While Aston Villa are expected to be active in the remaining days of the January transfer window, exits are possible as well as further incomings.
Villa boss Unai Emery has begun moulding the squad into his own, with several departures already confirmed while Alex Moreno and Jhon Duran have arrived to strengthen the group.
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With just a few days left, it remains to be seen if the club can bring in further reinforcements that improve the current squad at Emery’s disposal, but there is certainly still the possibility of others leaving.
Augustinsson likely to move on?
Speaking last week, Emery confirmed that the door is open for Ludwig Augustinsson to cut short his loan stint from Sevilla and move on, and particularly after Lucas Digne was spotted back in group training this week after suffering an injury, it seems as though Augustinsson’s exit could now speed up with Villa having options in that role without him.
“I spoke with Augustinsson, and after we signed Alex Moreno, I want two players in this position and it’s Alex Moreno and Lucas Digne,” Emery told the media at his pre-Southampton press conference. “He [Augustinsson] is still here but I think in his mind as well is to leave.”
The concern was that Digne could be ruled out for a significant period of time, and so Augustinsson would then be needed as cover for Moreno. However, there is no real need to have three options in one position, and so an exit would surely make sense for all concerned.
Nakamba the last midfield departure
Elsewhere, the Villa boss also openly conceded that he was prepared to trim the squad in midfield, with both Morgan Sanson and Marvelous Nakamba allowed to move on. While Sanson has since departed to join Strasbourg on loan for the rest of the season, time will tell if Nakamba follows suit.
“Nakamba and Sanson have the possibility to leave,” Emery added. “If they leave, the idea is to maybe add one more player as a midfielder.”
Should the Zimbabwe international find a solution elsewhere, that should then spark Villa into action on the transfer market ourselves to fill that void with an incoming signing as per Emery, which is in contrast to the situation detailed above regarding the left-back depth.
Nakamba hasn’t played for a significant amount of time now though as he fell out of favour under former boss Steven Gerrard too, and so time will tell if the interest is there or not as it could potentially be a struggle to move him on.
Chambers exit could leave us light in defence
As per the Daily Mail, it has also been suggested that Villa will listen to offers for Calum Chambers, and so similarly to Nakamba, it remains to be seen if interested parties come forward and open discussions over a possible move.
That said, this is also an area of the squad that is thin. Tyrone Mings and Ezri Konsa will continue as the first-choice centre-half pairing, while Diego Carlos is expected back from injury next month. Beyond that though, we’re lacking in depth, and so it could either be a risk to stick with what we’ve got, or we may well have to add another centre-back before the deadline too.
The issue Villa surely now face though is that if we do approve of these exits late in the window, it could leave us scrambling to find options to bolster the squad and add depth to replace what we’ve lost, in addition to the signings that Emery may well want as a priority.
While that in itself is a difficult task to get done in the closing stages of a transfer window, Emery has stressed the importance of only bringing in new players that significantly improve the squad.
In turn, if we do green light further exits, it’s hoped that the Villa hierarchy already have clear targets in mind to get deals done swiftly, and that they are options that Emery is convinced by and is adamant will help us take the next step and build on the impressive start we’ve made under him thus far.