Aston Villa journalist Ashley Preece has been sharing some details on the behind-the-scenes planning at the Midlands club for the upcoming summer transfer window.
This comes after Preece made an appearance on a recent episode of the Birmingham Mail’s Claret & Blue Podcast where he spoke about a range of topics concerning Dean Smith’s side, including their recent 3-2 defeat against Crystal Palace in the Premier League.
On the subject of the summer transfer window, Preece had this to say about what the club is currently doing behind the scenes in preparation for the window opening.
He said (11.43): “They’re working a lot with data and analytics so there will be the odd bargain in there. I don’t think they’ll go gung ho at £50 million here, £50 million there, I think they’re going to be quite clever about it and astute and they’ll look at the Euros as well any gems flying around there.
“I envisage maybe six, seven coming in, the squad needs replenishing, [Neil] Taylor, [Ahmed Elmohamady], [Conor] Hourihane, they’re all going to go. [Tom] Heaton looks like he’s going to go so they’ll be adding to that.
“We signed five players in the season just going now so I think there’ll be more signings to come. It’s a big one, I can’t stress that enough, but behind the scenes at Villa, there’s a lot of emphasis on recruitment, so that tells you everything that they’re doing this summer.”
So far this season, Villa have won 14 out of the 36 games they’ve played in the Premier League this season, drawing seven and losing 15 along the way (per BBC Sport).
TIF Thoughts on Ashley Preece’s comments…
Given how the Midlands club have spent a total of £91.22 million on new players throughout the previous summer and winter transfer windows, this has shown that the owners at the club are not shy in spending money to help strengthen the squad and push the team forward to where they are now.
Do you think Villa will spend more than £100 million this summer?
Yes
No
Looking ahead to the next summer window, if Villa want to progress up the table even further and reach a European place, then it would make sense for them to splash the cash again and not only replace some potential outgoings that may leave but also bring in some quality players to strengthen the squad even further.
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