Alex McLeish must sell to buy at Villa
Thursday 28th July 2011, 5:01PM BST.
Villa boss Alex McLeish has been told by the club’s board that he must generate funds through the sale of players before he can enter the transfer market again.
The claret and blues are set to wrap up the signing of Wigan winger Charles N’Zogbia for £9.5million, following the arrival of goalkeeper Shay Given from Manchester City for £3.5million.
But prudence has become the watchword for Villa owner Randy Lerner, after the spending of previous managers Martin O’Neill and Gerard Houllier.
McLeish said: “You can never say never but, if we get N’Zogbia, which is looking good, it’s unlikely we will do anything more unless there’s any trading from the squad we already have.
“We don’t plan to spend any more. I believe we have some great young players, and I also believe that there are one or two ‘sleepers’ in there who could emerge. I know Ashley Young’s boots are big ones to fill, but one or two could fill them.
“We’re also watching that the wages don’t spiral out of control. People think free transfers don’t cost you anything, but they may be on £50,000-£60,000 a week in wages. I know Randy Lerner wants to keep it tighter and work within our means.
“That’s normal, especially with financial fair play rules coming up in 2013.
“A lot of clubs will follow suit.”
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Pretty sensible management of finances in the scheme of things but it is a bit of a sobering thought when you raise £35m (approx) from sales, spend only £12m and then have to stop.
Finances seem to be getting tight everwhere.
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Our squad is to small as it is, so selling before buying does not make sense, Learner has just received £37m from sales of Young & Downing. Its obvious he is using the money for his american adventures,it is also obvious he lacks the ambition of most villa fans & is quite content to finish mid table.
It would be better if he put the club up for sale & let somebody with ambition & money takeover. First Ellis & now Learner we seemed doomed to have owners who are scared to invest in the hope they can achieve success.
I will be surprised if we achieve anything this season, even our manager has had only relegation on his cv, at least i can save by money as i will adopt Ebenezer Learners frugal approach.
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You can only name a 25 man squad and if we want to continue using the younger players who broke through last season and are now classed as over 21 then there is no sense in bringing in additional players. Lerner’s approach is sensible and with the UEFA finance rulings due soon we will be one of the better placed clubs. As for a previous poster stating the manager only has relegation on his CV did you miss the Carling Cup win last season or the fact his CV in Scotland was better than MON???
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the money Lerner got this summer from transfers is paying the the Bent fee he thankfully payed out in January. He just put the money upfront to get us out of a right mess and it worked, so get on his side.
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