Villa In £12m Upson Bid?

If we got Upson, I feel the tone of the articles / comments would take a serious U-turn! He'd be an ace signing - defence is definitely our weakest area.

Would be a great signing. He's a left footer isn't he?

Royalvilla - are you Prince Wills?

Agreed - a good acquisition if it comes off. Then watch Gianfranco go and buy 2-3 nippy Italian wingers for the money he'll get..

Agreed - a good acquisition if it comes off. Then watch Gianfranco go and buy 2-3 nippy Italian wingers for the money he'll get..

Come on, let this happen, Upson is just the sort of quality we've been hoping for.

Anyone think this means we've given up on Distin?

He's alright. £12 million for a 30 year old though...

Seems expensive for a 30 year old. Though agreed he's just what we need. Not sure Wet Spam will do business though.

The spanners are dying for cash aren't they?

He pratically came out and said that he was leaving to ease the financial problems at West Ham earlier in the week! Great signing, if we can pull it out the bag!

bring him in ,, perfect signing for laursen.

bring him in ,, perfect signing for laursen.

Agreed, Upson would certainly lift everyone's spirits, hope it's not the usual paper/web talk nonsense.

£12 million for an experienced current England international , sounds like good business to me

sky are usually fairly accurate when they mention bids being made, so hopefully this is true, be a decent one and no reason why Distin couldn't also still arrive!

You can't seriously compare Upson to Laursen?! Not a patch on the Dane...

I hope this is true & that we get him. He's a good centre half who's also left footed & would slot in quite comfortably, and by that I mean no settling in period as such.....12 Mil, who cares & lets be honest in this day & age that aint to bad & its 12 mil that would make a huge difference to our team. He is an international player & 30 now days for a centre half means we'll get a few good years out of him yet barring serious injury....Up the villa...

I hope this is true & that we get him. He's a good centre half who's also left footed & would slot in quite comfortably, and by that I mean no settling in period as such.....12 Mil, who cares & lets be honest in this day & age that aint to bad & its 12 mil that would make a huge difference to our team. He is an international player & 30 now days for a centre half means we'll get a few good years out of him yet barring serious injury....Up the villa...

Whenever he has stepped in for rio or john terry he has looked just as good,He should of been our number 1 target after we lost laursen,GO ALL OUT TO GET HIM.Upson is better than laursen,One good season and all of a sudden laursen is some kind of legend.

get him, also get distin and we have good options at the back. swap shorey for warnock + cash and I am a happier villain. I still have concerns though.

Will he be interested as it doesn't look like he was MON's first choice?

He may have been MON's first choice, but Upson may have been holding out for the $$$$ of Man city to come sniffing - I think they are going to end up with Lescott though. Perhaps thats why its taken this long for us to put in an official bid.

would be a great signing yes please

Upson is a start, but why are we not moving for a Van Der Vaart? We no doubt need the central defense, but we could also use a central midfield that can put the quality ball in. We need the link up between the back 4 and our forwards as I am sick of watching endless long balls that go right back into our opponents possession. Upson, yes please, but we also need a quality central midfielder.

In terms of whether he was first choice, maybe MON has waited until Man City seem to have Lescott pretty much looking sorted to avoid being blown out with silly money.

I think Upson would be a fantastic signing. I know this is a bit cheeky but if it falls through. Why not go for Lescott? His head has been turned, and wants to go, and who knows if we bid, Everton might fancy selling him to us to spite Citeh. He is from brum and still has family there so he might consider it

imo signing upson then someone like van der vaart is great but does it take us up past last season or get us back to the same level?

i doubt we will go after vdv just dont see mon going for him tbf i didnt think we would get anyone in b4 the end of transer window, my faith in mon is shaken and will judge him after the window is shut

Wow. Plenty of praise for Upson, maybe I'm wrong to think he's merely average.

can't see upson wanting to come after all the homophobic abuse he gets from the holte end

yeah, I think it would be a good signing, but it isn't enough though. Need another too...

sorry guys another one dites the dust....wm reported that mon said himself that there was no truth in it whatsoever. although he did say he was a world class defender?

whats wm?

skysports only ever seem to put up definitie offers and signings - so I thinkk this one might actually be true ... MON finally getting some action!

BBC radio WM (west midlands)

Decent defender (though he will struggle, like any other defender would, given the non-existent cover our midfield offers), but is a little injury prone. And let's get this right, £12m for a guy who's two years older than Gareth Barry (if we get him for that kind of money; who's to say that Everton won't see him as a replacement for Lescott, thereby pushing the price up still further)?? It shows how desperate those Villa fans are that are wetting themselves at the prospect of such a signing. It also shows that there is either plenty of money to spend at Villa Park (as indeed the Downing signing indicated - and I still can't believe he's now a Villa player), and therefore O'Neill has zero excuse not for getting in replacements sooner, or that O'Neill has no coherent transfer strategy whatsoever - or if he does have a strategy, that this startegy stinks. Whichever way you spin this, everything points towards O'Neill being not fit for purpose. Martin O'Neill? More like Muggins O'Neill.

At the moment Albarnista I would take him as our defence isn't good enough period! You don't like MON we get that so don't spin any debate into a MON hate campaign. Give him a chance as we are not the only club out there in for players and if you are taking quality (Upson not sure on IMHO but better than Davies currently) then it may go to the wire of the window to be able to get this type of quality. I also actually think that we do have the funds but MON does love his bargains doesn't he. For me though I am absolutely gutted that we did not get Bent! Gabby isn't a forward or a poacher, he is an impact player at best who offers another angle coming in from the flanks at pace to disrupt a tired defence but not a player I would start or expect goals from as a proven CF he isn't. Owen, Bent, Cruz, Defoe, Wagner Love or Jo even on loan would have given us a goalscorer who would have given us goals. Please sell Heskey and get us a proven goalscorer Mr O'Neill! The youth coming through is a bonus but we can't pretend that these young inexperienced kids will get us into Europe or withstand a heavy season in the best league in the world. If ever there was a time for a big impact signing then now is definately the time. To bolster the squad, to give the fans some hope as well as the dressing room, to show our intent and most importantly give us a hope of finishing anywhere near the top four. As currently I fear that we will fade even quicker than last season and a top ten finish is looking iffy! I'm not doom and gloom but frustrated at feeling we have lost two of the best players in their position not just at our club but at international level and no bugger at the club seems to have a clue as to how we go about replacing those huge holes. MON is the man for me but he is testing my faith I must say. If we fail to bring in quality then he could lose my support as AVFC manager and I hope that it doesn't come to that! Grrrr.

and breathe.

Haha... Guess I'm confused. I'm excited that we might bring in a good quality centre half (never been a fan but he is decent). Yet for the price, I would expect someone who potentially might push a top 4 club for a spot in their side. And I'm certain that Upson isn't good enough for a top 4 side. But again, a signing is a signing :P

Upson for 12m or Hangeland for 15-18m? Either way, it's looking like Cuellar and Davies are coming up short with what is required at this level.

holte ender 1969, the only difference between you and me is that in my view O'Neill has already had his chance, and blown it. You are more generous. I don't believe O'Neill is deserving of the staunch support you and otehrs continue to give him. Still, it bodes well for when we have a manager capable of doing the job required at Villa Park, that there are so many willing to give a manager time. I too am a believer in giving a manager time. I just feel that O'Neill has had enough time to give us an indication of where we're headed under him, and where we're going, I don't want to follow!

Thank god for that albarnista, please stop following!! I just don't understand people who want a manager of teh football club to fail?? Just because he hasn't signed a couple of players yet doesn't detract from the job he has done over the last 3 years, some of you are just unbelievable!!

albarnista, spot on about midfield cover. we need to get that sorted next so the defenders arent bombarded with wave after wave of attack. not sure upson will come to us over man city if they go for him given the stick he's got at the villa every time he's played. when 25,000 people chant what they have done at him VP probably doesnt hold his fondest memories.

holte ender 1969: "and breathe"....... LOL. Like that, good old post before it as well!

I'd be happy with Upson being signed, not sure 12 mill is a good price though. Rumours that Distin is still Villa-bound, anyone know if they're true or not ?

Agree with most views "Bad business - great signing!". £12 million leaves NO sell on value for a 30-year old! He's a short-term investment - max first team player for 3 years if we're/ he's lucky and doesn't get injured! Distin was talked about in the region of £2.5m and he's JUST 2 years older than Upson. Bad business - great signing!

NO no no no no. £12m on a 21/22 year old yes. On an average 30 year old who we have booed and jeered (and much worse) on his every visit to VP . . . . . . . . . . no no and thrice no. Players being traded like cars at the moment. And would you buy the equivalent of a 10 year old Vauhall Cavalier with average mileage for the price of a new Vauxhall Insignia. The only reason it has average miles is because it keeps breaking down . . . . . and it will not get any better as it gets older. We need centre halfs but we are surely not that desperate.

Can i just ask all you calling for MON's head, have you all forgotten we finished 16th 4 seasons ago? Under MON, we then finished 11th? Under MON, we then finished 6th for 2 consecutive seasons & flirted with champions league? Yes, we faded towards the end of last season, and OK, we have had 2 bad games, but surely the guy deserves some time to bring it round? Fickle? bloody joke!