When you drop a club record £18m on a player during any window, but especially in January, there will inevitably be a lot of opinions voiced and a few feathers ruffled. I’ve read a lot of ill-conceived nonsense that I won’t dignify by linking to, but it’s fair to say that outside of Villa circles the reaction has been decidedly mixed.
For example, watching the opinion rolling by my screen on Twitter, I happened to spot a Man City fan scoffing
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Done deal. Four and a half year deal.
Darren Bent has officially completed his move from Sunderland in what will be a record transfer deal for Villa (£18m rising to £24m the most popular claim) and will be eligible for Man City on Saturday. I think he’ll probably play, don’t you?
Bent brings undoubted quality exactly where we need it the most. The fee is huge and can be read as a sign of intent or desperation depending entirely on your own
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OK, I’m kidding, it’s pretty far from a secret. In fact it’s everywhere and I must be the last person to find out. Ironically, I checked all the latest news just minutes before this one broke and then went off the grid. I came back and all hell is breaking loose!
This is a story that will evolve as the day goes on so I’ll continue to update this post as we learn more, but at the moment it would appear
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Aston Villa have completed the signing of Jean Makoun from Lyon for a fee thought to be in the region of €6m* possibly rising by a further €3m depending on performances. The 27 year old brings a wealth of experience with almost 250 Ligue 1 appearance, more than 50 European appearances and 56 caps for Cameroon including four African Nations Championships and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
He’s a robust and competitive defensive midfielder, not dissimilar to Nigel Reo-Coker,
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It’s been an interesting, yet quiet week for me. I’m really not a fan of the transfer window periods, there’s so much nonsense being regurgitated. Some of it by people who don’t know any better, but mostly by people who know full well that they’re peddling baseless speculation in search of traffic.
However, the new air of openness at Villa Park under Gerard Houllier is refreshing and perhaps the glimpse of the work behind the scenes we’ve been given helps temper
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Steve Sidwell has signed for Fulham after being on the edge of signing for both West Ham and Wolves in the last couple of days. He will be remembered as the first real transfer movement for Aston Villa in 2011, an own goal on his debut, that lovely goal at Goodison… and… er, the ability to turn practically invisible at will. I’d say he’ll be missed, but not too many people have seen him enough to miss him.
Sidwell was
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Aston Villa have completed the loan signing of Kyle Walker, Tottenham’s young right back signed from Sheffield Utd about 18 months ago, before being promptly loaned back and then playing at QPR on loan this season. He’ll be on loan with Villa until the end of the season, I don’t know yet if there is any option to make the move permanent.
I can’t comment on Walker as a player, I honestly haven’t seen him play so far as I
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I believe the pre-match press conference ahead of the Boxing Day game against Tottenham is taking place today, so brace yourself for cherry picked Houllier quotes to filter out over the next few days, sending people predisposed to fly in rages into those very rages.
He said WHAT?!?!? ARRRGHHHHH!!!
Oh, wait. I see. Well that makes sense I suppose. Okay, carry on.
I’m not entirely sure where the quotes on Brad Friedel came from yesterday, but they also look
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That’s the Summer 2010 transfer window done then.
Out: Marlon Harewood and Andy Marshall were both released at the end of their contracts. Stephen O’Halloran went to Coventry on a free, while Nick Shorey joined West Brom for £1.5m and James Milner joined Man City for £26m.
In: Stephen Ireland joined from Man City for £8m.
KMac has confirmed that he would like an interview. Make whatever you will of the inclusion of a two minute video recap of his four
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