Aston Villa boss Unai Emery, and President of Football Operations, Monchi, have shared the latest on our transfer plans for the rest of the summer transfer window.
Villa have been busy this summer, as although we sold the likes of Douglas Luiz, Moussa Diaby and Omari Kellyman, we were very active in our recruitment too with Amadou Onana, Ian Maatsen and Ross Barkley among those to arrive to strengthen Emery’s squad.
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Opinion will be split on whether or not we’re now a stronger group compared to the one that finished last season, but with a couple of weeks to go for further business to be done, things could still change as we will no doubt be closely monitoring the market to take advantage of any opportunities that may arise.
Based on what both Emery and Monchi said on Wednesday morning though, it sounds as though the more immediate focus is on shifting current players and creating space in the squad as well as additional financial flexibility, before then considering possible signings to improve what we already have.
Further, both key Villa figures sounded happy with the work done to this point, as we’ve hopefully built a deeper and more robust squad capable of competing at a high level on a consistent basis across multiple fronts over the course of what will be another gruelling campaign.
“We are trying to be competitive, trying to add players to improve our squad, we did it,” Emery told talkSPORT. “There is still time to do something, we have some players to leave in the next two weeks because we have in the squad now 25 players, and then we are always trying to be close if some players are in the transfer window and they can help us improve our squad. It’s not easy, we are happy, we signed the players we wanted.
“We are being competitive and we are happy. The players are working very well. The most important is the players we have now in the squad, their commitment is huge to increase our level again this year.”
Monchi echoed those thoughts, as he reiterated the synergy at the club through the levels of the hierarchy, which is making the process of recruiting reinforcements a lot smoother as everyone is on the same page and shares the same vision moving forward.
“I am happy with the transfer window, it is true that we are continuing to work until the last day because we want to increase the level, but it is not easy to increase the level because the squad is a top squad,” he said in his interview with talkSPORT. “To work at Aston Villa is easy because Damian [Vidagany], Unai and the owners work together. It is easy. We don’t need to have a meeting every day because we are close to Unai and close to the owners.
“For me and for Damian, it is easy to work because I know perfectly the player Unai wants. We go in this way every day to have the best squad possible.”
As noted above, opinions will differ on our transfer work this summer, but it’s important not to disregard the importance of key players returning from injury, with Jacob Ramsey, Emiliano Buendia and Tyrone Mings strengthening the group.
Further, Emery will no doubt demand more development and improvement from the players who were so influential for him last season, and his ability to raise the level of players individually and as part of a collective will hopefully continue to drive us forward too.
With speculation linking a couple of our senior players with an exit still, there could yet be significant movement, but Emery and Monchi will undoubtedly continue to make the smartest and most sensible decisions in the best interests of the club.
