Tony Xia has reflected on what was a busy January for Aston Villa.
Aston Villa owner Tony Xia has taken to Twitter to reflect on the club’s January transfer activity, having made a whopping eight new signings last month.
Villa needed new arrivals having slipped well off the pace in the pursuit of a top six finish, and Tuesday’s thumping 3-0 defeat at Brentford means that a play-off place looks all but impossible right now.
Manager Steve Bruce was backed with new signings in January though, with eight players arriving at Villa Park to not only try and improve Villa this season, but also for the years ahead under Bruce.
Lasse Vibe of Brentford and Henri Lansbury of Aston Villa in action
Goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, right back James Bree and left back Neil Taylor arrived from Manchester United, Barnsley and Swansea City respectively, in order to boost the Villa back line, whilst teenage defender Jacob Bedeau joined from Bury with a view to being a star of the future.
Bruce clearly wanted to boost his midfield, and with Ashley Westwood and Aaron Tshibola leaving for Burnley and Nottingham Forest respectively, Birkir Bjarnason, Conor Hourihane and Henri Lansbury have all arrived in midfield.
New owner Dr Tony Xia during the press conference
Finally, having allowed Jordan Ayew and Ross McCormack to join Swansea City and Nottingham Forest respectively, Villa brought in a striker just moments before the deadline, as Scott Hogan joined in a big-money deal from Brentford.
As one of the most active Championship teams in the January transfer window, Villa have seen plenty of ins and outs, and will hope to see greater rewards than they saw from various summer arrivals who have already left the club.
After the deadline passed, owner Tony Xia took to Twitter to send a message, welcoming the new faces and preaching stability for the club as they attempt to bed new signings in at Villa Park.
Xia added that he has had sleepless nights over his Chinese New Year break in order to get signings over the line, and he’s happy with the business Villa have pulled off.
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