It promises to be a busy summer for Aston Villa in the transfer market, as although we’ll look to strengthen, exits are expected in the coming months too.
Our failure to qualify for the Champions League could have significant repercussions, as without that injection of revenue that comes with Europe’s premier club competition, it may well add to the pressure the club is facing to comply with PSR and UEFA’s financial rules.
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While relentless work is being done off the pitch to increase our commercial growth and maximise our other forms of revenue, player sales are unfortunately likely to be needed still to balance our books, and certainly help fund our own spending to try and strengthen Unai Emery’s squad.
Monchi and our recruitment team have done an excellent job with that balancing act thus far, keeping us within PSR parameters to avoid a breach while also keeping us competitive on the pitch, but they will have a big job on their hands this summer to make the numbers work again while doing their best to ensure we don’t become weaker as a result.
Emiliano Martinez
After his emotional reaction at full-time in our final home game of the season, it looked inevitable that the Argentine shot-stopper was on his way out as he undoubtedly gave the impression that he felt it might be a goodbye to the Villa faithful.
Speculation has been rife since while the message from Emery has been mixed, and while we certainly don’t want to lose one of our most influential players in the squad, could this summer be the right time to part ways?
From a Villa perspective, it should only happen if we have a suitable replacement lined up to fill that void, but given his high wages and potentially significant transfer fee, Martinez could be an obvious sacrifice to help the club remain compliant with PSR.
Lucas Digne
Having been displaced by Ian Maatsen in the Villa starting line-up in recent games, it has added to the talk of the French defender potentially moving on this summer.
Digne produced a solid and consistent campaign to show he’s still got plenty to offer, but similarly to Martinez, he’s believed to be one of our highest earners, and with Villa needing to trim the wage bill to comply with UEFA’s financial rules, the 31-year-old is another stand-out potential sacrifice.
Further, with just 12 months remaining on his current contract, if Villa don’t intend on offering him new terms, an exit this summer certainly makes sense for us as we can still try to cash in while we can before the threat of losing him for nothing looms larger.
Ross Barkley
Injuries blighted Barkley’s first year back with us, as he was limited to 30 appearances across all competitions, the large majority of which came in a bit-part role off the bench.
That said, he still managed to make an important contribution with his technical quality in possession in midfield, while he chipped in with four goals and two assists.
Much will likely depend on if we lose other midfield options this summer, in which case he could end up with a more prominent role next year. That said, with the possibility of Enzo Barrenechea returning after his impressive loan stint, could Villa look to get a return on Barkley now ahead of his 32nd birthday later this year and look to longer-term solutions?
Leon Bailey
After a brilliant season last year in which he thrived under Emery, injury troubles and loss of form set the Jamaican winger back this season, as he managed just two goals and four assists in 38 outings.
His confidence deserted him as he looked a shadow of the player we saw last season, and despite ongoing faith from Emery, he hasn’t delivered at the level required this past campaign.
In turn, if we are forced to make sales, the Villa boss would surely be more prepared to lose Bailey over other key options in the attacking third, provided that genuine interest is there and a suitable offer is received.
Boubacar Kamara
The 25-year-old is a fundamental figure in our midfield, and with a contract that runs until 2027, there doesn’t appear to be a pressing threat of losing him this summer.
That said, talk of a new contract extension has rumbled on for months now, and after Villa fell short of qualifying for the Champions League, could that influence his decision on whether or not to sign a new deal?
It would leave a major hole in the side if Kamara left this summer, but if he is keen to move on and priorities playing elsewhere to give him the opportunity to continue to play in the top competition over putting pen to paper on a new Villa contract, then we should consider approving an exit for a big fee.
Ollie Watkins
While his comments a month or so ago about being frustrated and angry over being left out of the side were used by the media as reasoning for a potential exit this summer, that just displayed the desire of a player wanting to play and not sit on the bench for some of our biggest games of the season.
That’s the attitude we want to see as fans surely, and so that was never really a concern. What was a concern was the speculation in the January transfer window which paired Watkins with a departure, and had Jhon Duran not moved on to pastures new in Saudi Arabia, it could have been our current all-time top Premier League goalscorer who left instead.
It’s felt that Emery will want him to stay given how important he’s been for the club since joining and he remains so effective in leading the line for us. Similarly to Martinez, if Villa are willing to listen to offers for Watkins, we must be sure we’ve got a long-term replacement ready to come in and fill that void first as even if he stays, we still need more firepower in the squad.
