Unai Emery planning summer transfer exodus at Aston Villa – journalist
Unai Emery is set to sanction the exits of up to five Aston Villa players this summer as he looks to mould his first-team squad to his needs, according to Dean Jones.
The Spaniard settled for a relatively low-key January transfer window as several key targets were either unavailable or deemed too expensive to purchase mid-season.
Instead, Emery and the Villa board trimmed down the first-team squad, giving the green light for Danny Ings to move to West Ham and Frederic Guilbert to switch to Strasbourg alongside fellow outcast Morgan Sanson.
Speaking to GiveMeSport, former Eurosport journalist Jones suggested more of the same could be in store at the end of the season.
He said: “I mean, there will be a turnover. I’m told we’ll probably be looking at four or five in terms of ones that like genuinely make a difference to the squad.
“I’ve asked around, no one seems to know exactly who it’s going to be yet because Emery seems pretty adamant that he’s leaving the stage open for anyone to perform between now and the end of the season to change his mind.”
Time for change
Emery seems to have issues wielding the axe in a brutal fashion, and this is a really promising sign of his high ambitions at the club.
When the Spaniard arrived at the club, nobody would have thought Ings would have been allowed to leave the club in January, let alone to a Premier League rival, but his willingness to do so suggests an aura of confidence.
You can’t help but feel Emery allowed Ings to move to the London Stadium because he truly doesn’t see the striker as a first-team player in his system, a cut-throat nature that many managers have lacked.
Ultimately Dean Smith was sacked by Villa for his inability to choose one of Ollie Watkins or Ings, while Gerrard was often criticised for trying to keep both Emi Buendia and Philippe Coutinho happy by chopping and changing them.
However, by allowing a host of players to leave in January and planning to release up to five more in the summer, Emery is putting a clear benchmark down on the quality he expects at Villa Park.
It’s Emery’s way or the highway.
In other Aston Villa news, the club face competition from Barcelona to secure the signing of a striker at the end of the season.