Pundit moots potential transfer overdrive at Aston Villa as Jack Grealish joke made ahead of January push
We’re delighted to welcome former Aston Villa full-back Alan Hutton as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Villa Park…
Aston Villa could be set to head into transfer overdrive as they look to improve Unai Emery’s squad for the second half of the Premier League season, according to Alan Hutton.
Emery’s side have found themselves in a race not only for the Champions League places but also for the Premier League title, with scouts said to be networking at this very moment.
So far, the January transfer window has been quiet at Villa Park, with the only arrival close to being completed Kosta Nedeljkovic after Fabrizio Romano (17 January) confirmed that the right-back was set to undergo a medical with Emery’s team.
Hutton believes that it has become hard for Aston Villa to recruit from within the Premier League because of the calibre of players they target in the transfer window, but that hasn’t stopped him from drawing up an impressive wish list.
“De Bruyne, Haaland, bring Jack back, Rodri,” Hutton told Villa News.
“I’m only joking, there’s a lot of options out there, I mean it’s hard to really nail them down because a lot of the ones I would say, wouldn’t be available. I mean they’re top players for top teams so it’s hard to kind of say that.
“Listen the club will be out there scouting, networking and seeing who they can bring in to make the squad better and I think that’s where they’ll be at this moment in time.”
With just over a week left of the January transfer window, it will be interesting to see what sort of, if any, business Aston Villa complete in the closing stages of the month. A new number nine has been mooted repeatedly, but that could be a tough deal to get over the line.
As Hutton suggests, Villa and Emery may well be preparing more for the summer window when they know what sort of budget they’ll be working with before completing a mass recruitment drive during the off-season.
In other Aston Villa news, Hutton has suggested that Ollie Watkins can help Villa complete a transfer that “ticks all the boxes”
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