Aston Villa have completed pre-season ahead of the new Championship campaign, but Steve Bruce would still like some new faces in.
Steve Bruce has suggested that while he is fully aware that Aston Villa are walking a tightrope when it comes to Financial Fair Play, he would be delighted if the side could complete one or two more signings this summer, the Express and Star reports.
Villa’s summer may have been quieter so far in comparison with last year in terms of the number of additions made, but it has arguably been as eventful with the Villans, most notably, landing John Terry following his departure from Chelsea.
Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce
But while pre-season may now be done for the Championship side, Bruce admitted that, in an ideal world, he would follow up the five additions made so far with a couple more deals before the window shuts.
“At the moment I would like to box a bit clever. The one thing you can’t do is be on the thick end of Financial Fair Play. I am aware of that,” he said, as reported by the Express and Star.
“There are one or two bits bubbling along. My job is always to knock on the door and I will repeatedly knock on the door because we can never be satisfied.
“If we added one or two to what we have already got I would be really, really pleased with what we have done.”
The difficultly Villa now perhaps face is that clubs will be beginning to settle on their squads with the new season just days away, and thus, landing bargain deals may be much tougher than it would have been much earlier in the window.
Some clubs will look to bump prices up as the deadline approaches and causes panic, while other teams may desperately try to shift some of their unwanted players off their books.
Therefore, the trick for Bruce will be to find those unwanted players – presuming that they are the ones that his budget will allow moves for – who he feels could aid Villa’s chances of achieving promotion during the coming campaign.
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