View: The disastrous Aston Villa transfer window that shows how fast they have progressed
Aston Villa had a horrific January 2020 transfer window and made some of the worst signings in the club’s history, but it highlights the rapid progression of the club.
Dean Smith’s side were desperately trying to avoid immediate relegation back to the Championship and already needed new signings.
Villa stepped into the new decade with a massively important win over Burnley on New Year’s Day, but two injuries sent them into panic mode.
Striker Wesley was crunched by Ben Mee, leaving him with a knee injury that kept him out until April 2021.
Just minutes later, goalkeeper Tom Heaton suffered yet another long-term injury that ended his Villa career just five months after signing for the club.
Both of these injuries, combined with John McGinn breaking his ankle just before Christmas sent Villa into panic mode.
The signings people may want to forget
Villa would replace all three of their injured stars, but they would not exactly replace them well.
McGinn was replaced first, with Villa loaning in Chelsea flop Danny Drinkwater until the end of the season.
His debut coincided with a 6-1 defeat to Manchester City and things only went downhill from there.
Drinkwater made just four appearances for Villa, with the most notable thing he did being headbutting winger Jota in training.
Next up was goalkeeper Pepe Reina on loan from AC Milan, who was thankfully quite decent in a Villa shirt.
However, Reina put in possibly the worst goalkeeping performance in Premier League history in a 4-0 defeat to Leicester and was subsequently dropped after Project Restart.
Villa’s new striker came next, with Tanzanian hitman Mbwana Samatta coming in from Belgian side Genk.
Initially, Samatta lit up Villa’s season, scoring two in his first five games and forcing an own goal from Spurs in another. However, after Project Restart he simply was not the same player and he immediately lost his place to Keinan Davis.
Villa squeezed in one last signing during January, that being striker Borja Baston on a free transfer from Swansea City. All that needs to be said about Baston is he only came close to scoring once and even that was an own goal against Tottenham.
Compare that to Villa now, with almost every signing in the two-and-a-half years since being a hit.
The likes of Emiliano Martinez, Philippe Coutinho, Boubacar Kamara and Diego Carlos wearing Villa colours is a testament to how far Villa have come so soon.
While fans may be frustrated with the radio silence coming out of Villa Park right now, keep this window in mind and remember it could be far worse.
In other Aston Villa news, former Villa hotshot Josh Webb has revealed how the club cares for released youngsters.