Jackie McNamara has predicted that Aston Villa will “spend a lot of money” this summer ahead of their first season back in the Premier League.
Dean Smith’s side secured a return to the top flight thanks to a 2-1 win over Derby County at Wembley earlier this month, in a match that was reportedly worth £170million to the winner.
Speaking to Football Insider, McNamara predicted that Villa will splash out this summer, as former club Wolves and Fulham did after they were promoted last summer.
“Although they’ve just come up they’re a big club and I think they’ll go and spend quite a bit of money to try and stay in the Premier League, rather than just go with what they’ve got,” the former Wolves player said.
“I can see them investing rather than just taking players here and there. They’ll want to spend a lot of money to make sure they stay there – maybe a bit like Wolves have done.”
OPINION
It’s not a bad prediction from McNamara and he may not be far off. One thing is for certain: Villa certainly have the room to bring some new players in having released nine since their place in next season’s top flight was confirmed. But if Smith is to spend a lot of money, he will have to make sure that he follows the Wolves blueprint, not the Fulham blueprint. Nuno Espirito Santo’s men did it excellently with the help of super-agent Jorge Mendes, and it got them to seventh place in their first season back. The Cottagers, meanwhile, made a drastically poor attempt at investing, spending £100million before finishing 19th and being relegated. Therefore, if Smith is going to spend big this summer, he needs to make his investments are shrewd ones which will have a proper impact. Either way, it is going to be exciting to see what the current squad brings, with the likes of Jack Grealish set to get their first taste of Premier League football.