Summer Transfer Window
Aston Villa have had squad overhauls in transfer windows before and they’re not always guaranteed to move the club in the right direction. Take last year, for example, talk about a false dawn. But of course, this summer’s overhaul will hopefully address the mistakes of that one and set Villa back on course to a return to the top table.
In an attempt to revive what had become a rotten and disillusioned squad, leadership was sought, as was legitimate previous success at Championship level. In terms of the moral of the squad, the outs were as important as the in’s.
In short, when you see the below lists of transfer activity, Robert Di Matteo, CEO Keith Wyness and owner Tony Xia certainly tackled the task head-on with a mass overhaul.
So lets take a look at five reasons to be cheerful as Villa fans after the summer transfer window…
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5. Leadership Spine
A lack of on field leadership has been a major of concern over the past few seasons with it culminating in relegation last term. It was a quality that was clearly identified by Villa’s management this summer and focused on.
Bringing in experienced captains in the form of Tommy Elphick, Mile Jedinak and Ross McCormack will no doubt transform the dressing room and on pitch spirit of the team.
Having character and players that will fight for the cause will be vital in the promotion push, as the Championship would potentially be a slog and will require a lot of will power, drive and a relentless nature.
Last season, visiting teams pretty much expected three points at Villa Park, now with these three players alone, no team will get anything from Villa Park without a battle.
Also, such characters will present better role models for Villa’s younger players to follow, than say the likes of Gabby, Lescott and co.
Also, at the recent Fans Consultation Meeting meeting MOMS was told that incoming player’s personalities are being looking at to make sure the club get players with the right mentality.
sadly, we had no leadership, which stems from the chairman downwards, for the last 4 years. Lerner lost interest and gave the club no direction handing the reigns over to Lambert who had too much on his plate avoiding the drop. Sherwood was a breath of fresh air for a time but then he got no backing in the transfer market and his recruitment, even though he can’t take all the blame was awful. Newcastle went down the same path a season before with Pardew and recruited many players from the French league, who couldn’t adapt to PL pace. One or two – yes not half a dozen!
We must applaud Xia and his team for turning the club around as I could only see us going in one direction like the famous Yorkshire trio of clubs.
It may take another season , it all depends how well the players gel and how they are missed going to the African nations.