Taylor Harwood-Bellis

[tdmickey3]

11 minutes ago, saintant said:

Will we sign another centre back for decent money or was Schlotterbeck THB's replacement?

They said schlotterbeck was not his replacement so if that’s true, time is short so need to get a shift on

[CB Fry]

100%. Has earned the move. He did everything he could to get us there last season. 

Decent money in the end as well.

Good luck THB.

[SNSUN]

14 minutes ago, saintant said:

Will we sign another centre back for decent money or was Schlotterbeck THB's replacement?

Not signing another would leave us 3 CBs which is not enough for a whole season. With Quarshie also gone, we clearly need another. If it isn't Falchener then I hope we have a contingency plan lined up. 

[Swaythling Saint]

Good to get this done and looks like we are stepping up efforts to get Falchener in 

[Hawkswood]

8 minutes ago, Charlie Wayman said:

Bugger!

No its fine. He was always going and we've got a good fee for him plus have enough time and money to get someone else in who is hopefully better.  Its a good sale all round.

[suewhistle]

"breakthrough in talks today" according to the journalist. Otherwise known as  'making an offer considerably nearer the asking price so that it would be taken seriously'..  

[hypochondriac]

20 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

100%. Has earned the move. He did everything he could to get us there last season. 

Decent money in the end as well.

Good luck THB.

Quite likely he would have gone even if we had got promoted.

[The Kraken]

Good luck to him. Big part of getting promoted the first time and getting us to the playoffs last time. I think he’ll do well and it won’t be too long until we see him getting another England call up.

[IOWSaintDaz]

Hopefully we have Henrik Falchener from Viking lined up as the replacement before Tuesday. THB was always going to go to a prem club with Champions League football, just hope the price Villa paid is good enough

[S-Clarke]

Have no gripes with THB, he earned the move. Gave us a good innings, didn't have the best of times in the PL, but a class above at this level.

Will be a huge loss, both in leadership terms and his goals....he was a real threat from the back. Let's hope someone else can replace his goals...although going by his miss against Watford, maybe he'd lost his touch!

Good servant for us though, leaves with my best wishes and will be watching his career with interest.

[benjii]

43 minutes ago, suewhistle said:

"breakthrough in talks today" according to the journalist. Otherwise known as  'making an offer considerably nearer the asking price so that it would be taken seriously'..  

Yeah, it's not like we are negotiating over a bunch of offshore oil rigs, it's a bloomin footballer. 

[Cuddles]

Someone on the villa forum is complaining that he's overweight, like wtf 😂😂

[Dan Johnson]

Gutted to see him go.

At 43 I’m probably too old to have “Favourite” players, but THB has been my favourite over the last few years. His attitude, leadership and ability has been first class.

if we’d have gone up, maybe he’d have signed a new deal and be our captain but in reality, even if we had, a move to a Champions league club was inevitable.

As others have said, he’s earned his move, we were lucky to have kept him last season.

all the best THB. 

[Cuddles]

I still remembering Uncle Russ announcing THB's permanant signing at the promotion party, seems like yesterday 😭

[LiberalCommunist]

The King is dead, long live the King.

[RedArmy]

1 hour ago, Football Special said:

Should have been a minimum £30M in my opinion , not enough 

Should have been I agree but when they started the bidding so low and Taylor clearly expressed his desire to go (to the point he was out of the squad entirely) then £25m + 5m was always going to be the number. 
Fair play for the club for holding out for it, because they tried their hardest to not pay it. 

[AlexLaw76]

Cracking player and leader. Decent with the ball at his feet. Will have a very decent Premier League career from now on IMO. 

Fair play to him for this move. Hope we get someone decent in as a replacement.

[WinglessWonder]

He is a talented player and a leader on the pitch but once his head was turned it was inevitable that he was going and I'd rather that than have him playing half-arsed this season. Hopefully his replacement will be a decent one and we can continue the feel-good factor that seemed to grow exponentially yesterday. 

[Harry_SFC]

It's a shame that his last (non) contribution was to miss an absolute sitter from 6 yards to get us a point at Watford. 

[bpsaint]

Gutted to see him go, would loved to have seen him given the captaincy this season and give us one more season. Is he ready for the step up to a club like Villa? Not too sure personally.

Edited 17 hours ago by bpsaint

[Lighthouse]

Good luck to him. I always assumed he was one of those we'd be selling in this window, along with Charles, so I can't get particularly upset about it, although it is a shame to lose a player of his ability.

[goodymatt]

 

[goodymatt]

No suggestions of any sell on clause to be included?

[goodymatt]

 

[Charlie Wayman]

16 minutes ago, goodymatt said:

No suggestions of any sell on clause to be included?

These are only heads up from reporters. I would have thought it to be standard practice in contracts these days to include a sell-on clause, certainly for younger players. It would be very naive to leave it out. 

[Miltonaggro]

2 hours ago, Cuddles said:

Someone on the villa forum is complaining that he's overweight, like wtf 😂😂

Welcome to Aston Villa, and Champions League levels of supporter nonsense. All the best THB!

[Saint86]

9 hours ago, Miltonaggro said:

Welcome to Aston Villa, and Champions League levels of supporter nonsense. All the best THB!

Personally think it's a bad move for him (but he deserves the chance), I just don't think he's good enough for the level of villa expectations I'm afraid - and on top of that, I fear they could be in for a shit show season - huge squad turnover and unrest, awful first game, and expectations of champions league footy again next year and a tilt at some more silverware. The reality is that villa are desperate, which will likely end in tears for all the players they end up signing.

Edited 6 hours ago by Saint86

[macca155]

Good luck to him, it's a brave move, Villa are in a bit of free fall at the moment, but he's earnt it. Gave his all, you can't ask any more of a player.

Interesting to see his replacement, if one arrives.

[goodymatt]

Villa spending £159m on THB, Jackson and Garnacho… If I was a Vila fan I’m not sure given their sales that I would be happy with that. 

[Dr Who?]

Villa have peaked. 

[Patrick Bateman]

Sad to see THB leave Saints, I hope it works out for him

[Mick_Channon]

THB has refused to play for a couple of weeks now.

[CSA96]

Was interesting to read in David Ornstein's report that Unai Emery has been the driving force behind this move. Emery particularly wanted THB as the first option to replace Konsa and drove it on the Villa side to get them to come back and offer the asking price. He's been a great developmental coach for a lot of players. I think THB has it in him to find another gear and it'll be interesting to see if Emery gets him there

'Unai Emery is an admirer of Harwood-Bellis and was his preferred option to replace Ezri Konsa due to some distinct strengths. Emery drove a move for the central defender.'

[St Chalet]

Sad to see him go, have to hope his replacement is not too much of a downgrade and maybe his sale frees up some more purchases.

[leeham_69]

look forward to welcoming him back in 3 years!

 

[Sheaf Saint]

Expected him to go this summer. Naively started to think maybe we might be able to keep hold of him after all when Villa's offers were so far below our asking price, but I guess it was inevitable they would finally match it.

Just wish it could have been sorted quicker so we could have signed a replacement earlier, rather than have to go into the season with him still our player but unavailable to play. But that's a more general gripe I have with the overlap of the transfer window and the start of the season. I wish the FA would address that so clubs don't have to be put in this position in future.

Good luck Taylor. Thanks for your efforts at Saints.

[Patches O Houlihan]

6 hours ago, CSA96 said:

Was interesting to read in David Ornstein's report that Unai Emery has been the driving force behind this move. Emery particularly wanted THB as the first option to replace Konsa and drove it on the Villa side to get them to come back and offer the asking price. He's been a great developmental coach for a lot of players. I think THB has it in him to find another gear and it'll be interesting to see if Emery gets him there

'Unai Emery is an admirer of Harwood-Bellis and was his preferred option to replace Ezri Konsa due to some distinct strengths. Emery drove a move for the central defender.'

Bearing in mind THB’s history of captaining ‘England Under’ teams, England fans could really do with Emery bringing him to the next level.

If I was a Villa fan I’d be worried. If I was THB I’d be thinking “well at least I’ll get a proper chance”. Villa don’t have time or funds to sign big names above him in the pecking order. 

Best of luck THB. One of the most gutting things about being booted out of the playoffs was knowing that the team we’d loved watching for six months would be broken up. 

Edited 6 hours ago by Patches O Houlihan

[Saint NL]

32 minutes ago, leeham_69 said:

look forward to welcoming him back in 3 years!

 

He'll only be 27 then!

I think we'll see him when he's 32 

[saintant]

38 minutes ago, Sheaf Saint said:

Expected him to go this summer. Naively started to think maybe we might be able to keep hold of him after all when Villa's offers were so far below our asking price, but I guess it was inevitable they would finally match it.

Just wish it could have been sorted quicker so we could have signed a replacement earlier, rather than have to go into the season with him still our player but unavailable to play. But that's a more general gripe I have with the overlap of the transfer window and the start of the season. I wish the FA would address that so clubs don't have to be put in this position in future.

Good luck Taylor. Thanks for your efforts at Saints.

Didn't really affect us much considering we lost the one match he played in and won the two he missed. He was never going to play in the West Ham cup game.

[Willo of Whiteley]

10 hours ago, Mick_Channon said:

THB has refused to play for a couple of weeks now.

You're the only one saying he has refused to play.

I wouldn't pick someone to play if their mind was elsewhere... Tonda didn't select him.

[tdmickey3]

Too cheap IMO
Should have held out for 30 plus add ins

Now we have to get a move on and fill the gap.

[Tamesaint]

Shame to see him go but he hadn't got injured at Everton in the final match of the 2024/ 25 season I think he would have been sold last summer.

[Matthew Le God]

17 minutes ago, Tamesaint said:

Shame to see him go but he hadn't got injured at Everton in the final match of the 2024/ 25 season I think he would have been sold last summer.

He was playing for Saints in competitive games in early August 2025, how did that injury stop him being sold?

[Sheaf Saint]

4 hours ago, saintant said:

Didn't really affect us much considering we lost the one match he played in and won the two he missed. He was never going to play in the West Ham cup game.

Yeah true, but it still limits options when you have a player on your books who you can't select to play or afford to replace until he's gone. I firmly believe the transfer window should close before the season starts to stop this happening.

[saintant]

2 minutes ago, Sheaf Saint said:

Yeah true, but it still limits options when you have a player on your books who you can't select to play or afford to replace until he's gone. I firmly believe the transfer window should close before the season starts to stop this happening.

I think most sensible people would agree with you on that. Never heard anyone explain logically why the window can't be set up to close before the first game although I get that the Premier League starts a week later than the EFL.

[Gloucester Saint]

13 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

He was playing for Saints in competitive games in early August 2025, how did that injury stop him being sold?

He was miles off fully fit, and wasn’t until well into the autumn. 

[Chez]

hope he gets enough games that we get the extra £5m. 

[Matthew Le God]

10 minutes ago, saintant said:

I think most sensible people would agree with you on that. Never heard anyone explain logically why the window can't be set up to close before the first game although I get that the Premier League starts a week later than the EFL.

 

Because England isn't the only league system in Europe. Different leagues have different start dates for the season. An earlier close for the English window screws clubs when competing with other leagues (which already happens to some extent but this would exacerbate it).

[saintant]

1 minute ago, Matthew Le God said:

 

Because England isn't the only league system in Europe. Different leagues have different start dates for the season. An earlier close for the English window screws clubs when competing with other leagues (which already happens to some extent but this would exacerbate it).

I guess it's swings and roundabouts - no system can be perfect with differing start dates. Personally I think our window should close before the season starts so it's then up to all clubs to get their business done within the time. Not ideal but neither is starting games while the window remains open.

[Saint Marky]

Was really hoping he would stay, as he was integral to the fantastic run we achieved. My only concern with him (and this will probably come back to haunt me) is that I think he will struggle with the ubiquitous big/strong and pacy forwards in the prem. From memory the home game against Wrexham and Keiffer Moore, to me was an example of this.