Spoke to my Villa mate last night. He said to me they wouldn't be where they are today if Lange had stayed, and that the "it's Lange who signed x, y and z" is a myth, that Lange was just a pen pusher stuck behind his data screen while others actually did the real work and actually ignored most the names he'd bring forward. Villa fans are buzzing he's gone and laughing at us for thinking we'd signed the new scouting superstar.
It does seem like their biggest successes over his period were players that were more likely down to existing UK connections (Dean Smith knew Watkins, Cash from the Championship, for example) rather than down to Lange.
And there were quite a few shockers over his time there: Danny Ings, Coutinho, Dendonker, Bailey, Diego Carlos, Bertand Traore - a lot of middling/poor players that cost decent money and are no longer at the club.
The one really impressive signing that looks like a Lange one is Duran who they bought from the MLS and made a killing on to Saudi. Kinda reminiscent of the Bergvall deal for us.
My sense is he's probably an alright data guy and might pick out the odd decent youngster, but he's rubbish at actually building a functional team. He dropped a colossal bollock the summer before last - basically the only window where he was the main man at Spurs - and needs to be replaced. I'm sure Levy hamstrung him financially, but it was, quite simply, poor squadbuilding.
Bringing in three teenagers from Burnley, Leeds and the Danish league and Dom Solanke to replace like 6 experienced players in a season where we had Europe was fucking absurd on reflection. Putting that much expectation on Gray, Bergvall and Odobert was just madness and it's a big part of why we did so poorly last year.
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