Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd

Found this on an Irish website. Ron Vlaar was hot property last summer having had a good World Cup. However, he was never that big of a superstar at Aston Villa and his under-par 2014/15 season only proved that. Vlaar lost the Captain's arm band when Paul Lambert was sacked in February and Tim Sherwood came in to rescue the club's season. But, whilst some of the Villa Park faithful would testify that their centre back was never what the hype and paper talk suggested, even the most cynical wouldn't have expected these sort of stats. Opta stats from Oulala.com show just how ineffective the Netherlands international was last season. He averaged 0.55 tackles per game in the Premier League. That's right: Ron Vlaar was making a tackle every two games for Villa in the league. His stats were that shocking that even Mario Balotelli was winning more tackles per game. Raheem Sterling too. Vlaar is now a free agent, his contract having expired, but, with form like this, he might not have a crowd of clubs lining up for his signature

Exactly! Maybe a useful player with a bit of experience who could play in Carling Cup games alongside someone like Gardos and give Fonte a rest.

Just found this piece on Vlaar on an Irish website. :-/ Ron Vlaar was hot property last summer having had a good World Cup. However, he was never that big of a superstar at Aston Villa and his under-par 2014/15 season only proved that. Vlaar lost the Captain's arm band when Paul Lambert was sacked in February and Tim Sherwood came in to rescue the club's season. But, whilst some of the Villa Park faithful would testify that their centre back was never what the hype and paper talk suggested, even the most cynical wouldn't have expected these sort of stats. Opta stats from Oulala.com show just how ineffective the Netherlands international was last season. He averaged 0.55 tackles per game in the Premier League. That's right: Ron Vlaar was making a tackle every two games for Villa in the league. His stats were that shocking that even Mario Balotelli was winning more tackles per game. Raheem Sterling too. Vlaar is now a free agent, his contract having expired, but, with form like this, he might not have a crowd of clubs lining up for his signature.

Superb! I'm on holiday in Holland when we play. Just need to sort tickets and transport from Bergen Op Zoom.

Exactly! I'm actually intrigued as to what is meant by 'Dont try this new persona crap youve got going on'? But I certainly won't be losing any sleep over it. For some reason I became the target of his abuse a few years ago. I've just added him to my ignore list. If he doesn't like what I've got to say then maybe he should do the same?

People with long memories will also remember that you spent months accusing me of being a skate. How did if feel being proved wrong? Who's hiding behind a keyboard? As I've said before, if you want to meet face to face to discuss this I'm more than happy. C***y!

I think it was about the same time you became a complete ****!

I was talking to him at a friendly here in Ireland last night. MK Dons were playing my local team Cabinteely. I asked him how he knew so much and he said 'I'm still in regular contact with the lads. I've only just moved out of my apartment in Southampton'. He's currently staying with family in Coventry. His grandparents and cousins live there. He and commutes to MK. When the travelling gets too much the club put him up in the hotel that's built into Stadium MK.

We'll really struggle to replace Toby but Van Dijk looks like a great option. I reckon there'll be a few Prem clubs in for him. Sunderland and Newcastle are already being linked. Interesting talking to Cody Cropper last night about the Toby deal. He reckons that Toby definitely wanted to sign for us and that Les Reed's comments about the player preferring Spurs over Saints was the easy option to tell the fans. The stumbling block was that Saints were being asked to pay more money than originally agreed in the form of paying up the remainder of his contract at AM. We weren't prepared to do that and Spurs were. I questioned why we'd gone back with a vastly improved offer if we weren't happy about paying more than agreed and he said, Koeman really wanted him but it was too late as Spurs had already agreed to AM's demands. He talked openly about the way Southampton work and how thorough they are in transfer dealings. He said, Nothing ever happens quickly at Southampton because they are a very cautious club. They've been caught out in the past so won't just buy players to add depth to the squad. They want to know everything about who they're signing, their past, their personal life, everything. This led on to a discussion about Artur and Dani. He said there's no doubt about Artur's ability but he's a complete headcase. His mentality just didn't fit with what the club are trying to achieve. When I said 'I guess it's the same with Dani' he just shook his head and said 'He was just a lunatic, he had to go'.

I'm not convinced that Lovren or Lallana have bettered themselves by leaving.

Ha ha ha. The sarcastic, 'First time for everything' comment would suggest otherwise. I didn't know how to pronounce his name, that's why I asked someone who's Dutch. ;-)

Cropper said exactly that. His words were, 'Mauricio was running things then and he felt we had too many similar young players. He always had plans to bring in more established names'. Reeves came on in the 2nd half. He changed the game. Great work rate and some superb deliveries from set pieces. Said he was sad to leave as he'd been at Saints since he was 9. Now lives in MK and is enjoying being there. I asked if he was still in touch with many people at Saints and he laughed and said 'I would be but they keep selling everyone'.

WTF is that supposed to mean? I've never made bold claims about being ITK. I've simply passed on snippets of info where possible. It's your choice if you choose to believe them of not. Tonight I was at a friendly in Ireland between Cabinteely and MK Dons. I spoke to Ben Reeves and Cody Cropper. Cody talked openly about players who've moved on. I asked about Jack Cork and he said that Saints offered to double his wages and were very keen to keep him. He actually went to Swansea for lower wages than Saints had offered because they guaranteed first team football. I realise this isn't breaking news but all I'm doing is passing on things that may be of interest. I'm sure you'd do the same?

Watched Ben Reeves tonight. He played most of the second half for MK Dons. Great player who was at the centre of everything. Reminded me of JWP with his deliveries. Cody Cropper was saying that he thinks he's as equally gifted as Lallana and JWP. Be interesting to see if he ever makes the step back up to a Prem team.

The Mrs is Dutch. She says it's Clar-sy

£7m seems like a great price. Now let's get the defence strengthened.

In other news. I'm currently watching Cabinteeley v MK Dons. Just had a good chat with Ben Reeves and Cody Cropper. Some great Artur stories from Cody. Also interesting to hear how much effort went into trying to keep Jack Cork!

Seriously, do I really need to put a ;-) every time I make a tongue-in-cheek comment.

I wouldn't have described him as box-to-box but at least his post was positive and upbeat. :-)

At least some people on here are capable of making a comment that isn't sarcastic or insulting.

No. I'm just amazed at the number of experts we have on here, most of whom have probably never seen Clasie kick a ball.

And you're certain that Clasie is???

£7m? £8m? £10m? Should've just kept Jack Cork.

The Dutch press seem to think we are but that could just be speculation as RK has expressed an interest in the past.

I think this is far from done. I'm half expecting Spurs to come in with a late bid. I know he's said he wants CL football but stranger things have happened.