James Ward-Prowse

[Saint_lambden]

Christ knows where Villa have got such a sense of delusion from. Smith-Rowe and JWP? 🤣

[qwertyell]

1 hour ago, Saint Garrett said:

Not sure what you’ve got against JWP, he’s a fantastic midfielder, and would walk into a lot of teams in this league 

Only because that's his top speed.

[Dusic]

4 hours ago, tajjuk said:

If £40 million doesn't get Ben White then why in hell would it ever get JWP? 

Also since when do Villa offer much more wages than us? Aside Grealish I doubt any of their other players earn much more than our highest earners who are all likely to be in the £70-80k a week, with supposedly Ings being offered more than that.  Also they can probably only do that because a lot of their players will still be on championship contracts, the more new contracts and players they sign, the less room they have in the wage budget as FFP won't allow clubs to just throw money at their wage budgets endlessly. 

You are talking maybe Villa offer him £20-30k a weekmore, to move sideways, lock him into a new long term contract and prevent him from moving to an actual bigger club, moving his family, leaving the club he's been at since he was 10, I am not seeing it.

Nor am I seeing Villa suddenly deciding to pay him like £150k a week. 

We don't want to sell, we'd find it very hard to replace him, he's got 4 years left on his contract, and I can't see him agitating to move to Villa.  So there is no logic we would accept £40 million IMO, it would have to be way above value to even get the club considering which is £60 million plus IMO.  Even then I have my doubts he'd actually go. 

You say an extra 20-30k a week like its not a factor. Over a year thats £1.5m before tax.

Might not interest you, but it probably gets most people's attention.

If Villa can spent £30-£40m on a single player vs Saints £12m-15m then I would suggest their wage structure for those players would be significantly larger than ours.

Edited 17 June, 2021 by Dusic

[tajjuk]

2 hours ago, Dusic said:

You say an extra 20-30k a week like its not a factor. Over a year thats £1.5m before tax.

Might not interest you, but it probably gets most people's attention.

If Villa can spent £30-£40m on a single player vs Saints £12m-15m then I would suggest their wage structure for those players would be significantly larger than ours.

Great so he can buy another house or another Ferrari, JWP doesn't strike me as that sort of player so I doubt he'd move sideways just for the cash. 

As for the last bit, transfers and wages are not necessarily the same thing, like I said depends on budgets and FFP. Villa will naturally have more room in their wage budget than us because a lot of their squad will be on championship level wages with a small bonus for promotion and then the PL sends £100 million their way, so initially for the first 3-4 years in the league they will have more room to make some big signings.  

Unlike more established clubs like us who will have their PL players expecting PL wages when they sign new deals, so the likes of JWP, Ings, Armstrong etc. will be wanting £70-80k a week. 

So just cos Villa might spend £30 million on a player (and we don't know whether that is because they already have a sale lined up for grealish) doesn't mean they are suddenly going to be paying players £150k a week like the Liverpools and Man Citys.  Because then for a £40 million transfer fee, that makes it £80 million over the 5 years which is a massively outlay. 

[verlaine1979]

For owners prepared to turn debt into equity, FFP means almost nothing for clubs that aren't playing regularly in Europe.

[Chez]

1 hour ago, tajjuk said:

 so I doubt he'd move sideways just for the cash. 

We are going no where , looking to survive, not much more. If Villa are looking to spend money and make a challenge for the top six, is that a sideways move?

[Micky]

6 hours ago, Saint Garrett said:

Not sure what you’ve got against JWP, he’s a fantastic midfielder, and would walk into a lot of teams in this league 

Exactly, if Villa don't sign him it would not surprise me in the least if there were several other prem sides looking to sign him anyway.  I predicted some months ago that he would be in demand this season, and unless we start showing just a little bit of ambition I see little reason why he would want to stay. 

Edited 17 June, 2021 by Micky

[Lee On Solent Saint]

I do wonder if he doesn't see himself as a Le Tiss kind of figure. Possibly looking to break records with us. He seems like his pretty loyal to us, I would imagine in the past, certainly under Hughes and Koeman, there were opportunities for him to leave. 

[stknowle]

1 hour ago, Chez said:

We are going no where , looking to survive, not much more. If Villa are looking to spend money and make a challenge for the top six, is that a sideways move?

No. I think tbf we are clutching at straws suggesting that another 20-30k a week to 'only' move to Aston Villa won't be of some interest to JWP especially given the fact that we are, as you say, going nowhere.

Edited 17 June, 2021 by stknowle

[Lighthouse]

7 hours ago, Saint Garrett said:

Not sure what you’ve got against JWP, he’s a fantastic midfielder, and would walk into a lot of teams in this league 

Put it this way; if I had £50m and no JWP, I wouldn’t go out and buy JWP.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

8 hours ago, Saint_lambden said:

Christ knows where Villa have got such a sense of delusion from. Smith-Rowe and JWP? 🤣

I wonder if they're trying to appease the fans for the imminent departure of Grealish

[verlaine1979]

41 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

Put it this way; if I had £50m and no JWP, I wouldn’t go out and buy JWP.

Would you buy ten Steven Davises though?

[Lighthouse]

3 minutes ago, verlaine1979 said:

Would you buy ten Steven Davises though?

No, I’d buy 556 Ricardo Fullers.

[Sarnia Cherie]

On 17/06/2021 at 14:02, Saint_lambden said:

Christ knows where Villa have got such a sense of delusion from. Smith-Rowe and JWP? 🤣

Maybe they are encouraging Grealish to stay if they show him they want to strengthen the squad?

[Dusic]

https://www.footballinsider247.com/sources-ward-prowse-stance-on-quitting-southampton-for-aston-villa-revealed/

Can take this as an iffy source, but also why would Villa even be making a move for JWP unless they knew he would have some interest in it?

 

[Ex Lion Tamer]

16 minutes ago, Dusic said:

https://www.footballinsider247.com/sources-ward-prowse-stance-on-quitting-southampton-for-aston-villa-revealed/

Can take this as an iffy source, but also why would Villa even be making a move for JWP unless they knew he would have some interest in it?

 

You might say the same about Smith-Rowe, who is surely even less likely to join?

[Dusic]

9 minutes ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

You might say the same about Smith-Rowe, who is surely even less likely to join?

Perhaps. He is in contract talks though and nothing has yet been agreed, so the interest suits him either way.

JWP signed a new 5yr deal last summer, so in theory unless he makes it clear he wants to leave then its a non starter.

Unless the Villa owners just want to do some media posturing, but to be fair they have put their money where their mouth is in their tenure so far.

[skintsaint]

50m + McGinn...sorted.

[SKD]

I expect that he is interested in a move to Villa. They’re a team on the way up, we’re on the way down. 
 

He’ll not get a move for a traditional ‘big’ club, so a villa, Everton, West Ham would be a good move for him. 
 

If the money is right £40-£50m (I don’t think he’s worth that though. He’s probably worth £25-30m) sell up and rebuild. 

Edited 21 June, 2021 by SKD

[stevy777_x]

5 hours ago, SKD said:

I expect that he is interested in a move to Villa. They’re a team on the way up, we’re on the way down. 
 

He’ll not get a move for a traditional ‘big’ club, so a villa, Everton, West Ham would be a good move for him. 
 

If the money is right £40-£50m (I don’t think he’s worth that though. He’s probably worth £25-30m) sell up and rebuild. 

If we get upwards to 50 million, sell and reinvest.

[MarkSFC]

5 hours ago, SKD said:

I expect that he is interested in a move to Villa. They’re a team on the way up, we’re on the way down. 
 

He’ll not get a move for a traditional ‘big’ club, so a villa, Everton, West Ham would be a good move for him. 
 

If the money is right £40-£50m (I don’t think he’s worth that though. He’s probably worth £25-30m) sell up and rebuild. 

Value is not solely determined by ability but by length of contract and cost to replace. For these reasons I place his sale value at 50m MINIMUM. 

I'd sell at this and get two players at 25m each who are nearer their contract expiration. 

Selling JWP for less than 40m makes little sense, less than 30m pointless.  

[whiteleySaint30]

12 hours ago, MarkSFC said:

Value is not solely determined by ability but by length of contract and cost to replace. For these reasons I place his sale value at 50m MINIMUM. 

I'd sell at this and get two players at 25m each who are nearer their contract expiration. 

Selling JWP for less than 40m makes little sense, less than 30m pointless.  

I can tell you something now - if we sell at £50m we will not replace with 2 £25m players. Fact....

[MarkSFC]

51 minutes ago, whiteleySaint30 said:

I can tell you something now - if we sell at £50m we will not replace with 2 £25m players. Fact....

I didn't say we would. Fact. 

[Golac's Cunning Stunts]

22 minutes ago, MarkSFC said:

I didn't say we would. Fact. 

It's a real shame but we all know there's little hope of saints spending all the potential transfer fee on players. They'd probably spend £10-£15m of it on an unproved option. Gone are the exciting summers of Koeman in the transfer market when he was backed and we still had ambition!

[Millbrook Saint]

This doesn't sit right with me, by selling to Villa we are basically putting ourselves in the newly promoted club bracket, as a club we seem too keen to do this and as fans we seem too willing to let the club get away with it.  I know the club is skint but selling to Villa should just not be allowed, what next selling Walker Peters to Norwich?  At some point we as fans need to let the club know it isn't acceptable to be selling players to teams we consider direct rivals?

[Millbrook Saint]

Just look at the messages above, we're already spending the money, there's being pragmatic and there's bending over and taking one up the wrongun, we seem to be pretty willing to do the latter.  It's not fans jobs to balance the books, it's our job to push the club to strive for better

[ErwinK1961]

27 minutes ago, Golac's Cunning Stunts said:

It's a real shame but we all know there's little hope of saints spending all the potential transfer fee on players. They'd probably spend £10-£15m of it on an unproved option. Gone are the exciting summers of Koeman in the transfer market when he was backed and we still had ambition!

Again, when have we not spent all of the money received on players and re-invested? If you look back at our transfer business since Gao turned up, money we've received has been re-invested and spent on players. He doesn't put anything in, but he also doesn't take anything out.

The problem has been we had a couple of years of buying complete sh*t, which screwed us.

[SKD]

8 minutes ago, Millbrook Saint said:

This doesn't sit right with me, by selling to Villa we are basically putting ourselves in the newly promoted club bracket, as a club we seem too keen to do this and as fans we seem too willing to let the club get away with it.  I know the club is skint but selling to Villa should just not be allowed, what next selling Walker Peters to Norwich?  At some point we as fans need to let the club know it isn't acceptable to be selling players to teams we consider direct rivals?

Unfortunately years of under funding, buying cheap players who aren’t good enough and a willingness to flog anything that’s not nailed down has resulted in this. 

We’re not the progressive club challenging the top of the table as we once were a few years back. That’s been taken by The Leicester’s, West Ham’s, Everton’s and probably Villa in the coming seasons. 
 

Get used to us selling to those around us as our players just aren’t good enough for the top clubs anymore. We’ll get cherry picked by those in and around us with a bit more ambition.

[ErwinK1961]

10 minutes ago, Millbrook Saint said:

This doesn't sit right with me, by selling to Villa we are basically putting ourselves in the newly promoted club bracket, as a club we seem too keen to do this and as fans we seem too willing to let the club get away with it.  I know the club is skint but selling to Villa should just not be allowed, what next selling Walker Peters to Norwich?  At some point we as fans need to let the club know it isn't acceptable to be selling players to teams we consider direct rivals?

Has he gone yet then? All I've seen so far is one-sided newspaper stories saying Villa want him. 

There's not been many players that have been sold/left in recent years that we didn't want to go (mainly because we've been utter crap) - of the one's that have, the contract situation has played a part (thinking PEH last year, Bertrand this summer - probably Ings and Vestergaard this summer too. Going further back, Clyne and Wanyama had 1 year left, Mane had two) - JWP has 4 years left on his contract, so we're not in the same position.

I really can't see him going to Villa.

[Millbrook Saint]

Just now, ErwinK1961 said:

Has he gone yet then? All I've seen so far is one-sided newspaper stories saying Villa want him. 

There's not been many players that have been sold/left in recent years that we didn't want to go (mainly because we've been utter crap) - of the one's that have, the contract situation has played a part (thinking PEH last year, Bertrand this summer - probably Ings and Vestergaard this summer too. Going further back, Clyne and Wanyama had 1 year left, Mane had two) - JWP has 4 years left on his contract, so we're not in the same position.

I really can't see him going to Villa.

I really hope you're right about him not going to Villa, it's not the selling of him, I could begrudgingly accept it to a top team, it's the fact it's to fookin Villa, these are our direct rivals, it would be definitely be a statement of intent and not one which we should be looking for.

I know it's all coming from their side at the moment, but now reports are coming out that he's not opposed to the move, could be all made up of course but I get the feeling it's not.

[ErwinK1961]

2 minutes ago, Millbrook Saint said:

I really hope you're right about him not going to Villa, it's not the selling of him, I could begrudgingly accept it to a top team, it's the fact it's to fookin Villa, these are our direct rivals, it would be definitely be a statement of intent and not one which we should be looking for.

I know it's all coming from their side at the moment, but now reports are coming out that he's not opposed to the move, could be all made up of course but I get the feeling it's not.

I'm totally with you - if it was a top team then you can accept it, but selling to Villa would be ludicrous. Despite the crowing on here by some, take Grealish out of that team and they are bang average (as was shown towards the end of last season when he was injured). They've spent an obscene amount of money (£230m) just to finish 17th and 11th.

I really can't see it happening. If it does then you do have to question what the club are doing. 

[Lighthouse]

If someone wants to pay £50m for JWP I'd sell him, whether it's Man City or Port Vale. I don't buy this, "oh but they're our close rivals in the table," argument. If they're serious about spending that much on one player, they're clearly not going to be our rivals for long, whether they buy JWP or someone else for the same price.

 

That said, I'd be astonished if Villa were planning on any such thing. Going on a massive spending spree these days just puts you in the 7-10th bracket with Arsenal, Spurs, West Ham, Everton. They could spend £200m this summer and not even qualify for the Europa League.

[benali-shorts]

I suppose there's an argument that he's currently at peak value - age/contract; fringes of Eng squad; decent season last season. I would think our model makes it likely that we would have to consider any offer at what we perceive to be the player's peak value, and based on our trading history to date I suspect we would have our head turned regardless of the bidding club. Similarly for JWP, it's likely to be a sizeable financial package, and he may well consider that this is his best moment to secure that type of package - he's unlikely to get a top 6 squad place in the current financial climate (£30m+ plus package pricey for squad player), and so next level down is his most realistic target of securing that. Outside of the traditional big 6 and Leics, there aren't a huge number of teams capable of funding this type of transfer, but Villa (assuming Grealish goes for £80m+) are definitely one of them, so it seems plausible. 

[sadoldgit]

If you were a player at a mid table club looking to progress your career, why would you go to another mid table club? As has been said, without Grealish they are nothing special. I can believe that they want to sign him but I can’t believe that he would want to go there.

[egg]

6 minutes ago, sadoldgit said:

If you were a player at a mid table club looking to progress your career, why would you go to another mid table club? As has been said, without Grealish they are nothing special. I can believe that they want to sign him but I can’t believe that he would want to go there.

They're closer to European football than we are, and doubtless could up his wages. Another £20k PW over a 5 year contract is another £5m. Money talks. 

[benali-shorts]

44 minutes ago, sadoldgit said:

If you were a player at a mid table club looking to progress your career, why would you go to another mid table club? As has been said, without Grealish they are nothing special. I can believe that they want to sign him but I can’t believe that he would want to go there.

We don't know the money he's on vs. what Villa may offer, but that could be a significant pull given it's likely to be the most lucrative contract he signs. We do know that Villa are willing spenders, and they're likely to have money available from Grealish sale this summer. 

[sadoldgit]

1 hour ago, egg said:

They're closer to European football than we are, and doubtless could up his wages. Another £20k PW over a 5 year contract is another £5m. Money talks. 

But they arent in Europe and could just as easily find themselves battling relegation  in the next few years. As for money talking, would he go to Brentford for more money? If he was looking for a big move, with all due respect to Aston Villa, that is hardly it.

[Turkish]

3 minutes ago, sadoldgit said:

But they arent in Europe and could just as easily find themselves battling relegation  in the next few years. As for money talking, would he go to Brentford for more money? If he was looking for a big move, with all due respect to Aston Villa, that is hardly it.

Other than because he'd be popular in Southampton, why would he stay?

[Matthew Le God]

7 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Other than because he'd be popular in Southampton, why would he stay?

Because uprooting your young family is a big thing for what is only a slightly upwards move. It won't make a big difference to his career like a move to the big 6 would.

He has already finished 6th, 8th, 7th and 8th in the Premier League with Saints. Villa at best will only match that. He may as well wait and see if a really big team ever want him.

[Cartman]

Why would he go to Villa? To finish midtable, same as here? And for that matter, why would we sell to them? It may have escaped some people's attention, but when it has come to first 11 players with more than 1 year left on their contracts, only Liverpool and Man Utd have bought from us. Villa are nobodies compared to them, disrespect fully intended. We have heard all of the big ambition bollocks before from Everton, Villa are more of the same, throw a load of money around just to finish 10th.

Daft thread, even more so considering that it all based on two week old clickbait transfer speculation.

[SKD]

21 minutes ago, Cartman said:

Why would he go to Villa? To finish midtable, same as here? And for that matter, why would we sell to them? It may have escaped some people's attention, but when it has come to first 11 players with more than 1 year left on their contracts, only Liverpool and Man Utd have bought from us. Villa are nobodies compared to them, disrespect fully intended. We have heard all of the big ambition bollocks before from Everton, Villa are more of the same, throw a load of money around just to finish 10th.

Daft thread, even more so considering that it all based on two week old clickbait transfer speculation.

The same Everton who stole our manager? As much as you may not like it, money talks and we’re not willing to pay what others are which is why were regressing and losing players. 
 

Edited 22 June, 2021 by SKD

[SKD]

29 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

Because uprooting your young family is a big thing for what is only a slightly upwards move. It won't make a big difference to his career like a move to the big 6 would.

He has already finished 6th, 8th, 7th and 8th in the Premier League with Saints. Villa at best will only match that. He may as well wait and see if a really big team ever want him.

It will if he has a bad season and he has no significant interest next season. As things stand, there’s a very good chance we could go down this season. He could end up being a championship player. 
 

You’re a bit of a fool if you think a player would stay on a sinking ship because he didn’t want to uproot his family. Birmingham is a couple of hours away, there’s a good chance his family wouldn’t even move. It’s not as if he’s being linked with a move to the states. 

Edited 22 June, 2021 by SKD

[ErwinK1961]

16 minutes ago, SKD said:

The same Everton who stole our manager? As much as you may not like it, money talks and we’re not willing to pay what others are which is why were regressing and losing players. 
 

Do you think he is going to Villa?

[SKD]

11 minutes ago, ErwinK1961 said:

Do you think he is going to Villa?

Probably not. He’s not worth the money it’s likely take to get him, But If they offer us enough money and we accept a bid then, yes I think he’d be interested in going there.  
 

 

[ErwinK1961]

1 minute ago, SKD said:

Probably not. He’s not worth the money it’s likely take to get him, But If they offer us enough money and we accept a bid then, yes I think he’d be interested in going there.  
 

 

If they bid and we rejected it, do you think he'd try and force it through/ hand in a transfer request to get his dream move?

[egg]

1 hour ago, sadoldgit said:

But they arent in Europe and could just as easily find themselves battling relegation  in the next few years. As for money talking, would he go to Brentford for more money? If he was looking for a big move, with all due respect to Aston Villa, that is hardly it.

Brentford aren't established in the PL. Villa are. They're in no danger of relegation. Besides, I'm struggling to see what's keeping JWP here. Success for us will be avoiding relegation next season. Villa will do better than that, and in his shoes, I'd rather be there and banking more cash. 

[Chapel End]

8 minutes ago, ErwinK1961 said:

If they bid and we rejected it, do you think he'd try and force it through/ hand in a transfer request to get his dream move?

I wish you hadn't quoted him mate, but anyhow,dont take his view to seriously, he knows very little. 

[Cartman]

22 minutes ago, SKD said:

The same Everton who stole our manager? As much as you may not like it, money talks and we’re not willing to pay what others are which is why were regressing and losing players. 
 

Yes, the same Everton that thought it was a good idea to make an average manager like Koeman one of the highest paid in the world only to sack him little more than a year later, then after having Allardyce until the end of the season paid Watford a huge amount in compensation to hire Marco Silva, only to go and sack him after 18 months when they realized he was shite. That is exactly the Everton I'm talking about, the midtable club who are without a manager again and don't seem to have much of an idea on who they should hire next.

Easy to get a manager when you pay him far more than he is worth.

[SKD]

20 minutes ago, ErwinK1961 said:

If they bid and we rejected it, do you think he'd try and force it through/ hand in a transfer request to get his dream move?

What relevance does that have? 

[SKD]

14 minutes ago, Cartman said:

Yes, the same Everton that thought it was a good idea to make an average manager like Koeman one of the highest paid in the world only to sack him little more than a year later, then after having Allardyce until the end of the season paid Watford a huge amount in compensation to hire Marco Silva, only to go and sack him after 18 months when they realized he was shite. That is exactly the Everton I'm talking about, the midtable club who are without a manager again and don't seem to have much of an idea on who they should hire next.

Easy to get a manager when you pay him far more than he is worth.

Of course money doesn’t guarantee success, but the common factor in your comment above is people leaving their current club for Everton because they are willing to pay for it due to that ambition ‘bollocks’. 

So you kind of prove my point in that’s the reason he’d leave. 
 

What’s more appealing? Going to a new club with a pay rise and ‘ambition’ to break into top 6 with financial backing behind it, or staying at a club who are regressing and ambition is to stay in the league with 0 financial backing. I know what I’d prefer. 

 

Edited 22 June, 2021 by SKD