Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has hinted that the club will be ready to make additional moves in the transfer market ahead of the deadline.
The summer transfer window will close in England at 11pm on Friday September 1, and so it’s expected to be a busy week ahead with deals being done to strengthen where possible.
Sign up for the Talk Villa newsletter, a free weekly Villa round-up delivered straight to you!
Villa have already made four key signings this summer with the arrivals of Youri Tielemans, Pau Torres, Moussa Diaby and Nicolo Zaniolo, while several have departed including Cameron Archer, Aaron Ramsey, Marvelous Nakamba and Wesley.
That has formed part of the ongoing process to allow Emery to mould the squad into his own and to continue to strengthen where necessary to raise the level of the group and make us increasingly competitive. Further, with the objective of competing across multiple fronts this season and potentially playing in excess of 50 games, having enough depth has been a crucial consideration too.
The Villa boss has been adamant since he arrived that he only wants to make signings that significantly improve what he already has at his disposal, and so any new recruits, regardless of how late they arrive, will have been meticulously analysed to determine if they are the right fit for us.
Injuries have also raised question marks over whether or not we still need more, with Tyrone Mings and Emiliano Buendia suffering long-term setbacks, while we’re still without the likes of Jacob Ramsey, Alex Moreno and Philippe Coutinho.
With that in mind, Emery revealed in his post-match press conference on Sunday following our win over Burnley that the door is very much still open for further business to happen, as he didn’t rule out both potential outgoings and incomings.
“We have some players injured, but usually during the season we will have injured players, they are recovering progressively,” he told the media, as per BirminghamLive. “We also have young players in the under-23s who were playing with them in pre-season as well.
“Still, there are four days remaining of the window and we have to be ready in case someone is leaving, in case we have a good opportunity to add another player to the squad another player with us. Always, in my teams I am ready in case someone can come with us, or if someone can leave.”
Time will tell if anything materialises, but there is full trust in Emery’s judgement in terms of what he feels we might need moving forward, and who he believes is dispensable and can move on.
Additionally, with the strategic transfer work this summer since President of Football Operations, Monchi, arrived at the club, it’s expected that we will continue to make smart decisions in the final few days of the window, both from a football and financial perspective, to continue building on the fine work that has already been done in assembling the current squad that is showing so much promise now.