Frustrated fans’ hopes are resting on Lambert’s business in the January transfer window. The latest rumour to surface suggests that Lambert is interested in bringing 20-year-old Simeon Slavchev, dubbed ‘the Bulgarian Lampard’, to B6.
Standing 6 foot 1 inch tall, the Bulgarian midfielder currently plays for PFC Litex Lovech in Bulgaria’s A Grupa and has scored fourteen goals in his twenty-two appearances for the club this season. The promising youngster also won his first international cap against the Czech Republic recently, when he came on as a substitute to make his debut.
He is valued at £875,000, which is a sum Lambert would probably be willing to pay. By all accounts, the young Bulgarian is a solid tackler, has good technique and an ability to control the ball as well as an all-important eye for goal. Take a look at the video below and see what you think:
[youtube height= 500 width= 400]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMEF8TU-lRU[/youtube]
Of course, there is no guarantee that Slavchev would make it in the Premier League but he could offer Villa some much-needed creativity – at a price that’s in keeping with Lambert’s spending to date.
according to http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en he’s primally a DM so could ? provide the muscle missing from midfield
Always dangerous to conclude from Youtube clips but he looks like he has an eye for a forward pass, can tackle (although I’m not sure he would get away with going to ground so often in the EPL) and has a shot on him. Mind you, I have seen the same said of his countryman, Tonev!
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Waste of time! Look how our other Bulgarian Mr Tonev has faired. He’s absolute garbage. In fact PL RL and Faulkner are absolute garbage. Being linked with players just highlights how our levels of ambition have plumeted! Disgraceful. Sell up Lerner or back Lambert with some proper funds for some proper players!
Are we really looking for bargain basement possibles? We need good old fashioned premier league experience. We have probably got someone in the reserves just as good as him. He looks like he can score but premier league is a different ball park to what he is playing in at present. Buy 2 established journeymen who can lead and hold the defence and midfield together. We have the youth, we have the ability all we need is the leadership. At present no one is holding their head up to take command. We need someone like Stan in the middle of the park. Gareth Barry comes to mind but can the fans forgive him? And would Lambert be man enough to ask him.
Agree that PL experience is much more desirable but not convined Lerner will flash the cash and sounds like the sort of player Lambert would buy. Think he was linked with Spurs not so long ago, his name rings a bell anyway. Hopefully its not an alarm bell!!
why oh why does Barry’s name keep getting suggested ? What did actually bring to the club in the way of success apart from getting a lot of plaudits for himself ? All too often when he was on the pitch we had a gaping hole in midfield . Past players are just that — past players unless they bought trophies to the club As for Petrov when he 1st came to Villa he was slated as much as his National team mate is now so maybe people should hold off with their critism and allow new players time to adjust . As for Journeymen was that not what MON tried to run the club with & failed ?
And does a reserve team exist ? seems some of the clubs critics should move out of the past & into the present as the reserve team has been replaced by the U21 squad
Being of a mature age perhaps I do live in the past but it also lets me look at things slightly differently as well. Experience and older age also brings maturity on the pitch. When you are young and the heads go down you need to look up to someone who can lead. As I said before we don’t have that at present. Gareth Barry was an example of maturity, the fans loved him, he had creativity, perhaps he didn’t win anything because he didn’t have the team around him – that’s why he left in the first place! We have players who get established at Villa then bugger off – Milner, Young etc. We need to build something that they want to be part of and stay with. We have some wonderful youngsters at Villa and perhaps my use of the word Reserves was incorrect, but why buy cheap basement players who MAY be okay. Spend the money on 3 experienced players who you know can play and let them help the youngsters establish themselves for the future Villa.
Cheap basement players are what MON bought @ grossly inflated prices , but young/ untried players (in the Prem)from other Leagues are a different proposition and especially if they are already tested @ International level which is what Lambert has mostly been bringing in from the Foreign leagues .
As for leaders they are born not created and some can be good for a club & others not so good . But experience counts for nothing if, as @ the start of last season, those are the heads that go down 1st . But I agree that @ present the team is lacking in leaders who can rally them when they are struggling , but that sort of player is hard to find and even harder to extricate from other clubs clutches
Colin, all I am saying is that in my opinion we need maturity at the back and in the middle of the park. I believe they would probably be better if they were already playing in the EPL and were perhaps redundant to the needs of the club they are playing for at present. Man City, Chelsea etc are always moving players on or they need to be loaned out to get regular football. These players would probably be required for 2 seasons allowing the younger players to grow in experience and maturity around them. Do you honestly think Benteke will want to hang around when he is so down in the dumps? He is not scoring because he is not enjoying his game. He is now under pressure to show how good he was last season. If there was someone holding the team together and pushing them, it would relieve him of that pressure. The only reason Lambert is still playing him is because he is scared he will want to go. How must Helenius be feeling not getting a regular game. In my opinion at present we have too many individuals and no real teamwork. Being in Western Australia I don’t have the luxury of being able to go to Villa Park but I am still extremely passionate about the team and how they perform. I enjoyed your article and taking part in it.
the idea that maturity brings experience is not born out by the German model which Lambert is very familiar with !
As for the Benteke excuse that’s not supported by the real evidence , which is that the player has been injured & is over eager to go to Rio next summer . Moving club will hardly support his aim .
As for the team /squad ,of course there are times when it seems disjointed as Lambert is trying to integrate all the new player and formulate tactics best suited to the opposition & more importantly . But it would seem injuries are thwarting those plans , as even last Sundays team was not the one PL foresaw using on the Saturday morning !
This player looks like exactly the kind of player we need, I just question the level of quality he has. I’m not claiming to be a Bulgarian scout but I know that their league isn’t the greatest. I would rather see him do that in the championship because at least we’d know what level he’s at.
If we only bring in one player this January please let it be Scott Parker. I know he’s just recently moved but Fulham aren’t doing well at all, and I can’t imagine at his age he would cost too much.
Totally agree with you. A fantastic player who has the type of attitude and leadership required. All we need then is a good left back who has some speed and good decision making. Everything else should gradually fall into place.
Its the back line and central midfield we need to improve. The likes of Tonev, Kozac, Baker, Clark, Bacuna, and possibly El Ahmadi should be shipped out or dropped to the reserves because that is about their level. Lambert’s experiment / plan has backfired big time. AVFC are going backwards. Learner should sell up, he has lost interest in his little plaything now.
Experiment ? what experiment might that be ? Lambert is building a squad from the ground upwards but given that some of the critics have not even realised that there no longer is a reserve team , as there is no longer a league for them to play in, as it has been replaced by a U21 league, perhaps there understanding of what is happening @ Villa is a little stunted .
As for Lerner losing interest where did you learn that little gem from I wonder , the manual on how to sabotage a footie club? As Randy may nolonger sit in the stand so his critics can hurl abuse @ him , but that’s not to say that he does not take an interest in the club , and how the team trains when he fly’s into Brum in his private Jet !
You know exactly what i mean by experiment. His idea that you can build a new team on this scale and low budget whilst trying to COMPETE in the premiership is farcical. If not, ALL clubs would be doing the same wouldn’t they ?. I was fully behind PL up until we were outplayed by the mighty Fulham. That’s when my attitude changed. You are welcome to your opinions as I am with mine, that’s what healthy debate is all about. As it goes I don’t relish the idea of another season fighting relegation. Reserve team / bench warmers, call them what you will, half of the current ”first team” are just not good enough. If you have the opposite opinion, then sorry pal, your in the minority.
Seems there are more than a few fans with cracked crystal ball with can instantly tell them which players will make the grade and which will not ! Very few players instantly adjusted to playing even fans hero Benteke had such fans crying out in anger @ his purchase only to change their minds a few weeks later when he started banging in the goals & thus it is this season . And with all the summer signings I for one was not expecting Villa to storm to the top of the league this season . In fact Villa are where I roughly expected them to be as PL switched the changes to get the best out of the squad . Unfortuneately the injuries seem to have hampered that & it would seem he has had to mix & match to cover for gaps in the squad with some being forced to play out of position . But I envisage this season to mirror last but with a higher place finish
At the end of the day, its all about expectation isn’t it? We expect that before any transfer goes ahead, the player in question has been closely followed and scrutinized. We expect and trust that Villa’s scouts are up to the task of recommending the right candidate. In Kozac and Tonev it looks like they got it completely wrong, although in Tonev, I hope that coaching will see us getting the best from him because from what Ive seen, cutting inside and putting the ball in row Z is not what he was brought here for. In Hellanius, well we haven’t seen enough of him, and why PL prefers him to Kozac every time puzzles me. Okore looked good up until his injury. Other clubs seem to find players either from here or abroad who settle in seamlessly, as did Benteke, but unfortunately we don’t seem able to find this with our signings. So no crystal ball needed – just TRUST
well if one expects the impossible undoubtedly one will be disapointed . But that is not helped by a faulty memory or a lack of knowledge as only a few players will be able to slot seamlessly into a new team & some from foreign leagues take a season or more. , and even Benteke took several months before he gained his “hero” status & not before some fans were complaining about his purchase . As for Tonev his mentor Petrov took over a year to be accepted so there’s still plenty of time for him to revea his ability