Barkley is a good rotational squad player to have. 

He blows hot and cold and he certainly isn't regular starter material but when he plays well he can be very good and is capable of playing both a deeper and more offensive role in the midfield.

I would much rather hold trust in him at present than I would in Loftus-Cheek who I think is far more desperate for the loan move away to get regular game time and to see if he will ever return back to what we were starting to see in the second half of Sarri's season.

Not happy with this atall myself, he's a proven squad player who makes decent contributions over a season. Him standing up just before lockdown while we had an injury and suspension crisis was (in my opinion) one of the key reasons we made top four. In a season like this he would have been needed at some point.

Unless Barkley pushed for this I think we've made a massive error.

[Vesper 28,768]

Just now, Jype said:

He has a contract till 2023, what's the rush? Play a good season at Villa and then sell next year for a good enough fee.

Now Villa pay his wages and I would also assume some loan fee, so his costs for this season will be small or zero.

Only real risk is if he gets a bad injury (like Zappacosta at Roma) and becomes impossible to sell but I'm guessing the club have done some risk assessment and concluded he might fetch better value next year than just desperately sell for any price now.

Why do you think I said loan with a mandatory buy clause

I understand COVID has fucked up finances this year

Aside from that, I question loaning him out this late anyway. Would rather see him playing over the broken RLC all day, all night.

[Vesper 28,768]

2 minutes ago, Tomo said:

Not happy with this atall myself, he's a proven squad player who makes decent contributions over a season. Him standing up just before lockdown while we had an injury and suspension crisis was (in my opinion) one of the key reasons we made top four. In a season like this he would have been needed at some point.

Unless Barkley pushed for this I think we've made a massive error.

Agreed 

[Jype 6,398]

Just now, Vesper said:

Why do you think I said loan with a mandatory buy clause

I understand COVID has fucked up finances this year

Aside from that, I question loaning him out this late anyway. Would rather see him playing over the broken RLC all day, all night.

Villa were never going to accept a mandatory buy clause with the threat of relegation. And even if they were, what should the price have been? 10M, 15M, 20M?

If he has a good season on loan he could easily go for +25M be it to Villa or somewhere else.

[Vesper 28,768]

7 hours ago, Superblue_1986 said:

Disappointed about this. I'm probably in the minority judging by the abuse that he gets at times on this forum, but I think Barkley is a good rotational squad player to have. 

He blows hot and cold and he certainly isn't regular starter material but when he plays well he can be very good and is capable of playing both a deeper and more offensive role in the midfield.

I would much rather hold trust in him at present than I would in Loftus-Cheek who I think is far more desperate for the loan move away to get regular game time and to see if he will ever return back to what we were starting to see in the second half of Sarri's season.

agreed

[Vesper 28,768]

1 minute ago, Jype said:

Villa were never going to accept a mandatory buy clause with the threat of relegation. And even if they were, what should the price have been? 10M, 15M, 20M?

If he has a good season on loan he could easily go for +25M be it to Villa or somewhere else.

I highly doubt Villa will be relegated and we could have inserted a clause that took the mandatory buy off IF they were

[Special Juan 27,422]

The question to put to FL in the next presser would be "Has Ross forced this" 

[Vesper 28,768]

grrrrrrrr

[ZAPHOD2319 4,476]

Has he said that he dreamed about playing at Villa when he was a wee lad yet?

[OneMoSalah 8,776]

Let him go on a free if it comes to it. Not good enough. But has done more than Ruben has under FL tbf. Okay hes off just seen it.

[Vesper 28,768]

2 minutes ago, OneMoSalah said:

Let him go on a free if it comes to it. Not good enough. But has done more than Ruben has under FL tbf. Okay hes off just seen it.

letting Barkley go on a free would be utter madness

[Tomo 21,733]

51 minutes ago, Vesper said:

Agreed 

This reminds me of when we sent Meireles out on loan and left ourselves with 3 CM's when we had a potential 70+ games season on the horizon.

[Magic Lamps 11,653]

Really weird decision. If Ruben leaves too we will be paperthin in midfield. 

[Vesper 28,768]

4 minutes ago, Magic Lamps said:

Really weird decision. If Ruben leaves too we will be paperthin in midfield. 

How is Gilmour doing with rehab?

[Vegetable 830]

29 minutes ago, Vesper said:

grrrrrrrr

Looks like leaked still from The Hangover 4, lol

 

Anyway, if Rice or whoever is coming this is understandable decision. We need competition inside the team and players, who can make a difference, not okay-ish squad players. Plus, in the team that lacks spirit and motivation a guy, who gets photographed by tabloids black-out drunk every month is not good. On the other hand I'm bit surprised with how we are shipping away HG players as it may soon become difficult to register a squad for CL.

[Jase 43,479]

Looks like Barkley wanted the move...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2020/09/30/ross-barkley-targets-place-england-squad-next-years-euro-2020/

Ross Barkley is targeting a place at next year's European Championships with England after sealing his loan move to Aston Villa.

Barkley has revealed that the pursuit of regular football and nailing down a spot in Gareth Southgate's squad were the two main incentives for him to join Villa for the season from Chelsea.

Villa have agreed to pay all of Barkley's £110,000 a week wages in a move which ends Dean Smith's search for a proven 'No. 8' midfielder, as first revealed by Telegraph Sport.

Smith had also targeted Chelsea's Ruben Loftus-Cheek as an alternative loan signing, but Barkley was always Villa's priority and a deal was completed on Wednesday morning.

Barkley was an unused substitute in Chelsea's defeat to Tottenham in the Carabao Cup and admitted that regular football with Villa persuaded him to make the move.

"The Euros was a big influence for me coming here because for the last couple years it has been stop-start for me [at Chelsea], performing and then being out of the team," he said.

"To come here and have the chance to play and perform regularly was a big thing for me and with the Euros at the end of the season it's a target of mine to be in the squad and hopefully be there.

"Villa know my strengths and what I can add to the team. It's a massive club and it looks like it's going to be an exciting season. Hopefully we can improve this season compared to last season."

[Stats 7,053]

7 hours ago, Tomo said:

Not happy with this atall myself, he's a proven squad player who makes decent contributions over a season. Him standing up just before lockdown while we had an injury and suspension crisis was (in my opinion) one of the key reasons we made top four. In a season like this he would have been needed at some point.

Unless Barkley pushed for this I think we've made a massive error.

I have always been a fan of him. He is one of those players that when we look thin, he steps in and does a good job. Whether in CM/AM, he can put in a good shift. I actually think he could have gone to a better team, but brilliant capture for Villa. Really surprised by this. Probably our only CM who offers a goalscoring threat too which frustrates me even more.