The Afobe question

[Lycan]

I'm fairly confident that we'll sign Ben. I can't remember if it was Thelwell or Dalrymple but someone was talking about our Jan transfers and how they thought we needed 3 options for the CF spot (Bona, Afobe, Rafa). If we accept that Rafa (as the only permanent transfer of the 3) probably isn't going to be in contention for a first team place next season then we need to sign 3 players. We're not going to completely uproot that position and start again.

We'll sign Benik, maybe Bona as well who is still a steal at £5M, and one other.

 

[PuntsWolf]

I'm fairly confident that we'll sign Ben. I can't remember if it was Thelwell or Dalrymple but someone was talking about our Jan transfers and how they thought we needed 3 options for the CF spot (Bona, Afobe, Rafa). If we accept that Rafa (as the only permanent transfer of the 3) probably isn't going to be in contention for a first team place next season then we need to sign 3 players. We're not going to completely uproot that position and start again.

We'll sign Benik, maybe Bona as well who is still a steal at £5M, and one other.

Exactly, we can’t just sign two new faces and hope they will both be amazing. Not all transfers are a success. At least signing one of them gives us some kind of insurance. I’d say Afobe is above Leo in the pecking order now so if we were only going to sign one then it would be Benik for me. I’d have signed Leo if he had put in at least a 6/10 second half of the season but he hasn’t for me.

 

[Tony Towner]

To try and give a degree of perspective, Grabban has outscored Afobe after they were signed on the same day. He's had more minutes, but we are a better side. If we were linked with him in the Summer I think it would be a universal no on here, so I don't see why it would be different for another player just because he has an emotional connection.

 

[Alan]

I wouldn't be opposed to Grabban on the face of things but he'd likely cost more than Afobe at this point which makes the comparison a bit skewed.

 

[Jinky]

£5m for a forward who hasn't scored in nearly 5 months isn't "a steal", IMO.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Grabban is 30 now and has comprehensively failed in the PL twice, he'd be a dismal signing.

He would be way cheaper than Afobe though on the basis that Bournemouth 100% do not want him (they've been loaning him out for 18 months now), his age and having only one year left on his contract.

Will not happen anyway.

 

[Alan]

Grabban is 30 now and has comprehensively failed in the PL twice, he'd be a dismal signing.

He would be way cheaper than Afobe though on the basis that Bournemouth 100% do not want him (they've been loaning him out for 18 months now), his age and having only one year left on his contract.

Will not happen anyway.

Ah, I forgot he was also technically a Bournemouth player.

 

[Lycan]

£5m for a forward who hasn't scored in nearly 5 months isn't "a steal", IMO.

£10M can get you a very average player these days. I like Léo and would back him to be a quality player for us in the Premier League.

 

[Trips]

I think part of the reason for Bonatini's form in the second half of the season is his lack of a pre-season with us. He got off the plane and started against Boro, and then for the first half of the season started nearly every league game I think due to no other options. Get a proper pre-season in him and I'm sure he can do well for us.

 

[PuntsWolf]

To try and give a degree of perspective, Grabban has outscored Afobe after they were signed on the same day. He's had more minutes, but we are a better side. If we were linked with him in the Summer I think it would be a universal no on here, so I don't see why it would be different for another player just because he has an emotional connection.

I know you aren’t being totally serious but this is a classic of “you can prove anything with stats”. As you say he’s played more minutes, he came to villa already match sharp as he’d been playing regularly at this level. Also, the way Villa play he is the focal point. If their number 9 isn’t scoring, then they haven’t exactly got goals from elsewhere other than maybe Hourihane and set pieces. So the fact he’s scored what, one more goal? Doesn’t exactly suggest he’s better. Factor in age etc. It’s a total no go

 

[Carrotdude]

Afobe’s getting a goal every 100 minutes or so which is pretty damn good and a lot better than any of our other forwards. I can understand the arguments from the no side but I’m pretty confident we’ll sign him.

 

[rather sceptical wolf]

I'll trust Nuno on this one, if the rumours are true. Maybe he sees improvement in the right areas and we know he can be lethal in front of goal when he's in the flow. £10m is not a lot when it comes to forwards.

Leo has zero pace. His other skills are not good quite enough to pull it off in the Prem. A no on him.

 

[Sam-Wolf]

To try and give a degree of perspective, Grabban has outscored Afobe after they were signed on the same day. He's had more minutes, but we are a better side. If we were linked with him in the Summer I think it would be a universal no on here, so I don't see why it would be different for another player just because he has an emotional connection.

To be fair, goals per 90 minutes since they both joined their respective clubs, Afobe is doing better than Grabban (only .84 vs .73 though).

And while we are a better side than Villa, we haven't significantly outscored them since the players joined (31 vs 28).

But yeah, as previously mentioned, Grabban has been pretty garbage in the prem, not that Afobe has set anything alight, but I doubt many people would argue that they are equals in regards to buying them.

 

[arklowolf]

I've voted Yes. I like Afobe's attitude, his mobility and his age. His goalscoaring record is good.
Only reservation I would have is I'm not sure our style of play suits him totally. He seems to be adapting though as games go on.

 

[big mean bunny]

Even at £9million in todays market I would be wary. I wouldn't want my side to pay that if we were staying in the Championship. Grateful for the role he has played but not sure he is the answer. He will get my full backing if we do sign him though.

 

[WolfmanOz]

It’s a definite maybe from me. On the one hand he’s scoring goals: there’s not much doubt that if Afobe had been with us since the start of the season he’d have scored 20+ goals. Could Nuno improve him? You only have to look at Conor Coady and Matt Doherty for the answer to that question. Is he worth £10m? Easily – and at 25 we’d be certain to get our money back on him if it didn’t work out. Derby, Villa… he’d have a list of suitors.
And yet he somehow doesn’t convince me. I can’t shake the feeling that he’s a top Championship striker who just doesn’t convert to the Premiership. And as has been said, if that’s the case, what’s the point of spending £10m? I think we’ll bring two top strikers in, so I don’t see Afobe as more than 3rd choice. I certainly wouldn’t want to just bring in one top striker, see him get injured early on and have to rely on Afobe.
I’m happy to leave the decision to Nuno and his coaching team. How good to have a manager you can absolutely trust on decisions like this.

Sums it up for me as well - in Nuno we trust.

It could be Afobe is another SEB - a top Championship striker who couldn’t make the extra step up the Premier League (remember we were all confident SEB would step up back in 2009).

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Officially gone.

Right move for me.

 

[Alan]

Bizarre series of events.

 

[machin05]

I'm not hugely comfortable with how we've done business with this. I just hope Adobe was fully aware and happy with the situation.

 

[darlowolf64]

I'm not hugely comfortable with how we've done business with this. I just hope Adobe was fully aware and happy with the situation.

He must have been in on it. He gets two lots of money for signing and there was no photo shoot when he signed