Aston Villa latest: Transfers underway and a look at their aims for the 2025/25 season
As Aston Villa prepare for their Champions League return whilst addressing issues around their financial situation ahead of next season. What are the objectives for the new campaign, as the haul of extra fixtures each week will continue and Unai Emery must find the best solutions.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Charlie, let's start with Aston Villa and their transfer, merry-go-round. Obviously,
00:07we spoke about the PSR issues before the end of June, and we're now in July. What's the
00:14latest you can tell us, and is there any sort of developing rumours and updates that you
00:19can issue?
00:20It's funny you use the word merry-go-round, because it's exactly what I've been talking
00:24about all week, is how it's been such a merry-go-round for Villa. But it's pretty much complete now,
00:29that whole PSR problem that was going on for so many weeks. Villa now clear of any kind
00:34of worry of sanctions from the Premier League. There was one point when if Villa didn't make
00:38any sales, then they could have maybe received a points deduction or some sort of embargo
00:42or not able to carry on in the transfer window, as they would have hoped. But now that Douglas
00:46Luiz has completed his move to Juventus, those worries are out the window. And Omari Kellyman
00:51as well, going to Chelsea for £19 million, a massive help. Tim O'Rourke and them going
00:56to Everton for about £10 million, another help once again. There are swap deals in there
01:01though, with all three of those clubs. With Juventus, Luiz went there for £42 million.
01:06In return, Villa have bought Enzo Berenicea and Samuel Illing-Jr for about £21 million
01:13combined. All separate transactions, though it's pretty much a swap deal. With Chelsea,
01:18of course they've signed Ian Mattson for £37.5 million. A bigger deal than what they've sold,
01:24but it works out pretty well for Villa, I think, in the long term. Getting a new left-back
01:28in who was in a Champions League final, in the Champions League team of the season and
01:31selling a youngster who's pretty unproven at this stage, I think that's pretty good
01:35business. And then from Everton, Lewis Dobbin was signed, a young striker who can add a
01:39bit of depth. So all of that's now out the way. I think Villa fans can stop worrying
01:43about is it going to be announced? Is it actually done? It is for all of those deals. So a relief
01:48for me as well.
01:50And of course, an incredible finish in the Premier League last season that secured European
01:55football again, obviously this time in the form of the best club competition on the earth
01:59with the Champions League. Let's look ahead to where they're obviously going to go into
02:06this season and aim for surely another go at that Champions League. But they might have
02:11to sort of understand that with those Champions League games could sort of sacrifice a bit
02:15of a lead position. Where do you think they are going to be aiming towards finishing at
02:20the back end of next season?
02:22I think the aim is going to be to continue in that run in the Champions League. Whether
02:26or not that's going to happen or not, I think is a different story because last year there
02:30were two fewer games in the group stage of the Europa Conference League and it was the
02:34third best European competition. They're now going into the most elite one and everyone
02:38knows all the clubs that you can face in the Champions League, the likes of Barcelona and
02:43Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, Juventus, the best teams in Europe. So I think, yes, top
02:49four is their aim, top six maybe more realistic, but everyone was so surprised by how they
02:54did last year. I'm sure they're just going to kick on again. They're doing so, so well
02:57under Unai Emery.