John Townley's notebook: Villa 'players of interest' meeting, PSR reality & McGinn's dance moves

Aston Villa captain John McGinn will be hoping to cause the first upset in Euro 2024 as Scotland take on hosts Germany on Friday night at the Munich Football Arena.

It's set to be a busy summer for a number of Villa stars with the Euros and Copa America taking place in the coming weeks. Unai Emery's first-team are due to jet out to the USA for their pre-season tour roughly a week-and-a-half after the Euro 2024 final, after friendlies against Walsall at the Bescot Stadium and then Spartak Trnava at the Anton Malatinsky Stadium.

Ezri Konsa and Ollie Watkins were both rewarded for their exceptional seasons with a place in the England squad, while Youri Tielemans was called up to the Belgian squad. Emi Martinez, Douglas Luiz and Jhon Duran will represent Argentina, Brazil and Colombia at the Copa America respectively.

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JOHN McGINN'S DANCE MOVES

England are due to land in Germany today ahead of their first Group C game against Serbia on Sunday after Scotland arrived yesterday in preparation for the tournament opener against Germany.

McGinn pulled out some dance moves at a welcome party with a video of the Villa midfielder taking part in a traditional Bavarian dance was shared by the Scottish National Team official X account. Steve Clarke’s side are based in the alpine town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and soon after checking into the team hotel, the Scots were off to a local hall where they were cheered off the bus by locals and some Tartan Army.

That's where McGinn joined three dancers on stage to the delight of everyone in the room as a typical German band accompanied them.

Speaking ahead of Friday, boss Clarke said: “Obviously in a four-team group with three matches it is very important to get off to a good start. We recognise difficult opponents but hopefully Germany find us equally as difficult.

“I thought this would be a special place for a base camp and what a welcome. I think you will be fabulous hosts and I hope we can be a fabulous football team."

MARTINEZ KEEPS ANOTHER CLEAN SHEET

Across the pond, Villa goalkeeper Martinez was doing his thing for Argentina as he kept a yet another clean sheet for La Albiceleste. They beat Ecuador 1-0 in the early hours of Monday morning at Soldier Field in Chicago.

Villa will be heading to the 61,000-capacity stadium in early August to play against Club America. The Copa America final is on July 15, a day before the Euro 2024 final. If Argentina go all the way this summer, then Martinez will likely be given some time off before starting his preparations for the new Premier League season with Villa.

At least that's the plan at the moment. The 30-year-old is desperate to compete for a gold medal with his country this summer at the Paris Olympics.

Martinez claims he is willing to "fight" the club's stance to secure his place as one of the three overage players allowed in Argentina's men's Olympic football squad. He believes there is still a small chance he could feature at the Olympics despite the men's football tournament starting just 10 days after the Copa America final.

If Argentina secured their place in the final, Martinez would have a week before the start of the new Premier League season. Villa have also blocked France from calling up Lucas Digne and Moussa Diaby to play at the Olympics.

CLARET & BLUE CATCH-UP

PSR REALITY

The summer transfer window opens this Friday and Villa have done the groundwork on a number of targets already. They are well prepared for a crucial window after securing Champions League football last term.

Last Friday, Monchi posted a picture taken by Emery around a table with Villa's key recruitment staff with the caption: "Work day. Up the Villa." On the table was a document, which appeared to be titled: "Players of interest."

Due to the strain caused by Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), Villa must be clever in the market, with reports indicating that the club may have to sell before the end of the month. Football finance expert Stefan Borson claims that Villa's issues are unlikely to be solved after one transfer window.

“Villa are another club that has a PSR issue for this season despite the fact that they qualified for the Champions League,” Borson told Football Insider.

“There’s a good chance they’ll have an issue for next season as well because what is likely to happen is they’ll have an uplift in wages from the Champions League.

“A number of players will have a wage uplift within their contracts. On top of that, they will still want to invest in the squad this summer which will drive amortisation costs up.

“So Villa have some big issues in terms of the way PSR is framed at the moment. Therefore it was not a surprise that they were seeking to have the limits increased by £30 million.“

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