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Emery will 'not mess around' with 'settled' starters at Aston Villa with new signings set for 'slow' integration
We’re delighted to welcome Sky Sports journalist Dan Bardell as our exclusive Aston Villa columnist each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the club…
Aston Villa’s new signings Pau Torres and Youri Tielemans are set for a delayed integration into the squad next season as they may struggle to displace the “settled” Villa starting lineup, according to Dan Bardell.
The club jet off to the United States for the Premier League Summer Series pre-season competition on Wednesday (19 July) with their new summer additions Pau Torres and Youri Tielemans.
Their new marquee signings will no doubt earn themselves starting spots over the course of the new season, with Torres’ clear quality and familiarity with Unai Emery’s system and Tielemans’ significant Premier League experience.
Bardell claims that the new signings must show their worth to Emery before the new season kicks off, but Emery may not be in a rush to immediately integrate them due to Villa’s convincing end to the last campaign
Speaking exclusively to Villa News, Bardell said: “I don’t think many first-team players have a point to prove because of how well they did at the back end of last season. It’s probably the new players that have more of a point to prove as they have to get into the team.
“I don’t think it’s going to be easy for Tielemans, as good as he is, to displace Douglas Luiz and Boubacar Kamara at the start of the season. You can’t not start Konsa and Mings either because of their partnership at the back end of last season.
“Initially, probably the new players have the point to prove. That team was so settled and did so well that they’ve kind of earned the shirt to start the new season.
“I think Emery will probably do that, he won’t mess around too much with the team before the start of the season. Tielemans and Torres are the two who have got to prove something.
“But I like that we’ve signed two new players, high-profile players, and I don’t think they have to necessarily come into the team straight away. We’ve got the flexibility and the means to integrate them slowly and get used to the Emery methods and get used to the club.
“There’s no rush, which is a really good thing.“
In other Aston Villa news, Villa target Joao Felix could be edging closer to a move to Birmingham as PSG pull out of the race for the forward.