How Johan Manzambi Signs for Villa Despite the UEFA Settlement

Johan Manzambi to Villa Now Makes Sense

A €60m move for Johan Manzambi’s looked like reckless business under Villa’s UEFA settlement, until Youri Tielemans’ £35m release clause showed exactly how the maths worked.

The transfer of Johan Manzambi to Aston Villa was first publicly announced on the pitch at Kansas City Stadium, at the end of Argentina’s 3-1 extra-time World Cup win over Switzerland, when Emiliano Martínez asked Manzambi during the end-of-game handshakes if he was coming to Villa (see video below). Manzambi confirmed it, there and then, before a word of it had reached the press.

Manzambi’s Attributes

Villa supporters have at least already had a glimpse at what they’re getting. Manzambi was on the pitch at the Beşiktaş Stadium in May and ended up with the Europa League Young Player of the Season award.

In Istanbul, he proved to be a constant box-to-box presence for SC Freiburg, quick, snappy in the tackle, happy to carry the ball in midfield, always looking for the pass forward, happy to shoot from range (although not repeating against Martínez, the long-range goal against Braga in the semi-final). Villa also witnessed his long throw, the sort of genuine set-piece weapon Austin MacPhee will already be planning for.

Thirteen goal involvements in his first season as a regular starter, seven goals and six assists in 38 Bundesliga appearances across two seasons, and a World Cup that produced three goals and two assists, including a double against Bosnia and Herzegovina, made him the youngest player to reach five goal involvements at a single tournament since records began in 1966.

What neither Manzambi nor Martínez could have known at that point was quite how much had been worked out to make the numbers add up. 

The Maths of Manzambi

For a while, the maths didn’t obviously stack up.

After Amadou Onana’s injury at the World Cup, the FIFA’s Club Protection Programme will be reimbursing a major portion of the player’s wages while he’s unavailable, worth up to €7.5m, and certainly had a positive effect on the Manzambi transfer. Then Louie Barry’s move to Sheffield Wednesday took a wage in excess of £35,000 a week off the books for a player who made one senior cup appearance. Lewis Dobbin’s proposed £9m sale to Southampton and Donyell Malen, Jadon Sancho, and Harvey Elliott no longer being on the books, added further still to the repositioning.

Whether that was enough alone, to then drop a €60m fee on a single player would have been seen as negligent in terms of squad building under the UEFA settlement shadow, but the news of Manchester United triggering Youri Tielemans’ £35m release clause made it make sense.

Lucas Digne, another of Villa’s main wage earners and 33 next week, is expected to move to PSG, pointing to Villa doing something about the fact they were the second-oldest squad in the Premier League last season by minutes played.

Bringing in a 20-year-old like Manzambi isn’t just about clearing a UEFA hurdle, it’s a squad reshaping itself around age as much as ability. Villa could potentially see Tielemans and Digne as worthwhile sacrifices if they end up keeping 23-year-old Morgan Rogers.

Manzambi Concerns

For a 20-year-old who has essentially had just one full senior season, the fee, roughly £51m once the €60m is converted to sterling, sits at the top end of what you’d ideally want to pay. 

While the Swiss midfielder is an undoubted dynamic talent, there are still question marks about his temperament having received two red cards in the Bundesliga last season. It is a clue to his tenacity though, which should make him a hit with supporters.

Ideally £30m would have been more the ballpark for getting in early on a talent, but the recent shop window exposure of the World Cup and the market forces of other interested clubs, notably the usurped Newcastle United, have pushed the price up.

The picture underneath the Manzambi deal is certainly clearer now than it was 24 hours ago, and Villa’s first serious steps in the transfer market seem to be on the right footing in terms of both pleasing UEFA and building for the future in one move. 

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