Can Aston Villa maintain consistency throughout entire campaign despite turbulent summer window - video Dailymotion

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National World - LocalTV

5 months ago

Aston Villa are preparing for another Premier League campaign — and with Unai Emery entering another season at the helm, belief is building that the club can take another big step forward.
To get more insight into Villa’s prospects, we spoke to Charlie Haffenden of BirminghamWorld, who feels the mood around Villa Park is one of quiet confidence despite some struggles with navigating the summer market.

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00:00Aston Villa are preparing for another Premier League campaign and with Unai Emre entering

00:09another full season at the helm. Belief is building that the club can take another big

00:14step forward. Emre celebrated for his meticulous preparation and ability to get the best out

00:21of his players and has transformed Villa into a side feared for both their organisation

00:25and cutting edge. With European Knights returning to Birmingham and the Premier League promising

00:32its usual intensity, Villa's challenge will be maintaining high standards across all

00:37fronts. To get more insight into Villa's prospects ahead of the campaign, we spoke to Charlie

00:43Haffenden of Birmingham World, who feels the mood around Villa Park is one of quiet confidence

00:48despite some struggles with navigating the summer market.

00:52Charlie, looking at Aston Villa, obviously an incredibly quiet summer. You know, this

01:00is also a club that will rewind to January and we were sort of thinking, who's next to come

01:06in the door? It was an incredible window at the time and you could see the ambition behind

01:10those signings to maybe go and push on in the Champions League, which they all obviously fell

01:15short in that incredible sort of tie against PSG. I mean, in terms of Villa, the fans must

01:22be feeling a little bit uncertain, but they have, you know, dealt well with a bit of turbulence

01:27in windows before. They've managed to deal with it. Obviously, PSR has been overhanging

01:32them and I'm sure you've written about it numerous times this summer. I mean, Villa fans are probably

01:38a bit sick of hearing about it, but it is, you know, obviously with the rules and it can

01:42be tough to comply with at times. So, where are Aston Villa at the moment in terms of their

01:47sort of belief going into this season and their preparations? Because obviously it's

01:51been a bit of a tougher summer.

01:53It's been incredibly tough and you're right, the fans are absolutely sick of PSR. I'm sick

01:58of PSR as a journalist. The amount of times I've written it is ridiculous. And not just

02:02PSR, but SCR as well. The squad cost rules that UEFA are forcing teams to follow. Villa have

02:09already had some hefty fines. They don't want more. They don't want worse, which could potentially

02:13be an expulsion from European competitions. They've got to bring their wage bill down and

02:17that has really restricted their transfer business. Not only have they had to restrict

02:21the transfer fees spent because of PSR, but they've also had to think about can they get

02:25rid of some high-earning players to make room for some new players to come in. It's a lot

02:30easier said than done. We expected the likes of Emiliano Martinez and Leon Bailey to get out

02:35the door pretty quickly at the start of the summer, but that's not happened. The likes of

02:40Jacob Ramsey potentially could be on the way out, but he's not one of the highest earners

02:44at the club. It's more bookable profit because he's an academy product. Could potentially go

02:49to West Ham or Nottingham Forest. It's been a lot of talk there. But as I say, they need

02:53to get rid of players before they can really think about bringing any in and that has really

02:57restricted them. They have brought in a backup goalkeeper to replace Robin Olsen, Marco

03:02Bizzo from the French division. He was pretty high up among save percentages and clean sheets

03:07last season, which is decent. And he's got a fair amount of experience over there. So I think that

03:12makes sense as a backup addition. But if Martinez is going to go, they're going to have to sign a new

03:16goalkeeper to replace him. I don't think Bizzo is going to be capable of being the number one just yet.

03:21But there is a positive amongst all of this. And that is that Evan Gesson, who's a versatile

03:27attacker from France playing for Nice, is joining the club. Finally, out of nowhere, this one seems to

03:33have come out. About £30 million after add-ons. He can play as a striker, he can play as a right

03:38winger, a left winger. Not really a traditional centre forward. He's not like an Ollie Watkins

03:43that gets in behind necessarily. He's more of a, maybe a Morgan Rodgers type that dribbles

03:47at defenders. He's quite powerful and can get in behind that way. So that's an exciting signing

03:52at least. But I think they need a lot more if they're going to compete in the Premier League

03:57and the Europa League. As we saw last season, their squad was laid pretty bare when their

04:01injuries at the start of the year. You know, I am really hoping they can get a few more names

04:05over the line before the end of the transfer window. Or they won't be in trouble, but they

04:09might struggle a little bit. And not having those defensive reinforcements that Emery really wanted.

04:15De Zassi is obviously not going to be there anymore. He was there on loan. He had Asensio

04:19and Rashford in attack. Two incredible players to start or bring off the bench. They've not got

04:23back anymore. Someone like Doniel Marlon, maybe it's time for him to step up. He didn't play too many

04:27minutes last season. But it is going to be tricky from a depth perspective. But in terms

04:32of the natural course of the team and the first choice 11, fantastic. And they can compete

04:36the very best. It's just can they do it throughout a whole season to be consistent enough? I'm

04:41not so sure.

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