Aston Villa players

[MOBIUS]

From GW2 Villa have a nice run of fixtures. Of the newly promoted teams they been the biggest spenders. Plenty of budget options to bench for GW1 and low ownership.
Any punts for cheap differentials that could make their mark from GW2?

[Stevieste]

Heard a lot of talk about Jota for them being a quality player and talks that he could easily be there top points earner this season on other forums.

I like the idea of new guy Wesley personally though, bit will wait to see how King start the season for bournmouth before i jump ship

[Tall Paul]

This season's Fulham?

[forestfan]

This season's Fulham?

A few have said that, but the difference is that this isn’t a case of getting ahead of themselves with scattergun spending and disrupting a successful side unnecessarily, which is what Fulham did, along with neglecting the defence. They aimed for top half when they should have been aiming for 17th and it backfired badly.

Villa had a number of loan signings to replace so had to get players in. No idea what to expect from them, there’s lots of unknown quantities, but they’ve signed out of necessity, not through trying to run before they can walk in PL terms.

[muld]

Warning: Double post alert.
Villa season ticket holder here & long time FPL player.

First comment, doing a Fulham? Couldn't be further from the truth. Ignore that Fulham are the only team in the last 5 years to net spend 50m after promotion and be relegated and you'll see a clear transfer strategy. Bear in mind Villa let contracts expire on 12 senior players (I won't bother to list them), so needed to bring in numbers.

The first 3 were already at the club.
Kortney Hause (Wolves) £3m
Anwar El Ghazi (Lille) £8m
Tyrone Mings (Bournemouth) £20m

Not really gambles
Jota (Birmingham) £4m - only moved across the city and worked with Smith previously
Ezri Konsa (Brentford) £12m - worked with smith previously
Matt Targett (Southampton) £17m - premier league experience

Untested
Wesley (Club Brugge) £22m - Replacement for Abraham.
Bjorn Engels (Reims) £7.2m - Smith has been after him for years
Trezeguet (Kasimpasa) £9m - team-mate of Elmohamady, outshone Salah at AFCON
Douglas Luiz (Manchester City) £16.8m - Pep rates him highly, that should say a fair amount

[raoul]

Luiz as a 4.5 MID looks like someone worth having?

[muld]

Part 2. Do you want to actually pick anyone from Villa?

Well there is definately value to be had, obviously with any newly promoted and assembled team most are going to be gambles.

Formation - Likely to be 4-3-3 for most games with 1 holding DM, 2 CMs, 2 wingers and a CF. Expect Smith to revert to 5-4-1 against the top teams (going by pre season, interviews, other supporters information and training formations).

Expected starting XI (as it stands)
---------------Steer(expecting a new GK)---------------
Guilbert-------Konsa/Engels-------Mings-------Targett
----------------------Hourihane/Luiz-----------------------
-----------------Grealish-----------McGinn-----------------
Jota------------------------------------Trezeguet/ElGhazi
----------------------------Wesley----------------------------

Goalkeepers
Nyland - 4.5m and Steer - 4.5m
Expect a new GK to be signed, I wouldn't consider either

Defenders
Targett - 4.5m - Should be nailed on for left back, better than Taylor, hasn't been pulling up any trees in pre-season
Mings - 4.5m - First choice CB, should score a few MOTM
Engels - 4.5m / Konsa - 4.5m - one of these will partner Mings, I'd expect Engels to get the nod initially
Guilbert - 4.5m - Lightning in pre season, already got 3 assists in as many matches, motm at least once, should start ahead of Elmo
I'd opt for Guilbert over Mings purely for the attacking threat, having both would be pretty crazy (even for a Villa fan)

These are all 2nd choice, I wouldn't pick any of them
Elmo - 4.5m / Chester - 4.5m / Taylor - 4.5m / Hause - 4.5m

Midfielders
Hourihane - 6.0m / Luiz - 4.5m (I suspect Hourihane will start the season (not certain), Luiz will replace him quickly if he does though as is the better player, competing for the DM role although Hourihane will be on free kicks and at leat half the corners when he plays, 4.5 for Luiz could be good value though, he looks very good!)
Grealish - 6.0m - captain, skillful, gets fouled a lot, potential to score but doesn't actually back up his ability statistically (not many direct assists and goals).
El Ghazi - 5.5m / Trezeguet - 5.5m - both like to cut in from the left and have a crack, although usually not very accurately (for either), can't see both starting
McGinn - 5.5m - should start alongside Grealish, works hard, potential to score / assist.
Jota - 6.0m - has been superb pre-season, scoring and assisting from RW, could be one to watch, will score more than McGinn and Grealish imo.

These are all 2nd choice
Green - 5.0m / Bjarnason - 4.5m / Davis - 4.5m / Lansbury - 4.5m
*Davis is a CF not a midfielder, if we don't sign another CF and Wesley gets injured this may be worth looking at

Forwards
Kodja - 5.5m - impact sub
Wesley - 6.0m - nailed on, has looked good pre-season, if you want a villa forward, here's your man. Took the penalty in previous friendly, i'd expect that to continue


Sorry for the long post, hope this helps someone

[muld]

Luiz as a 4.5 MID looks like someone worth having?

I wouldn't throw him right in there, I'd expect him to be a 4.5 enabler after a few GW's though, his postion of DM will restrict his scoring.

[blahblah]

Excellent stuff. Thanks.

[raoul]

thanks for that

[Mav3rick]

Brilliant write up thanks muld.

[Pirlo's Beard]

Great stuff, muld, thanks for that. I had picked Targett as my cheapest defender as I like his attacking threat (1 goal and 3 assists in very limited minutes last season for Southampton), but it sounds like Guilbert could be an even better bet. Will continue to keep a close eye on both of them.

Edit: Just checked out Guilbert's stats over on Transfermarkt. 1 goal, 2 assists in 34 games for SM Caen last season. 1 goal, 3 assists in 36 games the season before that. It doesn't compare that favourably with Targett's 1 goal, 3 assists in roughly 13 games last season, plus the former Southampton man has PL experience. I think I'll stick with my initial instinctive pick (for now, anyway), but it's good to be aware of Guilbert's potential all the same.

[Bobby Fetta]

This is excellent, thanks. I'm in shock that Tyrone Mings cost £20million though! I'd assumed it was a free transfer to get him off Bournemouth's wage bill.

[sstaffsw]

Good stuff from Muld, much appreciated. I'm keeping an eye on McGinn who looks to be Villa's best player by a mile.

[gingafalcao]

Aston Villa has just concluded an agreement with the same Club where they bought Wesley for Marvelous Nakamba.
The media is talking about a £ 12m transfer.
Nakamba is a natural defensive midfielder who has played 44 matches as regular players for his first season at FC Brugge. He will be a key player in the squad and will contribute to the title of champion.
The second season was much more complicated for him since he played only 23 games and over the season lost his duel against his competitor.

...Hourihane - 6.0m / Luiz - 4.5m (I suspect Hourihane will start the season (not certain), Luiz will replace him quickly if he does though as is the better player, competing for the DM role although Hourihane will be on free kicks and at leat half the corners when he plays, 4.5 for Luiz could be good value though, he looks very good!)...

Nakamba is a great player and I'm sure he could bring a lot to Aston Villa. However, I have trouble projecting myself when using it, because although it will compete with Hourihane and D.Luiz, I find it difficult to see him take over a D.Luiz evolving at its best soccer.
I am very skeptical also to see him evolve in a position a little further on the field.
I do not see him exceeding 4.5M and I do not see him as the 5th midfielder on the bench.
There will be other options much more interesting.

[muld]

Great stuff, muld, thanks for that. I had picked Targett as my cheapest defender as I like his attacking threat (1 goal and 3 assists in very limited minutes last season for Southampton), but it sounds like Guilbert could be an even better bet. Will continue to keep a close eye on both of them.

Edit: Just checked out Guilbert's stats over on Transfermarkt. 1 goal, 2 assists in 34 games for Lille last season. 1 goal, 3 assists in 36 games the season before that. It doesn't compare that favourably with Targett's 1 goal, 3 assists in roughly 13 games last season, plus the former Southampton man has PL experience. I think I'll stick with my initial instinctive pick (for now, anyway), but it's good to be aware of Guilbert's potential all the same.

Good points, a couple more worth considering, SM Caen only scored 29 goals last season, so not exactly an attacking threat He was also deployed at CB for 6 games and LB a few times. In fairness I'm mostly going on the 3 friendlies I've watched. (2 assists in approx 140 minutes). All the Villa defenders are 4.5m so it's a toss up really, Mings, Targett and Guilbert should be nailed on and any of the 3 could end up with most points. I'd expect both to improve their assist stats as Smith does encourage them to get forward. My observations so far is Guilbert tends to bomb forward and beat a man, Targett tends to check back and be more conservative. If you do head over to the Villa forums you'll see fans mostly excited about Guilbert and Jota from what we've seen so far (we already know what Mings, Grealish and McGinn bring to the table). Wesley missed todays game with a slight knock but has looked sharp.

Not seen Nakamba, he's not on FPL yet so unsure on price (I'd expect 5m (could go .5 either way)). Expect him to provide cover for CM (McGinn/Grealish), can also play DM. Was at AFCON so wouldn't expect to see too much of him early doors (can also see Trezeguet being eased in for the same reasons). Barring injury to McGinn or GrealishI don't think this is a viable option, starting with him would be unwise to the max! McGinn scored a great goal today and bagged a brace (Grealish vs McGinn vs Jota is another toss up if you want a cheapish midfielder).

[Pirlo's Beard]

SM Caen only scored 29 goals last season, so not exactly an attacking threat

I mistakenly had him down as having played for Lille for some reason! I've corrected my earlier post.

[Biddles32]

I’m from the city of Birmingham and have many Villa friends. Everyone of them is Raving on about Guilbert and seem to think he is first choice and the two other players their talking about a lot is Jota and Wesley. So these 3 players are deffo on my radar across all fantasy football games.

[Billy Bongo]

John Mcguin is a legit baller and Villas best player by a country mile, at 5.5m he's a steal and by end of this season he'll be worth 100m

The great thing about Villa signing 200 players is Mcguin is being ignored

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[stevewba]

Good insight Muld , giving a good accurate account of your team.
I've not got any in my team but will keep an eye out

[Gambit]

just catching up with this, great stuff Muld

I've been over to the Villa forums and watched some highlights of the pre season games, McGinn looks the best player, and I saw in two papers this morning that he's been linked with a transfer to United!

I really like the Villa fixtures - 7 good games in the first 9, and may have a 5.5 spot in my team, is he absolutely nailed? from what I can tell he is but you've signed that many players it's hard to tell!

[muld]

Yes, him and Grealish were our two AMs every game when fit and we have only signed Marvelous (who will need time, expect a sub role / cups initially for him) in that position. McGinn was rested for last game of season before playoffs as was 1 yellow away from another ban! That's something to watch, he picked up 14 yellows last season! McGinn picked up the Player's Player of the Year and Supporter's Player of the Year + Championship goal of the season

[carlitobrigante]

John Mcguin is a legit baller and Villas best player by a country mile, at 5.5m he's a steal and by end of this season he'll be worth 100m

The great thing about Villa signing 200 players is Mcguin is being ignored

Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk

Not one to exaggerate, huh?

McGinn is class. I wouldn't say he's "Villa's best player by a country mile" though. I still believe Grealish is a better player. Although in FPL terms, I don't see Grealish as a great option. As others have said, he doesn't get that many goals or direct assists, despite being at the heart of every Villa attacking move.

[cymbalrush84]

Hourihane anyone? 8 goals and 12 assists last season and on a fair share of set pieces, which plays to Wesley's strengths and the team generally...

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[Billy Bongo]

John Mcguin is a legit baller and Villas best player by a country mile, at 5.5m he's a steal and by end of this season he'll be worth 100m

The great thing about Villa signing 200 players is Mcguin is being ignored

Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk

Not one to exaggerate, huh?

McGinn is class. I wouldn't say he's "Villa's best player by a country mile" though. I still believe Grealish is a better player. Although in FPL terms, I don't see Grealish as a great option. As others have said, he doesn't get that many goals or direct assists, despite being at the heart of every Villa attacking move.

I don't like Greasish hair , McGuin or bust for me

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[muld]

Hourihane anyone? 8 goals and 12 assists last season and on a fair share of set pieces, which plays to Wesley's strengths and the team generally...

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It's a weird one as he behind McGinn, Grealish, Jota on ability but he does take a lot of our set pieces so naturally gets the odd FK goal and assist from that, he will play deeper than the rest, I'd be concerned about Luiz taking some of his game time away, he wasn't a nailed on starter last season (but started most and got loads of minutes).

I originally had Jota in my team but needed the .5 so went to McGinn . Wesley is still on my radar but I currently have (thread divert alert) Origi for the first few GW's (whilst Mane/Firm/Salah get up to full speed).

[muld]

John Mcguin is a legit baller and Villas best player by a country mile, at 5.5m he's a steal and by end of this season he'll be worth 100m

The great thing about Villa signing 200 players is Mcguin is being ignored

Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk

Not one to exaggerate, huh?

McGinn is class. I wouldn't say he's "Villa's best player by a country mile" though. I still believe Grealish is a better player. Although in FPL terms, I don't see Grealish as a great option. As others have said, he doesn't get that many goals or direct assists, despite being at the heart of every Villa attacking move.

Exactly it, Grealish usually plays the pass to the guy who gets the assist, i.e. a through ball to a winger who squares/crosses it etc.

[julzdyer]

don't believe Jota will start

in my opinion front 3 will be trezeguet, wesley and el ghazi

midfield 3 of grealish mcginn and luiz

[muld]

don't believe Jota will start

in my opinion front 3 will be trezeguet, wesley and el ghazi

midfield 3 of grealish mcginn and luiz

Jota is as ahead of both El Ghazi AND Trezeguet IMO, especially against the bigger teams. Smith likes to rotate his wingers though so expect them all to get game time (and be subbed after 70mins).
Luiz is unlikely to start over Hourihane right away but will replace him quite quickly I'd assume.

We are away at Spurs first game, Smith is more likely to stick with what he knows, which means Jota+ElGhazi+Hourihane (and possibly Elmo for Guilbert as well). We signed many players so need to maintain the spine of our team and introduce the new signings where appropiate.

[Bixer]

As a Brentford fan having watched Jota in the flesh numerous times over the past 5 years until his unfortunate departure to Birmingham a couple of years ago, he's one I'm definitely keeping my eye on.

On his day he was an absolute world-beater - pretty much our best player at the club in the time he was with us and would regularly contribute with both goals and assists.

I always initially thought he had more than what it takes to make it in the Premier League, but his somewhat disappointing spell at Birmingham cast some doubt on that. Now that he's actually got a competent team behind him able to supply him with the service he needs however, I wouldn't be surprised to see him carry this pre-season form into the rest of the season.