Aston Villa transfer claim made amid Liverpool and Man City competition
The latest Aston Villa transfer news as qualification for Europe this season will have an impact on transfer dealings, according to former forward Dean Saunders.
Aston Villa are shopping in a ‘different pool’ of players this summer, due to European qualification, with the club competing with the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City for signings, according to former striker Dean Saunders.
A seventh placed finish last season will see Villa play in the Europa Conference League in the new campaign. It’s a position that Saunders said the club should regularly be in.
“I think it’s a nice problem to have,” he told William Hill about the prospect of playing in Europe. “I played for Aston Villa, and I was fortunate that in my time we were trying to win every competition we entered, and the supporters expected to be at least in the top six, so hopefully the club is back where it belongs.”
A challenge for Europe came after the appointment of Unai Emery last season, with the Spaniard turning the club’s season around. The manager is expected to be backed by the club’s owners in the transfer window, having already completed the signings of Youri Tielemans and Pau Torres.
Saunders says that the backing is something that can help Villa challenge in every competition that they compete in. The prospect of playing European football, putting them on more of an even keel with the clubs they are competing with in the transfer window.
“I’ve tried telling people over the years how big of a club Aston Villa is, and it just needed a manager to come in and get the players pulling in the right direction, because from what I can gather the owners are quite wealthy, and if there’s light at the end of the tunnel, they might just throw some more money at it and then you can start competing for league titles and all the other competitions,” he added.
“If you’re a top striker playing in Italy, you’ve got options, and your agent will be telling you that there are six or seven clubs after you and then you go through them – Tottenham, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Manchester City… – and the player will now be able to say that Aston Villa are in Europe, and then it just comes to money. But if you’re not in Europe then you’re shopping in a different pool of players.”
Villa have shown their intent ahead of the new season with the big-money signing of Pau Torres, and the canny free signing of Youri Tielemans.
There’s also the small matter of a European campaign as Villa prepare to battle with other teams from abroad.
The aim is simple, to finish the highest they have done for some time in the Premier League, and to compete for trophies.
There are exciting visions on and off the field at Villa and this season is the perfect time to realise some of the club’s ambitions.
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