IHere's a pattern in Aston Villa's recent transfer business. It's not that their squad was too old last season. They had the fifth-oldest starting XI in the 20. Premier league Both teams achieved their best result in 28 years, qualifying for the Champions League for the first time. But coach Unai Emery and president of football operations Monchi have been working hard to improve the squad in the transfer market, almost exclusively with players in their early 20s.
Villa have signed Amadou Onana (22), Ian Maatsen (22), Cameron Archer (22), Jaden Philogene (22), Samuel Iling-Junior (20), Lewis Dobbin (21), Enzo Barrenechea (23) and, as the only exception, 30-year-old Ross Barkley. There is also the possibility of 18-year-old Kosta Nedeljkovic joining the first team, having signed in January before returning on loan to Red Star Belgrade for the remainder of the season.
Given the players Villa signed in the winter window – Morgan Rogers (22), Lino Sousa (19) and back-up goalkeeper Joe Gauci (24) – work is clearly underway to reduce the age profile of the squad.
The average age of Villa's squad last season was 27 years and 149 days. Only four clubs had older starting XIs, but there's nothing wrong with that in itself: Manchester City's line-up was, on average, just 113 days younger than Villa's and they did well, but the club is now looking to the future.
Key first-team players Lucas Digne and Diego Carlos are both over 30, and John McGinn turns 30 in October. Most of Villa’s regular starters last season were in their prime, which is fine for the moment but not ideal for the long term. Emery gave just 658 minutes of league action to players under 21, and all but 38 of those minutes went to Tim Iroegbunam, who has now left for Everton, and Jhon Duran, who appears to be doing everything he can to force a move away from the club.
Villa have clearly decided to prioritise youth in the transfer market, but they also want players who can slot into the team straight away. In the cases of Onana (£50m) and Maatsen (£37.5m), that has meant paying a lot of money. Onana brings ball-winning ability to midfield, averaging 3.1 tackles per 90 minutes last season (the sixth-most among Premier League midfielders who have played at least 2,000 minutes), as well as aerial presence and plenty of technical ability.
Maatsen is more of a modern left-back than Digne, preferring to play short rather than getting up and down the touchline and delivering balls into the box, so he offers a suitable alternative on that front. Maatsen had an 89.4% pass success rate in the Bundesliga last season while on loan from Chelsea to Borussia Dortmund, while attempting just 1.7 crosses from open play per 90 minutes – for comparison, Digne completed just 81.4% of his passes in the Premier League, but made 4.6 crosses from open play per 90 minutes.
On the other hand, Villa have done cheaper business with players who will start as substitutes before, hopefully, becoming starters. The decision to re-sign Archer from Sheffield United and Philogene from Hull City raised questions, but those players have actually just gone out on a year's loan and have now returned to the club with a year's first-team experience, even if Philogene cost significantly more than he was sold for.
As one of Sheffield United’s few shining stars last season, Archer proved he’s more than capable of playing at this level, and Philogene showcased his attacking potential at Hull. He led the Championship in 2023-24 in terms of the number of times he took a shot or created a chance following a run (doing so 2.7 times per 90 minutes on average), and was also Hull’s top scorer with 12 goals and their top assister with six.
Iling-Junior and Dobbin are two very promising prospects who will need playing time at the top level. Iling-Junior made 24 appearances for Juventus in Serie A last season, racking up 801 minutes for a European football giant, so he is likely to feature regularly. He also played 90 minutes in the Coppa Italia final, so has invaluable experience in winning a major trophy.
Dobbin was expected to shine again last season after a year on loan at Derby, where he played regularly in the Championship, but he struggled to make an impact at Everton, where he was given just 286 minutes on the pitch. He will hope that a move to Villa will reignite his career. However, both he and Iling-Junior (as well as Philogene) play on the wing, so there is plenty of competition for places on the wing.
Barrenechea is the most unknown of the bunch, but having spent last season on loan from Juventus at Serie A side Frosinone – where he started 32 of 38 league games and came on as a substitute in four of the remaining six – he has a year of top-flight football under his belt. Barrenechea is a deep-lying midfield coach who is very comfortable on the ball and likes to dictate play while rarely getting close to the opposition goal, as his heat map from last season shows. He also brings tenacity to the midfield, although he can throw himself into tackles too easily – he picked up 10 yellow cards in the league last season.
All of this adds up to a major overhaul of the Villa squad and a group that will be exciting for years to come. There are those who argue that Emery should have turned to the club's academy rather than signing players, but, with so much at stake and the club now in the Champions League, the manager perhaps didn't want to take too many risks.
One way to mitigate that risk is to bring in experienced players. After signing Barkley, Villa have been linked with Juan FelixRaphinha and Kalvin Phillips, who would add Premier League and Champions League experience to the team.
It's an exciting time at Villa Park. If the club's summer transfer business works out, things could continue like this for a while longer.
