Tony Cascarino reacts to comparisons between Aston Villa & Fulham

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Aston Villa have been spending big since their promotion to the Premier League in May.

TalkSport pundit Tony Cascarino has made it clear that Aston Villa will not do another ‘Fulham’ as he believes Dean Smith’s background proves he has been pretty much ‘spot on’ in his recruitment.

Last season, newly-promoted Fulham surpassed the £100 million mark in the transfer market by signing a number of big-name players, but that only resulted in them going straight back down to the Championship.

At this moment in time, Villa have secured the services of seven players, and with more players still yet to come in, they will more than likely pass that £100 million mark during this window.

That has led to comparisons between Villa and Fulham, but former striker Tony Cascarino made it clear on TalkSport’s Weekend Sports Breakfast (13/07/2019 at 8:30 am), that the Midlands outfit will not make the same mistakes as the London club.

“If you look at Dean Smith and the background of Brentford and how they did their recruitment, they got it pretty much spot on,” Cascarino told TalkSport. “And he was part of that.

“I think the recruitment at Fulham felt like it was just literally throw up names, they didn’t really think how they were going to put the jigsaw together. I think Villa isn’t that. Under Dean Smith, he has shown that he is quite a smart manager in the way he goes about his business, who he brings in because they have to fit in the way Villa play.

“I think it’s a little unfair to compare with Fulham because they literally went and bought. And it never looked quite right. I don’t think that will be the case with Villa.”

One of Villa’s biggest purchases this summer, and perhaps unexpected ones, was the signing of Club Brugge striker Wesley Moraes for £22 million [Guardian] – a club-record fee for the Midlands outfit.

Following Villa’s play-off final win against Derby, they released a number of senior players, and their loan players returned to their parent clubs, which meant Smith had to fill the void left by those players.

Three of Villa’s loan stars did return on a permanent basis, with Kortney Hause joining from Wolves, winger Anwar El Ghazi, who scored in the play-off final, making the switch from Lille and the ever-popular Tyrone Mings signing from Bournemouth.