Aston Villa could reportedly be done in the January transfer window as we edge closer to the deadline on Tuesday.
So far this month, the club have signed Alex Moreno and Jhon Duran to bolster Unai Emery’s squad, but there have also been several exits which has seen the group dwindle.
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Jan Bednarek and Ludwig Augustinsson’s loan deals were cut short, Morgan Sanson and Cameron Archer were loaned out while Fredric Guilbert and Danny Ings moved on in permanent transfers.
Given the limited roles that most of those individuals had, it’s a clearing-out exercise that arguably moves on a lot of players deemed surplus to requirements with Marvelous Nakamba potentially set to join them on deadline day, but Villa’s overall work this month is already no doubt splitting opinion.
As per The Telegraph’s John Percy, Villa intend to do their main business in the summer, with high price-tags for our transfer targets this month touted as the main reason behind our lack of activity.
On one hand, as we sit just three points adrift of sixth place in the Premier League table, this transfer window was potentially a huge opportunity to add reinforcements and continue to build momentum for the rest of the campaign.
Teams either side of us have strengthened, and if we were to suffer injuries and suspensions in key areas, there could be some difficult moments and periods ahead.
Nevertheless, Emery has stuck to his stance and never wavered for a minute it seems, as he has insisted dating back to October when he arrived at the club that he would only sign players who significantly improve what we already have.
Add the business element of that in terms of what deals make sense for what price as he considers the long-term picture, the pieces evidently haven’t fallen into place for us this month to bring in who we wanted, and so rather than pack the squad with quantity over quality and players who are second or third choice and arguably not much of an upgrade on those who have left, we’ve decided to stay patient and wait until the summer.
Given the level of improvement we’ve seen in the team since Emery’s appointment, there’s no reason to suggest we can’t continue to build on that and keep improving in the months ahead, and thus sustain our push for Europe.
Further, we have Diego Carlos coming back next month, Bertrand Traore has been recalled as per Percy to give us another width option while some of our youngsters have been retained as things stand rather than be sent back out on loan again for the remainder of the campaign.
Ideally, we would have seen one or two more arrive and add quality to the squad. However, Emery’s shown signs that he knows exactly what he wants and has a clear vision on how we’re going to get to where we want to be and who will make that happen, and those are both reassuring and exciting points as we hope to continue to push on this season.