How the Villa need to improve during the summer.
Aston Villa’s continued revival under manager Unai Emery remains nothing short of miraculous when you consider our league position and form when he replaced Steven Gerrard all those months ago and Emery’s appointment has proven to be the kind of luck you would want at a uk betpanda casino.
Having enjoyed our Europe Conference League outing last season, although we could not manage to quite go all the way, we all know our performance levels at the end of the 2023/24 campaign were not what they should have been, but the plethora of injuries we sustained across the year simply caught up with us.
With fourth place in the table secured though, 2024/25 sees us embark on a very unexpected Champions League journey when you consider how we started the season, but despite the hiccups and odd disappointments, we continue to be on an upward curve and the anticipation and expectation of what we could achieve next campaign is already building.
Key to consolidating, or even improving on our form, will be the moves we make in the summer transfer window and the speculation rumour mill is already full of incoming links and potential departures.Given the press have rarely got our incoming moves correct since Unai walked through the door, it probably makes more sense to look more at the expected departures.
Ollie Watkins and Douglas Luiz have long featured in Villa’s outgoing speculation, so it is no surprise at all to see them back amongst the headlines this summer.Watkins seems to continue to be loosely linked with Arsenal based on a comment he made 15 odd years ago, whilst the media now favour links for Luiz to the likes of Barcelona and Juventus, and it is even being claimed that we have held talks with AC Milan as they have an interest in right back Matty Cash, but apparently want in the region of £30 million for him.
One of the other big stories in the last 24 and a bit hours, concerns the future of unfortunate flop, Philippe Coutinho. Having joined under Gerrard back in January 2022, we made the deal permanent for a reported £17 million, but with only nine starting appearances to his name, it is clear to an outsider that he simply failed to recapture his earlier form, and with time left on his contract he spent last season out on loan with Saudi Arabian side Al Duhail.
They have not tried to turn the deal into a permanent one though, and he has been heavily linked with going full circle and making a return to the club he started out at, Brazilian side Vasco da Gama. Club president, Pedrinho, has confirmed that talks are taking place but that no deal has yet been agreed, and to muddy the waters further, Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens are reportedly looking at a buy in of the club as well.
With plenty of talk that we are looking to agree a contract termination with him, and that talks on that are at an advanced and mutually beneficial stage, this seems like a win, win as although we will not recoup any of the fee, it will be a notable boost to the wage budget.It is a shame it did not work out, but as we look to kick on further we need to trim the group and improve our depth and quality.
