Aston Villa begin the 2024/25 Premier League season this weekend, as Unai Emery and his squad look to build on a fantastic campaign last year.
The Villa boss has continued to mould the squad into his own this summer, as he looks to evolve our playing style and add competition and depth where needed.
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It promises to be another gruelling campaign though given our aspirations of competing on multiple fronts, here’s a season preview to take a closer look at where we’re at currently…
Transfers
In: Amadou Onana, Ian Maatsen, Samuel Iling-Junior, Lewis Dobbin, Enzo Barrenechea, Ross Barkley, Jaden Philogene, Cameron Archer, Kosta Nedeljkovic [signed in January].
Out: Moussa Diaby, Douglas Luiz, Omari Kellyman, Tim Iroegbunam, Morgan Sanson, Viljami Sinisalo, Calum Chambers, Philippe Coutinho [loan], Lewis Dobbin [loan], Kaine Kesler-Hayden [loan], Filip Marschall [loan], Nicolo Zaniolo and Clement Lenglet loan deals ended.
Pre-season thoughts
An opinion splitter.
Results during the USA tour didn’t do much to build confidence, and that will have led to concerns for some over how we’re shaping up for the new season.
Ultimately though, it served its purpose. We avoided any serious injury setbacks, Emery rotated and shared minutes out across the squad to get everyone fit and up to speed, we integrated our new signings and key players came back from injury to take a major step towards returning to competitive action.
There were positives, negatives and plenty of footage for Emery and his coaching staff to meticulously analyse to help us improve, and provided we’re in good shape against West Ham Utd on Saturday evening, a defeat to Columbus Crew in late July will soon be forgotten.
Is the squad better now compared to last season?
Villa’s work in this summer transfer window is far from done, as the expectation is that we’ll see multiple outgoings and incomings before the deadline.
Losing Douglas Luiz and Moussa Diaby is an obvious blow, but beyond that, we sacrificed some of our top youth talents to balance the books and offloaded fringe players who were expendable.
We’ve strengthened with some intriguing new signings who will seemingly evolve our style of play to suit Emery’s ideas and principles more effectively and consistently.
Emiliano Buendia, Jacob Ramsey and Tyrone Mings are either back or soon-to-be back from lengthy injury lay-offs with Boubacar Kamara on the mend too, while new addition Kosta Nedeljkovic has looked hugely promising in pre-season and Morgan Rogers looks set to build on his excellent second half of last season.
Final judgement on whether we’re stronger now or not will have to wait until the window is closed, but there have been clear indications of a sensible strategy and a clear vision as to how we’re going to continue to improve, become increasingly competitive and build a model of sustainability.
Player to look out for this season
There’s a fair few candidates for this one, with Ollie Watkins looking to produce another prolific year as our main frontman, Rogers aiming to improve on last season and Youri Tielemans stepping into the role as our midfield orchestrator.
However, after a stand-out pre-season this summer, seeing Nedeljkovic’s development and expected battle with Matty Cash to become our first-choice right-back is going to be an intriguing watch, as the 18-year-old Serbian defender looks a real talent.
Player with a point to prove
Again, there were multiple contenders for this title, but with Buendia in a close second place, it’s Ramsey who pips him at the finish line.
The 23-year-old is coming off an injury-plagued season in which he was limited to just 21 appearances.
After much speculation over his future earlier in the summer, Emery has never wavered from how highly he values him and how much potential he still has to unlock.
Having come through pre-season building his minutes up and avoiding any setbacks, Ramsey is hopefully primed for a big year in which he will remind us of his talent and ability to become a fundamental player for us in the years to come.
What needs to be done before the window closes
Diego Carlos, one of Alex Moreno or Lucas Digne, Leander Dendoncker and Jhon Duran will arguably all move on through a combination of needing to trim the squad, and in the case of our young Colombian striker, due to some questionable antics and decision-making this summer.
There is a sense at this stage that Villa are taking stock and looking to offload players first before adding more to the squad so as to avoid having quantity over quality.
A versatile centre-half, a creative No.10 and/or a striker to replace Duran could make this an excellent transfer window.
What will be our strongest XI?
The likes of Matty Cash, Ross Barkley, Buendia and Kamara will all be among those with something to say about this, but there is a potential balance and fluidity to the line-up below that could produce excellent results.
If Nedeljkovic can continue his progression, Amadou Onana and Tielemans can develop a partnership that allows us to control games consistently and give freedom to Leon Bailey, Ramsey and Rogers to run riot behind Watkins, it will hopefully be a nightmare for any side to face.
The glaring omission is of course our skipper John McGinn, but he will no doubt have a fundamental role to play and will feature prominently. However, there’s a lot to like about this attacking trident, and it’s great to have depth and alternative options as we look to compete on four fronts. What is Villa’s best XI? Comment below.
Martinez; Nedeljkovic, Konsa, Pau, Maatsen; Onana, Tielemans; Bailey, Rogers, Ramsey; Watkins.
What would a good season look like?
If we’re being frank, it’s going to be a challenging year.
Not only is trying to replicate our fourth-place finish last season going to be a massive test considering how other teams have strengthened this summer, but to do that alongside trying to compete in the Champions League…it will be a tough ask.
Having Emery at the helm and a stronger squad at his disposal will certainly help and make it achievable, though.
We’ll have some amazing European nights at Villa Park, and if things click as they did last season and we deal with fatigue more effectively with better depth, why can’t we repeat our achievements and kick on?
Our Champions League adventure may unfortunately end earlier than we hope given our inexperience at that level against top sides from around Europe, but there’s no reason not to believe in our ability to be back there again next season as we look to be build consistent and sustainable success. Ending our wait for a trophy should certainly be a main objective, and that would make it another positive year of progression.
What would you consider to be a successful year for Villa?
third in premier league. one of the local cups and a quaterfinal in Chamapions league.
5th in PL and winning Carabao Cup in my view would be a great outcome. Up the Villa!
Silverware and top 6, but obviously a punt on winning the league is always there
Getting through to CL knock out stage, European football again next season and maybe a cup run