A month ago, when trying to lure Mauricio Pochettino back to the Premier League, The Telegraph reported that Aston Villa were willing to hand the former Tottenham Hotspur boss around £100 million to spend on transfers in the New Year.
In the end, it would be Unai Emery, rather than Pochettino, settling into a seat that once belonged to Steven Gerrard on the Villa Park bench. But the identity of their head coach does not alter the fact that, with Wes Edens and Nayef Sawiris pulling the strings, this is an Aston Villa side more than willing to put their money where their mouth is.
And money is not something they are short of either.
Unai Emery has big transfer plans at Aston Villa
£100 million might not go quite so far these days. We live, after all, in an era where newly-promoted clubs such as Fulham and Nottingham Forest can invest nine-figure sums in their squad. But such deep pockets should still give Emery the opportunity to put his stamp on a roster bearing the fingerprints of Gerrard and Dean Smith.
According to Mundo Deportivo and 90Min, Emery is likely to do much of his shopping in a market he knows well. Real Sociedad’s Mikel Merino is one player he would love to bring in. Ditto Pau Torres; a silky, Spain international centre-half who blossomed into one of Europe’s best under Emery at Villarreal.
“Pau Torres is an amazing player,” the former Arsenal and PSG coach told Football London. “I think he’s top. I’ve been a coach at Sevilla, PSG, Arsenal and I’ve never seen a centre-back like Pau Torres.
“I think he’s going to play at the highest level. He’s playing now in the national team, but he can play in the top teams in Europe very soon.”
‘Pau Torres is an amazing player’
Left-footed and terrific both with and without the ball at their feet, Torres and Merino would certainly raise the technical ceiling at Villa Park, while also asking some serious questions about two of Aston Villa’s more long-serving squad members.
As well as Tyrone Mings and John McGinn have served Villa over the last few years, there’s little doubt that Torres and Merino – both of whom have been capped by Spain – would represent serious upgrades both at centre-half and in the centre of midfield.
Sociedad coach Imanol Alguacil previously labelled Merino, once of Newcastle United, as ‘the best player in La Liga’. No one in Spain’s top flight has more than his six assists in 2022/23, while Merino’s defensive numbers are almost identical to McGinn’s too.
From Villarreal to Villa Park
Further forward, the Daily Mail names Nicolas Jackson as another player on Emery’s radar. Like Torres, the fleet-footed forward came on leaps and bounds under Emery at Villarreal. 21-year-old Jackson is a striker in the Ollie Watkins mould; speedy, versatile and capable of stretching defences with his movement and pace.
Emery, interestingly, has a track record of getting the best out of players in Jackson’s mould.
And if Jackson is the cheese, let us introduce you to the chalk. Vedat Muriqi, linked via Il Messaggero, is about as far-removed from Jackson as it’s possible to get. A bearded, brawny, 6ft 4in2 battering ram likened to Robert Lewandowski and Erling Haaland; Real Mallorca’s popular Kosovo international would give Aston Villa a completely different dimension in the final third.
They haven’t really had an old-school targetman since returning to the Premier League in 2019. But the £17 million-rated Muriqi, who scored eight goals in 12 La Liga games before the World Cup break, would certainly buck that particular trend.
Now, assuming for a second that Emery manages to bring in all four players between now and September 2023, Aston Villa’s outlay would likely stray well beyond the £100 million mark. Torres, after all, costs a minimum of £40 million. Merino, meanwhile, has a £55 million release clause in his Real Sociedad contract.
But Villa could help raise further funds via the sale of many an unwanted squad player. Marvelous Nakamba, Frederic Guilbert, Morgan Sanson, to name but three. What’s more, it’s unlikely Emery would have signed on the dotted line at Villa Park without first being guaranteed of heavy investment.
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