Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has insisted that the club will look to sign two or three players to bolster his squad ahead of the January transfer window deadline.
Villa have been active already this month with the signings of Donyell Malen and Andres Garcia to improve the group, but we’ve also seen Jhon Duran, Jaden Philogene and Diego Carlos leave permanently, while Emiliano Buendia and Joe Gauci have departed on loan.
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That in turn has seen numbers reduced, albeit we’ve successfully strengthened our financial position both in relation to PSR concerns and having funds to reinvest back into the squad, but with just days remaining until the transfer deadline, there is concern over the fact that we still haven’t addressed key areas with those exits in mind.
In addition to Carlos leaving, both Pau Torres and Tyrone Mings have suffered injury setbacks to leave us dangerously short of options at centre-half with Boubacar Kamara expected to fill in again this weekend at Wolves, while the departures of Buendia and Duran raise question marks over our competition and depth in the final third.
Emery remains calm about the situation as Monchi and the club are undoubtedly working tirelessly to bring in reinforcements to strengthen the squad, and despite the lack of time remaining with the deadline rapidly approaching on February 3 at 11pm UK time, the Villa boss is confident that we’ll see new faces arrive in time.
“The moment we are in this transfer window, it is not normal,” he is quoted as saying by The Athletic. “But it is coming for different circumstances. We had to accept and take our decision. A few days to close the window and the club is working. We have to do something.
“But I am very happy with how they are responding. We played some matches even in the last month when players were close to leaving.
“Without Diego Carlos last week, Jaden Philogene and Jhon Duran. We were playing matches and collectively, we were getting the performances we needed. I’m very proud of them.
“Hopefully in two or three days, we can join a minimum of two or three players more with us. And as well, I’m going to be very motivated with those players to get collectively our objective.”
There is an argument to suggest that a centre-half and forward are the minimum requirements just to replace what we’ve lost, but time will tell if Emery feels there is another position in which he would like to strengthen before the end of this window.
Speculation continues to link various names with a move to join us, but it’s just hoped that we land the individuals that Emery believes can make a significant impact for us, even if it’s a loan stint until the end of the season, as if the right opportunities or deals aren’t available, we’d surely be better off waiting until the summer rather than panic buying late in this window.
That said, if we were to stand still and not make at least two more signings, there would be concern for the remainder of the season as to whether we’ve got enough to compete on multiple fronts to achieve our targets.
