Aston Villa’s hectic January transfer window summarised

National World - LocalTV

Aston Villa’s January transfer window was a whirlwind of activity as Unai Emery looked to strengthen his squad for their top-four push. Balancing Premier League ambitions with Financial Fair Play constraints, Villa saw key departures and targeted smart reinforcements.

Transcript

00:00Charlie, looking at Aston Villa and the January window, and obviously not many clubs across

00:07the top flight had such a huge window, and the business all sort of occurred very, very

00:11late on in the window. Of course, starting, it sort of felt like the first snowball to

00:17fall in the avalanche of signings was the John Durang leaving, and then the days after

00:22that followed were absolute chaos. What do you sort of summarise Villa's window, and

00:27how can it sort of, you know, bridge any gaps that they had in the side for the remainder

00:32of this season in terms of their ambitions?

00:35It was an absolute rollercoaster of a transfer window. John Durang's staying, John Durang's

00:40going, Ollie Watkins is bid for, Ollie Watkins is going, Ollie Watkins is staying. They were

00:44two big outgoings potentially, just one of those going through. And then the money from

00:48John Durang, over £75 million after add-ons, performance-related add-ons they are, it meant

00:54that Villa could go and explore some very ambitious deals. Two loans actually, so it's

00:59not just straight fees for these, but Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio signed on deadline

01:04day. Rashford there is an option to buy for £40 million, Villa are covering three quarters

01:08of his salary, and then a little bit more if Villa go on to qualify for the Champions

01:13League, there's a small fee involved there as well. For Asensio, just a straight loan,

01:17all of his salary covered, a small fee there as well for PSG. Just those two players in

01:21general, if you thought three, four, five years ago, you'd see announcements for Villa

01:26signing Asensio and Rashford, you'd be dreaming, right? But it's the reality and Villa have

01:31got those two over the line. I think the area they really needed to address though was defence.

01:36We saw against Wolves just how much of a frailty it is having to put Bubicar Camara, fantastic

01:41player but in an unnatural centre-back position, they needed to get one over the line and they

01:45did at the very last moment. Axel Desassi from Chelsea, this one was ongoing for so,

01:50so long. He'd agreed personal terms for a week before joining Villa. Tottenham wanted

01:55to sign him instead, but he rejected Tottenham on three occasions. Villa refused to play

02:00the huge loan fee that Chelsea were demanding. Eventually, Chelsea let Villa pay the same

02:06that Tottenham were going to pay, which is £5 million. I think it's a little bit steep

02:10just for six months, but it sorts out Villa's issue. And of course, right back as well,

02:14Andres Garcia, that £7 million defender from Levante, got lots of potential. He's actually

02:20quite tall at six foot as well, got a fair bit of pace. Didn't play particularly well

02:24on his debut against Wolves, but he'll take a while to settle. I just think it's a fantastic

02:28window really. Obviously, Daniel Maldon, haven't even mentioned him as well, from Dortmund.

02:32Potentially should have had his first goal against Wolves, a controversial one ruled

02:35out there, but Villa fans could be very excited indeed.

02:37And obviously, just the fact they are in the Champions League, do you feel like that has

02:43such a huge bit of a pull for some of these top players?

02:47Rashford said in his interview that that was one of the main reasons he joined and

02:50speaking to Emery as well. And Asensio, of course, wanted to continue to play in the

02:54Champions League. Unai Emery, such a huge pull for this football club and Villa fans

02:58are reaping the rewards.

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