A deal has been agreed between Aston Villa and Liverpool for the signing of Christian Benteke, and it looks like Villa will get around £32M for their Belgium striker, and to think they paid £7M for him three years ago from Genk.
That must qualify as a Mike Ashley type deal, and Liverpool continue to pay out huge fees for their new players.
Villa manager Tim Sherwood will now have to bring in at least one top striker to replace him, and that’s why Aston Villa are now odds-on favorites to sign Charlie Austin from QPR.
Charlie Austin – now odds-on to join Aston Villa
Sherwood has been linked with his former striker at Tottenham, Emmanuel Adebayor, and there’s news they will bid £15M for West Brom’s striker Saido Berahino, as well as that for Charlie Austin.
For the £32M they got for Benteke, they could but both Charlie Austin and Saido Berahino and still have something left over.
Aston Villa are now odds-on favorites at most betting shops to sign Austin, with them being 4/6 odds-on at Skybet and 8/15 at Betfair – to name but two.
Newcastle are second favorites at 2/1 and 5/2 respectively at those two betting shops.
And to think the betting was halted on Newcastle getting him only last week, but that also happened back on June 20th with West Ham looking like they had won the race to sign him.
But the betting odds seem to go up and down like a yo-yo, so we still think we have a decent chance of getting Charlie Austin to Newcastle – but we had better move for him now and pay the full £15M for him.
If Newcastle are still not willing to pay the full amount for him, Aston Villa will – and they will beat us to the striker with a £15M offer.
If that happens it will be like in years gone by, when we have held out for a better deal – in this case by about £2M – and another club comes in quickly and seals the deal by bidding what the selling club want.
It would be deja-vu all over again for Newcastle.
Comments welcome.
93 comments so far
thegaffer
Jul 20, 2015 at 12:04 PM
Comment #81Saylor is young than the two and he dusnt moan being on the bench too. He’s had always got a great attitude over the years!
JDdubai
Jul 20, 2015 at 12:07 PM
Comment #82Ourtoon
Dummett should be 5th choice CB and 2nd choice LB.
With Mbemba, Saylor, new CB(Abdennour?), Lascelles ahead of him then CB should be ok with Dummett as emergency cover – even with Willo and Colo shipped out.
On thread, Id guess Austin was always 2nd choice behind Mitrovic.
when it looked like Mitrovic wasnt coming they released bits about his attitude etc and then the rumours of austin escalated. Then when it came clear we actually had a good shot at Mitrovic 2 weeks ago the Austin talk stopped dead.
Austin and Mitrovic both want to be first choice, both wont get it with us – Austin must go to Villa surely?
will die for the toon army
Jul 20, 2015 at 12:09 PM
Comment #83If I get Zouma on loab then am good to go. I really love Abdennour but I wld rather keep my 15m to 20m as I study the situation. Good players keep popping up.
I want Austin. Cisse is in his yesteryears.
Rotonda heights
Jul 20, 2015 at 12:09 PM
Comment #84Why keep someone on 50k a year to maybe get on the bench for 11 games a year. I’m a proper geordie and fearless but I’m not good enough to play for NUFC, just as carver wasn’t good enough to manage or coach.
Willo, colo and saylor should all punted for different reasons. That gives us M’Bemba (hopefully,) Lascelles, Dummet, Satka, Good.
So we need one of Veltman, N’Kolou, Rutiger, Matip.
Jail for Ashley
Jul 20, 2015 at 12:12 PM
Comment #85Jeff,
Unlike you I don’t research all my knowledge on Google, I got the impression from comments on here that he had spent a few quid at Derby. You should learn to differ from NUFC and Mike Ashley. NUFC will still be here long after the fat parasitse has gone.
Toonfan8
Jul 20, 2015 at 12:12 PM
Comment #86if we could have this squad I would be over the moon:
GK:Krul,Darlow,Woodman
Defenders:ABDENNOUR,MBEMBA,S.Taylor,Lascelles,Dummet,Haidara,Janmaat,Good
Midfielders:Wijnaldum,Anita,Colback,Tiote,Sissoko,De Jong,Aarons,Cabella,Marveaux
Forwards:Mitrovic,Cisse,Perez,Riviere,Armstrong,BERAHINO
I think there is enough time to bring Abdennour and Berahino, if Mitrovic and Mbemba are deals done…and we will look strong to compete for top positions…
Toonfan8
Jul 20, 2015 at 12:15 PM
Comment #87I always rate this 34M for Wijnaldum,Mitrovic and Mbemba as cash, which should have been spent in last season…and now they should bring players for this season 😀 Abdennour and Berahino, here we come…
manni
Jul 20, 2015 at 12:16 PM
Comment #88To be honest even if Mbemba is 26,id still rather have him in the team over Willo 32,Taylor 30,colo 33. And reading his profile looks better than all 3 of them and at £7m hes a bargain !!
Noel Worst
Jul 20, 2015 at 12:19 PM
Comment #89Offer Hull City £1m and Mike Williamson for Curtis Davies. Positionally sound, aerially good CB with just a year left on his contract and disgruntled at being scapegoated by Bruce halfway through their season, when they were doing relatively well compared to where they ended up. No surprise they plummeted when he was shunned in favour of the overrated Michael Dawson. Who does that to their captain and player of the season from the year before for no good reason?
Our Toon
Jul 20, 2015 at 12:23 PM
Comment #90I’d keep willo, he’s the worst CB out of Saylor and Colo but he’s also worth 1m at the very most. He’ll be on very little in terms of wage compared to both willo and Saylor. Get Saylor and colo off the books as wages are high. Only if we bring in 2 CB’s
I still think we need a winger to deliver good quality crosses after CBs are signed
Shadow_Shearer
Jul 20, 2015 at 12:29 PM
Comment #91The defence will not be sorted over night. Willo taylor & colo are not gonna be sold. They have one year left on there contracts, the club will let them run there contract out, & then replace them. This is what SM ment by THREE transfer windows!!
This season is about embedding a pass & move philosophy in the team. Which will be exciting. But next season it’s gonna be 3 new centre backs, good philosophy, & aiming for Europe!!
Malackay
Jul 20, 2015 at 12:40 PM
Comment #92It’s not surprising seeing financially conscious clubs such as ourselves look to the continent even more this window. It’s worth noting the Greece impact on the Euro and the implications the subsequent £/€ rate will have on GB import/exports.
For example, if Ashley were to spend £50m last summer he’d have been able to get c.€63m worth of players form Europe. Now that £50m is worth an extra €9m @ €72m. It might not seem much but I guarantee it will impact MA thinking.
I hope Mitrovic lives up to his billing he is getting on this forum.
On a side note, I was very impressed with both De Jong and Aarons against Sacramento. Aarons (assuming he is fit) would make my starting 11 every time, especially with a striker such as Mitrovic leading the line.
toon-to-win
Jul 20, 2015 at 3:48 PM
Comment #93Theres alot of moaning about new CB’s, but it has been said that its going to take 3 transfer windows to get this squad where it needs to be before we start challenging for the top 6 year in year out. Dont forget when we signed woodgate years ago, he was a one man defence at times so who says that mbemba wont do the same.