What’s been through the revolving door, and what’s to come.
You go away for a few days and you come back to find you hardly know the place. You look away from Villa Park for a week and when you come back to find that, according to the usual sources, the club’s falling apart and we’ll be lucky to avoid relegation. In other words we’ve sold a couple of players. It happens to other clubs every season but only at the Villa does squad rebuilding constitute a crisis.
The first one to go was Youri Tielemans, and this was a bit unexpected. After he left he said something about “When Manchester United call, you answer.” I’d have thought it was nearer the truth if he’d said when three hundred grand a week calls, but that’s by the by. We got him on a free, he had a £35 million release clause and he scored in a European final, which sounds a decent bit of business. He was, though, an essential part of the best midfield in the country and he’s going to be missed. I’d like to say good luck to him but you don’t get that after you’ve sold your soul.
I’m a lot more disposed towards Lucas Digne, at least once we’ve got his probable debut out of the way. He’s 33, and a full-back at that age is likely to get old quickly. He’s also on high wages, which is the other big problem for us. PSG are a dream move for him so this is a rare occasion when a transfer is best for all concerned. He doesn’t really need any luck, at least not in Ligue 1, and in Europe he’ll be up against us so that’s out.
And finally for the moment, Morgan Rogers. There’s been stories about him going for months, usually to Arsenal and usually for a lot less than he’s worth. Because Arsenal have the right to buy any player they want, for the price they want to pay. Wrong. Why he wants to go to Chelsea is beyond me, and how they can continue to spend so much money is another puzzle. The two things are probably connected. Rogers is a quality player, no question. He’s a bit inconsistent but at 23 he has the potential to be world-class. He might also be the next Lee Hendrie, still about to break into the top level in his thirties. I do hope it’s the latter. And for the first time ever I hope Roy Keane’s right when he says Chelsea have gone back to their old ways of throwing a fortune at a problem without thinking whether it’s the answer.
It’s one of those Only at the Villa scenarios that can see two goalscorers in a cup final moving on as soon at the first opportunity and it will no doubt be a blow, unless their replacements can fit in straight away. It’s also not a pleasant moment to look back at the celebrations after we beat Forest and Freiburg, to think that the emotions the players were showing were for the Villa rather than just for themselves. But we should be used to that by now, and it’s all a long way from being a disaster, even if you’re Nick Mashiter.
It’s certainly not what Lewis Jones from Sky Sports called a “nightmare summer window.” According to him we’ve suffered “gut punch, after gut punch” and to prove it he’s listed all the players we’re selling, including Donyell Malen (agreed in January), Enzo Barrenechea and Lewis Dobbin (neither of who so much as threatened to get a place on the bench in a League Cup match).
Other clubs would be rebuilding. We’re apparently looking at a squad being ripped apart; when Sky get rid of Lewis a job in dramatic fiction almost certainly awaits. But before that he might care to comment on our arrivals. Johan Manzambi, for example. He looked the only Freiburg player to be worried about That Night in Istanbul and that was without noticing how he was one of the promising young stars of the Bundesliga so Unai had probably been looking at him all season, if not before then. Then he was doing well in the World Cup before getting injured, which means he’ll fit in here.
Then there’s Joao Gomes. Easily the best player at Wolves last season, although we’re into Tallest Dwarf or Most Intelligent Blue territory there, he’s another quality signing who can help us to the next level and we signed him without much of a fuss and with little advance warning. Which is another reason why we struggle to get much good press – we do our business with clubs and agents rather than via newspapers and websites.
We’ve also been linked with more quality signings. João Palhinha, who might be a bastard but would fill the John Terry role of being our bastard for a season. Left-back Pervis Estupiñán is being talked about all the time and then there are the links that might not be as strong but show the market we’re trading in now. Marcus Rashford, Ibrahim Mbaye, Ferran Torres. None of them would have been worth thinking about a couple of years ago, and none would contemplate moving to a club that’s being ripped apart.
But whoever we sign, they’ll be coming here for the right reasons, they’ll have seen the limitations of their old club and know that a move to Villa, working with the best coaching staff they could wish for, is the next logical step. Not like the bunch of mercenaries we’ve got rid of, who’ve only moved for money. Double standards? Hypocrisy? Of course; that’s football.
