The Athletic’s Gregg Evans has revealed that new Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard will have ‘more of a say’ than Dean Smith had when it comes to transfer targets.
During the summer, the Villans recruited a number of key new signings – such as Danny Ings, Ashley Young, Emi Buendia and Leon Bailey. Unfortunately for Smith, however, none of those players could do enough to keep him in a job.
With the club now languishing just two places above the relegation zone, they may look to bring some new players in when the January transfer market opens. Gerrard may have even been assured some spending when he agreed to take the job.
Will Aston Villa spend big in January?
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If this is to happen, Gerrard will apparently be afforded more control over potential deals than his predecessor had.
Indeed, while speaking on the 1874 podcast, Evans explained that he had reason to believe this would be the case.
He said: “It’s my understanding that Gerrard will have a little bit more of a say in terms of who comes in, in the future – I mean, more than Smith had.”
He went on to explain that the club’s former manager would often only be given a choice between a number of different players who had already been identified as targets.
Evans concluded: “I believe Gerrard will be given a little bit more freedom to maybe select some targets as well.”
TIF Thoughts on Steven Gerrard and Aston Villa…
Of course, Smith likely would have had a fair say in a number of the club’s past signings. For instance, the likes of Ezri Konsa and Ollie Watkins both arrived in Birmingham having played for their former manager at Brentford.
But if Gerrard is to be given even more freedom to pursue whatever the sort of player he likes, it will be quite interesting to see who Villa chase in the coming transfer windows.
No doubt, players who played under him at Rangers will be linked. As it happens, current Gers midfielder Glen Kamara has already been identified as a possible signing, according to a report in the Daily Record.
In other news: Kagey believes Aston Villa have made ‘promise’ to Gerrard