Aston Villa reportedly have specific areas of the squad in mind when it comes to bringing in possible reinforcements in the summer transfer market.
There is an acceptance across the board that the club will need to sell before June 30, not only to ensure we comply with PSR and reduce our wage bill to adhere to UEFA’s SCR parameters, but to also give ourselves the financial flexibility moving forward for the rest of the window to bring in new signings.
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In turn, we’re likely to see a focus on player sales in the coming weeks before speculation ramps up over incomings, but ideally we’ll move quickly to get the pieces in place to strengthen Unai Emery’s squad ahead of the group reporting back for pre-season duty.
Naturally, the Villa boss will want to improve in various areas to ensure that we’re more competitive than last season, and as per The Athletic, there are priority positions it seems where the club have identified the need to strengthen in the coming months.
A right-sided centre-half and right-back are said to be on the transfer agenda, as is a goalkeeper after Robin Olsen’s exit while speculation continues to link Emiliano Martinez with a departure this summer too.
Further, a wide player and a striker could be added to provide competition for places and depth alongside our current established options, and depending on exits, a left-back, central midfielder and No.10 could also come into focus if we are perhaps forced into having to fill more voids than initially planned for.
Particularly if Martinez goes this month to alleviate that noted pressure from PSR and SCR, signing a new goalkeeper becomes the absolute priority to fill a glaring void, while we’ll potentially need another back-up option if Joe Gauci and our younger options aren’t considered ready to move up the pecking order.
With Axel Disasi and Marco Asensio potentially returning to Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain respectively when their loan spells expire, those will be two more voids that need to be addressed to ensure we have adequate competition and depth, while the right-back position has long been problematic with Matty Cash not entirely convincing on a consistent enough basis.
It’s felt the other positions noted will largely depend on whether or not we’re forced into letting players go this summer that we would prefer to plan with, while a number of key decisions are also dependent on what we do with those returning from loan and who we can get off the books in terms of who we consider to be surplus to requirements. It’s one thing having a clear idea of who needs to be sold, but it’s another entirely to actually receive acceptable offers if the interest just isn’t there.
While it’s interesting to get insight into what Villa might look to do in this transfer window, there are so many moving pieces at this point that it’s surely impossible to say with conviction who could arrive, and so it’s hoped that the process of selling players to balance our books and raise funds happens relatively quickly with the best deals we’re able to do, and also gives us ample time and flexibility to secure our ideal signings later this summer.
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