Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has reiterated that the club will need to be astute in the transfer market this summer, despite Champions League qualification.
Having qualified for Europe’s premier competition next season, it will undoubtedly be an important factor in our ability to attract our top targets and to fend off competition to sign them.
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Further, our participation should mean an important financial injection too as we continue to be wary of our position in relation to FFP and PSR regulations, and so there is a fine balancing act that the Villa management must consider as we look to build on our success, strengthen, but also protect our long-term financial position.
Emery was asked about our summer transfer window plans, and while the Villa boss insisted that we must be intelligent in the market, he did suggest that although we won’t see a whole host of new faces arrive ahead of next season, there will be additions made to the squad in order to help us become increasingly competitive.
“Of course the Champions League helps us, to increase our level, our demands and objectives for next year,” Emery said, as per BirminghamLive. “To play Champions League for the players is something they like. The players we have here and in case we want to add players, to show them our objective, maybe it could help.
“But we have to be intelligent. We must arrange at the beginning the fair play and through that to try and be intelligent to try and build a new team. More or less we are not thinking to add or sign a lot of players.
“We are trying to be intelligent, how we can improve the squad with some players. Of course, we are going to be very demanding in getting the best possible to improve the squad. But we have to work now, deeply analysing it.
“Financially, being in the Champions League is better than not. Our budget could be better, but we have to manage at the beginning the fair play for this season, then we can build. I think we can be intelligent and build a strong team to compete in the Champions League, the Premier League and the cups.”
Time will tell who leaves firstly, as exits will no doubt be vital to our ability to balance the books and create financial flexibility and space in the squad to bring in new recruits.
The club have already confirmed that Morgan Sanson has joined Nice on a permanent basis, while Philippe Coutinho and Leander Dendoncker will hopefully follow a similar path as they are surely considered to be surplus to requirements at this stage having been out on loan this season.
Further, it seems likely that neither Clement Lenglet nor Nicolo Zaniolo will be signed outright after spending this year with us on loan, while Emery has been clear publicly that Calum Chambers is free to leave the club if he receives a suitable offer, and the same is likely to be the case for Kortney Hause.
That will hopefully be all that’s needed in terms of outgoings, as speculation in recent months has suggested that we may have to sell a prized asset to really make an impression on our finances. However, with the careful management from Monchi and our recruitment team since they arrived coupled with the Champions League money, we’re hopefully in a better position to then focus on incomings.
It promises to be a fascinating summer from a Villa perspective, as while we will welcome back a number of key individuals from long-term injuries next season which will change the picture entirely, we’ll need to replace those that leave and ensure we raise the standard and level of the squad significantly again to be able to compete across multiple fronts next season and beyond.