No one could accuse Aston Villa of lacking ambition. Consistency, yes, ruthlessness, certainly, but not ambition.
The Midland giants, bankrolled by billionaires Wes Edens and Nayef Sawiris, have spent around £350 million on new players since returning to the Premier League in 2019.
Since the start of 2021, Morgan Sanson, Emi Buendia, Danny Ings, Lucas Digne, Leon Bailey have all arrived for considerable sums.
And while none of the aforementioned quintet have really lived up to expectations, all were covered by other top-flight clubs prior to signing on the dotted line. Digne was arguably the division’s finest attacking left-back last term. Sanson was the master of Marseille’s midfield. Bailey was a regular goalscorer at Leverkusen, ditto Ings at Southampton. Buendia, meanwhile, edged out Ivan Toney to claim the Championship’s Player of the Year award after firing Norwich City to the title.
And this is without mentioning Philippe Coutinho.
Ambitious Aston Villa
There’s still time for Bailey, Sanson, Digne, Buendia and Ings to make their mark in claret-and-blue. Plenty of top-quality players have struggled to settle in their debut seasons at a new club, after all.
Just imagine all five playing at the very top of their game in the same Aston Villa side. It’s a tantalising thought.
If recent rumours are anything to go by, Villa are thinking big again this summer, refusing to be put off by previous And there’s an argument to be made that luring Geoffrey Kondogbia away from Atletico Madrid – while making the La Liga-winning France international their highest earner to boot – would be the biggest statement signing yet of the Edens-Sawiris era.
A Champions League star at the peak of his powers swapping the La Liga holders for life in the Midlands. Villa have come a long way since the days of Aaron Tshibola, Tommy Elphick and Henri Lansbury, even if their current league position doesn’t quite reflect the extent of the turnaround.
Kondogbia, an £18 million signing from Valencia in 2020, is playing perhaps the most consistent and impressive football of his Atletico career right now. He was the driving force behind the Champions League triumph over Manchester United and, per the Birmingham Mail, Gerrard scouted him in the flesh against City in the quarter-finals.
Break the bank
If Villa are to lure Kondogbia away from the Wanda Metropolitano, they will have to put their money where their mouth is.
Fortunately, Villa have more money than most.
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Mundo Deportivo claim that, in order to convince Kondogbia, the Midland giants must stump up over £120,000-a-week. That would see the former Sevilla, Inter Milan and Monaco star replace Coutinho and Ings as the club’s highest earner.
Though, as Aston Villa have proven again and again since breaking free of their Championship prison, they’re not afraid to speculate in order to accumulate, even if money is clearly no guarantee of success at Bodymoor Heath.
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