On the latest edition of the 1874 podcast, Aston Villa journalist Gregg Evans has been discussing all things related to the Midlands club following the conclusion of the 2020/21 campaign.
Villa saw their Premier League season out with an impressive 2-1 victory over Chelsea on the final day as they secured an 11th-place finish.
Will Villa finish in the top half next season?
Yes
No
One topic of discussion for Evans was the upcoming transfer window and the approach in which Dean Smith’s side will be hoping to take to address some issues in their squad.
Villa spent a sum of £91.22m last summer on a total of five players, with Ollie Watkins being their most expensive arrival at £30.6m (via Transfermarkt).
Speaking about the upcoming market, Evans had the following to say on how he believes Villa will approach their spending.
He said: “What do I know? Well, look, you know, I’ll be honest, it’s getting harder and harder to get transfer stories out of Aston Villa. They’re very much a closed shop at the moment, they want to do all their business privately.
“I’m not going to come on here and admit that I know everything that’s going on, because I don’t at the moment.
“What I do know is that Villa are trying to get two or three players in key positions who they feel that they can improve on.”
TIF Thoughts on Villa’s transfer plans…
Villa had a much improved 2020/21 campaign after battling against relegation in the season prior. However, one area in which they did struggle was when their star man Jack Grealish was absent through injury.
In the absence of their 25-year-old midfielder, Smith’s side were only able to register three wins in 12 Premier League games.
It is only natural to be weakened by the absence of your star man, but if Villa were able to convert a few of their draws and defeats in the absence of Grealish into maximum points then they could well have found themselves battling for a spot in Europe.
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