Apparently it’s not so much a rumor as an acknowledged fact that Paul Lambert is interested in bringing Hiroshi Kiyotake to Villa Park from Nuremberg. It’s said (I wasn’t there, of course) that Lambert acknowledged making an enquiry for the player earlier in the window when asked about it during the supporter Q&A held yesterday.

The press are throwing around £10m as the asking price for the Japanese international attacking midfielder.

The real question seems to be on exactly what is the deal dependent. Which is to say, how much of the Bomb Squad has to be moved first, if any at all?

Most of us are under the assumption that a higher-priced player like Kiyotake can only come in after some wages have been cleared off the books. That usually seems to point to Darren Bent, Shay Given, and Stephen Ireland, who are tying up the bulk of the wages being paid to players on the outs.

Seems a reasonably fair assumption to me.

And naturally, there’ll be a bit of gamesmanship going on because it suits everyone else’s interests in some way or another for all of this to go down to the wire.

It’s clearly a buyer’s market for Bent, although Villa obviously will want as much as they can get for him to help offset the inevitable payout it will take to make up his wages, get him onto someone else’s books and away from the local parks.

Crystal Palace’s interest, along with Martin Jol’s at Fulham, and maybe Newcastle’s, could help Villa get what they’re looking for and make this happen.

And clearly, if Villa need to get a deal done to sign Kiyotake, that’s something of which Nuremberg will be very well aware.

So, we’ll see what happens.

But, this all does seem to answer whether Lambert is interested in bringing anyone else in, and what price points/experience levels he’s willing to reach for.

Personally, I think this is exactly the sort of acquisition that would make us a better team, lots of energy and application, good competition for that key spot, still young, still good value. It says that Lambert understands Karim el Ahmadi and Fabian Delph probably aren’t the long-term answers he’s looking for. Just like he brought in competition for Joe Bennett, but not Matt Lowton. Just like he brought in competition for Vlaar, Baker and Clark.

In short, if you think you’ve seen shortcomings, Paul Lambert isn’t above seeing the same things. He’s happy to keep upgrading. And that bodes very well. That’s not a sign of arrogance or stubbornness.

Beyond that, I’m encouraged by the trend in the preseason. Whatever the competition, 12-1 in three games isn’t a bad return at all. Two of those meaningless clean sheets on the trot. Benteke and Weimann scoring and seemingly underlining their developing rapport and partnership.

I’ve watched Chelsea’s last two games, and they look to be for real. Arsenal and Liverpool? Haven’t had a chance to see them yet over here. United have looked lackluster, but that kind of preseason means nothing to them, and they’ve been traveling a lot. Chelsea are just seriously deep.

There are points we might hope to grab in that opening stretch, but likely not from them.

Whatever happens, it won’t make or break the season.

So, it’s been a tumultuous time for me over here the last few days…that’s about all I’ve got to say when it comes to football for now.

Other than that I still think Paul Lambert knows what he’s doing. When I see people now wondering about how long we’ll be able to hold onto Lowton, well…

I couldn’t leave you without something to disagree with. Right, I’m off for another Denver Pale Ale. Mainly because my son stole the last IPA. But that’s okay. He’s off to college in two weeks, and will have to pay for his own beer then.

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