Aston Villa

Aston Villa: Football Daily presenter bemused by Steven Gerrard’s summer spending

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Football Daily’s Patrick van Straaten has criticised Aston Villa’s recruitment this summer – claiming their heavy outlay on defender Diego Carlos was a sign of them spending ‘weirdly’.

Villa and Steven Gerrard moved quickly upon the conclusion of the previous campaign to bring in Boubacar Kamara and Diego Carlos by the start of June.

However, an injury to Carlos has disrupted his career in claret and blue just two games in, though Van Straaten has suggested this has only made the decision to buy him even worse.

Speaking on Football Daily’s Sunday Vibes, he said: “What’s really concerning is that what was good under Gerrard [was] actually the defence got a lot better, like, the defence stopped giving up easy chances.

“Then they brought in a proper defensive midfielder this summer, a guy who’s got great ball retention and really active in front of the backline in Kamara, and yet, the defence still looks a lot worse.

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“That’s kind of troubling, and the question as well is whether he’s got the juice with the Villa hierarchy to say, ‘bear with me while I stick this out’.

“They spent weirdly, man. I mean, the Diego Carlos one – didn’t like it at the time, still don’t. Now he’s injured, got worse.”

TIF Thoughts on Van Straaten’s comments about Aston Villa’s spending…

There is no way Gerrard could have foreseen the lengthy injury to Diego Carlos, which is set to rule the defender out for around six months. Meanwhile, their reported £26m outlay on the Brazilian was not exactly left-field, with Newcastle United heavily linked before his departure from Sevilla.

And given their lacklustre start to the season, Gerrard may have felt he was the missing piece for their defence. He clearly is not happy with the existing Villa defenders, having brought in Jan Bednarek from Southampton in the dying hours of the transfer window.

Despite that, the Villa boss may be counting his blessings that his side managed to claw back a draw against Manchester City at the weekend as it has not been an ideal start to the season – and you would imagine that Carlos’ injury is not going to count for anything if and when the ownership have to make a decision on the manager’s future should results continue as they have.

Is it time to get rid of Gerrard?

Yes, before it's too late

Yes, before it's too late

Judge him in May

Judge him in May

In Gerrard we trust

In Gerrard we trust

As for Van Straaten’s claim, there is perhaps cause for concern over Villa’s start to the campaign, but it is perhaps a little early to be definitively pointing the finger at anyone.

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