2026 Summer Transfer Window; An extensive round-up.

After coming out of what was undoubtedly one of the most bizzare transfer windows in the history of our football club, a round up post felt sincerely appropriate.

To be honest, contrary to what the first two results may lead one to think, I have quite enjoyed discussing Villa and football in general recently. Maybe winning the Europa League just takes the edge of things, remembering the magical night in which we ended our 30 year wait for a trophy.

However, there is certainly one thing that no Aston Villa fan could have saw coming, and that was that we would lose over half of that Europa League winning squad this summer. Deja vu for the older generation of fans, one may claim? There will be many on the site who more than likely look back at the European Cup win in 1982 and think we should’ve built more of a dynasty with the team we had at the time, but instead we were relegated just a few years later.

There’s one thing I am fairly certain about, and that is the fact that with Unai Emery, unless the team is utterly woeful and clearly in the bottom three teams in the league (which won’t happen with our finances), we will never actually get relegated for as long as we keep the manager.

Now, to the wider point of the article, an honest overview of Aston Villa’s transfer business this summer;

According to Transfermarkt.co.uk (which is where I will be taking all financial information from) Villa generated an income of €360.25m euros, and had an expenditure of €300.2m.

Big departures included the sale of Morgan Rogers to Chelsea for €138m, the sale of Ezri Konsa to Arsenal for €59.6m, the sale of Ollie Watkins to Al Hilal for €58.40m and finally, the sale of Youri Tielemans to Manchester United for €41m. Notably, long time servant and iconic goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, who won two Yashin awards with us, also departed for Chelsea for a fee of €8.75m. Additionally, Lucas Digne joined PSG for €7m, in very good spirit having left in a fantastic manner after serving as a superb professional for our club.

It’s very easy to look at the financial aspect of these transfers, where I actually think we received above value for pretty much all of the sales mentioned, however one thing I noticed was the amount of big players we sold to Premiership rivals. There’s no doubt that Rogers, Tielemans, Konsa and Martinez all had their heads turned as soon as their respective new clubs approached them, but it was a shock to see the club make four fairly significant sales to rival Premier League opponents, who have a fair likelihood of being near us in the league come the end of the campaign.

Overall, in terms of sales, I thought we sold quite well. It wasn’t ideal to lose a whopping SIX players who started in the Europa League final in Istanbul, but thankfully we got hefty fees for them all, barring the two who’s stock was very low due to their age. Mind you, a Premiership club would not have paid anywhere near the fee for Watkins I doubt, so I am thankful for the interest from Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal. These sales truly initiated the beginning of an Unai Emery built Aston Villa team, and could be a landmark in our history. There is no doubt fans will remember for the rest of their time following Villa the year where we won the European Cup and then sold half the team the following summer window.

A very small mention of the sale of Leon Bailey to Olympiacos, who only ever found his feat in very small phases. Some players just aren’t cut out for the Premiership, and unfortunately I think he would’ve been better of staying in Germany. I hope he finds his feet in Greece. On the contrary, the sale of Donyell Malen also came under this window, I won’t even discuss that one, you know my thoughts – what a disaster.

In terms of incomings, another one for the history books. The photo of Unai Emery stood next to his brand new team, undoubtedly sanctioned by the media team to instill confidence into the minds of the fanbase who frequently keep up with the club digitally, is mind-blowing. To think we’ve brought in that many players, and that Unai Emery finally has his team after bringing success with a team made up of signings from Gerrard, Smith and Bruce, is exciting to think about.

Signficant incomings include Johan Manzambi from Freiburg for €60m, Nicolas Jackson from Chelsea for €55.5m, the surprise signing of Ibrahim Mbaye for €55m, the signing of Joao Gomes from geographical rivals Wolves for €40m, the replacement for Emi Martinez – Zion Suzuki for €30m from Parma, the much needed centre-back Taylor Harwood-Bellis for €30m, Matteo Ruggeri from Athletico Madrid for €25m, Cisse from LASK for €5.5m, and the serial winner Leon Goretzka on a free transfer, previously having played for Bayern Munich. Loan incomings also include Alejandro Garnacho and Aaron Wan-Bissaka.

Well, that list speaks for itself. What a summer of signings for the club! Whilst we have had to sell significant players to facilitate a summer window of this magnitude, there is no doubt that Unai Emery has intentionally dragged the average age of the team down significantly, whilst holding onto key players such as our captain John McGinn to maintain the club’s stability. This seems like such a calculated window from Emery and the board, and following a summer of close media attention due to the players we’ve lost, I really think we have something to prove, and that if all of these players reach their full potential at the same time then we really have a squad that can be serious title challengers in years to come.

All I know is that, whether I am alone in this or not, I feel very positively about the direction that this summer window has taken our club in as a whole, and whilst it has generated extensive noise from pundits and media companies across the footballing world, it’s important to note that it will take time for the squad to gel and find their feet, also recognising the fact that we do not have much time playing in the best league in the world.

I cannot single out players I am excited about, because I honestly see something in all of them, but I just can’t wrap my head around the signing of an 18-year-old from PSG for excess fifty million euros – he has to be good, surely?

I am keeping a very positive and patient head on, and I urge the rest of the forum to do so too. Now, to those who are still reading this extensive round-up, I will end on a massive UP THE VILLA!