Aston Villa are setting their sights high as the new campaign gets underway, with Unai Emery’s side looking to build on last year’s progress and firmly establish themselves among the Premier League’s leading clubs. To get more insight on Villa’s prospects, we spoke to Charlie Haffenden of BirminghamWorld.
00:00Now Aston Villa are setting their sights high as the new campaign is underway with Unai Emery's side
00:09looking to build on last year's progress and firmly establish themselves among the Premier League's leading clubs.
00:17Emery has been key to strengthening key areas but just as important has been keeping the core of a squad
00:24that delivered so consistently last term.
00:27Recruitment has been measured rather than extravagant with the focus on depth and players who can adapt to the tactical flexibility that Emery demands.
00:38The Villa faithful are rightly optimistic.
00:40Emery's track record in Europe combined with the momentum from the team carried into the summer
00:46has created a genuine sense that the club are entering a new era.
00:51To get more insight on Villa's prospects we spoke to Charlie Haffenden of Birmingham World.
00:56He explained there's a togetherness between the manager, the players and the fans
01:02and that makes a huge difference when you're trying to compete at the very top.
01:08Charlie, looking at Aston Villa, obviously an incredibly quiet summer.
01:16This is also a club that will rewind to January and we were sort of thinking who's next to come in the door.
01:24It was an incredible window at the time and you could see the ambition behind those signings to maybe go and push on in the Champions League
01:30which they all obviously fell short in that incredible sort of tie against PSG.
01:36I mean, in terms of Villa, the fans must be feeling a little bit uncertain
01:41but they have dealt well with a bit of turbulence in windows before.
01:46They've managed to deal with it.
01:47Obviously, PSR has been overhanging them and I'm sure you've written about it numerous times this summer.
01:52I mean, Villa fans are probably a bit sick of hearing about it but it is, you know, obviously with the rules
01:57and it can be tough to comply with at times.
02:00So, where are Aston Villa at the moment in terms of their sort of belief going into this season
02:05and their preparations because obviously it's been a bit of a tougher summer?
02:10It's been incredibly tough and you're right, the fans are absolutely sick of PSR.
02:15I'm sick of PSR as a journalist.
02:16The amount of times I've written it is ridiculous.
02:18And not just PSR but SCR as well, the squad cost rules that UEFA are forcing teams to follow.
02:25Villa have already had some hefty fines.
02:27They don't want more.
02:28They don't want worse which could potentially be an expulsion from European competitions.
02:32They've got to bring their wage bill down and that has really restricted their transfer business.
02:36Not only have they had to restrict the transfer fees spent because of PSR
02:40but they've also had to think about can they get rid of some high-earning players
02:43to make room for some new players to come in.
02:46It's a lot easier said than done.
02:48We expected the likes of Emiliano Martinez and Leon Bailey to get out the door pretty quickly
02:53at the start of the summer but that's not happened.
02:56The likes of Jacob Ramsey potentially could be on the way out
02:59but he's not one of the highest earners at the club.
03:02It's more bookable profit because he's an academy product.
03:05Could potentially go to West Ham or Nottingham Forest.
03:07There's been a lot of talk there.
03:08But as I say, they need to get rid of players before they can really think about bringing any in
03:13and that has really restricted them.
03:14They have brought in a backup goalkeeper to replace Robin Olsen, Marco Bizzot from the French division.
03:21He was pretty high up among save percentages and clean sheets last season which is decent
03:26and he's got a fair amount of experience over there.
03:28So, I think that makes sense as a backup addition.
03:31But if Martinez is going to go, they're going to have to sign a new goalkeeper to replace him.
03:35I don't think Bizzot is going to be capable of being the number one just yet.
03:38But there is a positive amongst all of this and that is that Evan Gesson,
03:42who's a versatile attacker from France playing for Nice, is joining the club.
03:48Finally, out of nowhere, this one seems to have come out.
03:51About £30 million after add-ons.
03:53He plays a striker, he plays a right winger, a left winger.
03:56Not really your traditional centre forward.
03:58He's not like an Ollie Watkins that gets in behind necessarily.
04:01He's more of a, maybe a Morgan Rodgers type that dribbles at defenders.
04:04He's quite powerful and can get in behind that way.
04:07So, that's an exciting signing at least.
04:09But I think Vinod need a lot more if they're going to compete in the Premier League and the Europa League.
04:15As we saw last season, their squad was laid pretty bare when their injuries at the start of the year.
04:20Unai Emery hoping they can get a few more names over the line before the end of the transfer window.
04:24They won't be in trouble, but they might struggle a little bit.
04:27Their trophy drought by winning it.
04:28Unai Emery has won the competition four times in the past.
04:33Surely, they're going to go far in that.
04:34So, that's a good opportunity at least for a trophy.
04:37But as I've mentioned, fixture congestion could be a real problem.
04:40It's going to be incredibly difficult to balance so many competitions.
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