Aston Villa latest in the January transfer market

Deals set to be made for Villa in the coming days…

Transcript

00:00So, Charlie, looking at Aston Villa and January business, obviously it's a month where they've

00:05got a lot to look forward to in the second half of the season, you know, albeit with

00:09the Champions League group stage being a massive sort of completion from M-Race side. How do

00:16you sort of look at the January window? Is there concrete interest? Is there room to

00:21manoeuvre with PSR? You know, we've seen Villa have to set up quite recently as well. Douglas

00:28Luiz and Moussa Diaby obviously helped that cause, but then maybe failing to replace them

00:32full-time was there. But then PSR issues have crept in a few times for them. How do you

00:38see January panning out for Aston Villa?

00:41I think it should be a fairly busy month because Zounai Emery wants to improve in two key areas.

00:47We've known for a little while now that the right side of defence is a big priority. Matty

00:50Cash has played fairly well at times, but he can be a little bit of a weak point in

00:54the Villa team at times. And then Esri Konza, a fantastic player, but preferred to be in

01:00the middle, really. If you can keep him a centre-back, that's the best option for Villa

01:03rather than moving across to right-back. And Diego Carlos just hasn't been consistent enough.

01:07And, you know, when Cash is out, Konza moves out to the right-hand side and Carlos comes

01:11in, Villa do at times look a bit weaker. So that's an area Emery wants to address. That

01:16is one that he is addressing. Mingueza, a Celta Vigo right-back, is one of those being

01:21considered, a former Barcelona player. Barcelona were rumoured to be interested in bringing

01:25him back, but it turns out they're more interested in getting a 50% sell-on fee. They want Mingueza

01:31to move on from Celta so they can sort out their financial situation as they're really

01:34struggling with La Liga's regulations at the moment. Wesley, a Flamengo right-back, is

01:39another one potentially being looked at. Villa had a £12.5m bid rejected a couple of weeks

01:44ago. It's interesting to see if they'll come back in for him as Mingueza has a £16.6m

01:50base clause, €20m. That one could be a bit more of a bargain, of course, being Spanish

01:55as well. Emery knows all about him. The other position that Villa want to improve in is

02:01out wide on the wings, preferably someone who can play on either side. And Daniel Marlon

02:06from Borussia Dortmund is just that. A bid has already been rejected, just below £20m.

02:12Dortmund want around £25m instead. All personal terms have been agreed with the player, which

02:17is a promising step in the negotiations. But in terms of club-to-club, there's no agreement

02:23just yet. But they are the areas that Villa are prioritising at the moment.

02:27Yeah, and just on Unai Emery, we've mentioned his pull a few times and now looking into

02:33Champions League quality, Champions League talent. This is something that Villa fans

02:37have to get used to now. This is the sort of era that they are working under.

02:41Yeah, he's a special head coach. Obviously, at Arsenal, maybe he had quite a lot of criticism,

02:46quite a bit of expectations there. But he's proven ever since just how talented of a manager

02:51he is, obviously being a Europa League serial winner as well. Lots of players want to work

02:55under him and it helps as well if they're Spanish. He's definitely got that pull. And

02:58Monchi as well, a fantastic director of football. Villa are in a good space.