Aston Villa face ten crucial days as their transfer restructure begins to take shape

The transfer window has been open a little over a week, but the world and his wife have been linked with moves to Aston Villa long before this period, within which clubs can conduct business, began. Villa are needing to make an early start to their recruitment drive because of a busy pre-season period and with Champions League football on the horizon - Unai Emery will hope for in-roads to have been made ahead of the curve by Monchi.

Villa's hand is being forced, though. After posting significant losses in March, for the 2022-23 season, the Lions are having to take care in order to stay away from breaching the PSR rules which other Premier League clubs have already been punished for falling foul of. More losses are expected to the 2023-24 campaign, which will be revealed next spring, but in order to ensure they don't lose more than permitted, they will have to sell.

Villa have been a very active club full stop since rejoining the Premier League elite in 2019. Their first summer back in the top flight was particularly busy, and since then they've been at the centre of huge transfer deals for the likes of Emi Buendia, Jack Grealish, Pau Torres and Moussa Diaby, to name but a few. They've routinely broken club records for purchases and sales in recent years, but this summer could be especially busy - both for ins and outs.

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Emery had previously indicated that he didn't expect to see too many new players walk through the door, but with a number of players likely to leave the club in the coming weeks and months, many of them will need to be succeeded by personnel who possess the sufficient quality to compete in the Champions League. The cogs are already beginning to turn for Villa, who face ten days before the end of the financial year to get their balance sheet in order.

Off the field, Villa have worked tirelessly to increase revenue by improving the sponsorship deals and also offer more to supporters by way of a matchday experience ahead of the new season, but nevertheless they're going to have to raise funds.

The players who could leave

Villa's squad felt small at the back end of last season; injuries had stretched Emery's options to the limit and, after 37 matches of giving everything in order to secure a top four finish, they rather gave out at Crystal Palace on the final day. While the squad felt skeletal then, the truth is it's a decent sized group when everyone is fit and the loanees have returned. This is where the money must be made - initially trimming the fringes and reducing the wage-bill.

Villa have Philippe Coutinho and Leander Dendoncker returning to the club, but both players are expected to be allowed to leave - indeed the former could have his contract terminated by mutual agreement. Cameron Archer, meanwhile, could leave the club as quickly as he has returned, following Sheffield United's relegation. Other fringe players like Calum Chambers and Kortney Hause - who have a year left on their deals - could also leave.

Villa must look to the first-team to raise money, too. Douglas Luiz's protracted move to Juventus is regrettably a sale which is necessary, while Jhon Duran at this moment appears likely to join Chelsea and could make Villa a tidy profit on what they spent on him 18 months ago. Tim Iroebgunam could move to Everton and that'd be a 'pure profit' deal which helps Villa's books.

The full-back areas are positions in which the Lions are expected to address. All three of Matty Cash, Lucas Digne and Alex Moreno have all been linked with moves away this summer, the former to AC Milan. Diego Carlos, the centre half who has two more years remaining on his contract which he signed when arriving from Sevilla, has interest from the Serie A side too. In all, it could be a busier summer than perhaps even Emery was anticipating.

The players who could arrive

Clearly, not every player who could leave either can be replaced or needs replacing. Villa have to be, as Emery puts it, intelligent in the way they go about their recruitment process this summer. For all the success they've had from Messrs Luiz, Kamara, Konsa, Martinez and Watkins, there have been too many transfer deals which haven't paid dividends for the Lions too, in the last five years.

The full-back areas and the midfield are areas which are expected to be spotlighted. Villa have Tyrone Mings and Emi Buendia to come back and provide more depth and quality to their respective areas of the squad, but with Luiz set to leave and Kamara not back until August at the earliest, midfield needs reinforcements.

Ross Barkley, currently on holiday, is due to return after Luton's relegation, in which he excelled despite the Hatters' demise. Ian Maatsen, the Chelsea left-back, is the subject of an agreement, too. As part of the Luiz deal with Juve, they're set to return players as part of a players-plus-cash deal - while the West McKennie component of the arrangement looks to be in doubt, midfielder Enzo Barrenechea could now join Samuel Iling-Junior in Birmingham.

Villa also have a longstanding interest in Chelsea midfielder and the player who ended their season as captain, Conor Gallagher. He is currently away with England at the Euros, but Emery is a fan and has identified him as a player who can bring more energy to the engine room. Chelsea, like Villa with Iroegbunam, Archer or Jacob Ramsey, will treat prospective sales like Gallagher and Trevoh Chalobah favourably because of the pure profit nature of those deals.

Speaking of which, another promising young player might be heading to Villa in the opposite direction of Iroegbunam - reports have emerged that exciting Toffees striker Lewis Dobbin has opened talks about switching from Merseyside to the Midlands.

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