Aston Villa are into the new Premier League campaign — but after a turbulent summer, there’s a recognition that the road ahead could be far from straightforward. To get more perspective on Villa’s situation, we spoke to Charlie Haffenden of BirminghamWorld, who explained that while there’s still plenty of belief in Emery’s project.
00:00Aston Villa are into the new Premier League campaign, but after a turbulent summer, there's a recognition that the road ahead could be far from straightforward.
00:11Ulay Emre, fresh from Guiding Villa into Europe again last season, has faced a testing transfer window with financial restrictions limiting how much business could be done.
00:24Balancing outgoings with the need to strengthen has been a difficult task and questions remain over whether the squad has the depth required to compete on multiple fronts.
00:37With expectations rising at Villa Park, the challenge will be to maintain progress while navigating the pressures of a busier schedule and the possibility of injuries, exposing gaps in the squad.
00:52To get more of the perspective on Villa's situation, we spoke to Charlie Haffenden of Birmingham World, who explained that while there's still plenty of belief in Emre's project,
01:03the frustrations of the summer window have left fans anxious about whether the team can keep pace with the Premier League's elite.
01:12Charlie, looking at Aston Villa, obviously an incredibly quiet summer, you know, this is also a club that will rewind to January and we were sort of thinking,
01:24who's next to come in the door? It was an incredible window at the time and you can see the ambition behind those signings to maybe go and push on in the Champions League,
01:32which they all obviously fell short in that incredible sort of tie against PSG.
01:37I mean, in terms of Villa, the fans must be feeling a little bit uncertain, but they have, you know, dealt well with a bit of turbulence in windows before.
01:48They've managed to deal with it. Obviously, PSR has been overhanging them and I'm sure you've written about it numerous times this summer.
01:56I mean, Villa fans are probably a bit sick of hearing about it, but it is, you know, obviously with the rules and it can be tough to comply with at times.
02:02So, where are Aston Villa at the moment in terms of their sort of belief going into this season and their preparations?
02:09Because obviously it's been a bit of a tougher summer.
02:13It's been incredibly tough and you're right, the fans are absolutely sick of PSR.
02:18I'm sick of PSR as a journalist. The amount of times I've written it is ridiculous.
02:21And not just PSR, but SCR as well. The squad cost rules that UEFA are forcing teams to follow.
02:27So, Villa have already had some hefty fines. They don't want more. They don't want worse, which could potentially be an expulsion from European competitions.
02:35They've got to bring their wage bill down and that has really restricted their transfer business.
02:39Not only have they had to restrict the transfer fees spent because of PSR, but they've also had to think about can they get rid of some high earning players to make room for some new players to come in.
02:49It's a lot easier said than done. We expect the likes of Emiliano Martinez and Leon Bailey to get out the door pretty quickly at the start of the summer.
02:57But that's not happened. The likes of Jacob Ramsey potentially could be on the way out, but he's not one of the highest earners at the club.
03:05It's more bookable profit because he's an academy product. Could potentially go to West Ham or Nottingham Forest.
03:10There's been a lot of talk there. But as I say, they need to get rid of players before they can really think about bringing any in.
03:16And that has really restricted them. They have brought in a backup goalkeeper to replace Robin Olsen, Marco Bizzot from the French division.
03:23He was pretty high up among save percentages and clean sheets last season, which is decent.
03:29And he's got a fair amount of experience over there. So I think that makes sense as a backup addition.
03:34But if Martinez is going to go, they're going to have to sign a new goalkeeper to replace him.
03:38I don't think Bizzot is going to be capable of being the number one just yet.
03:41But there is a positive amongst all of this, and that is that Evan Gesson, who's a versatile attacker from France playing for Nice, is joining the club.
03:51Finally, out of nowhere, this one seems to have come out. About £30 million after add-ons.
03:56He can play as a striker, he can play as a right winger, a left winger.
03:59Not really your traditional centre forward. He's not like an Ollie Watkins that gets in behind necessarily.
04:04He's more of maybe a Morgan Rodgers type that dribbles at defenders.
04:07He's quite powerful. You can get in behind that way. So that's an exciting signing, at least.
04:12But I think Vinod need a lot more if they're going to compete in the Premier League and the Europa League.
04:18As we saw last season, their squad was laid pretty bare when they were injuries at the start of the year.
04:23Someone like Daniel Marlon, maybe it's time for him to step up.
04:26He didn't play too many minutes last season, but it is going to be tricky from a depth perspective.
04:30But in terms of the natural course of the team and the first choice XI, fantastic.
04:35And they can compete the very best. It's just, can they do it throughout a whole season to be consistent enough?
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