It’s going to be a tough season for Aston Villa fans. Club chairman Randy Lerner has been trying to sell the club since May, to no avail.
As a result, manager Paul Lambert has had absolutely no money to work with – all incoming players were free transfers.
In the last three seasons, Villa have come 16th, 15th and 15th. Hardly anything to crow about for a club that was once upon a time champions of Europe.
For the Midlands club to have any chance of improving on their dismal recent history, they desperately require new players. But there is no money for Lambert to use, with Lerner loathe to pump any more of his cash into a business venture that has failed abysmally.
Such is Lambert’s inability to recruit players, he has been forced to bring record-signing Darren Bent back in from the cold. The inclusions – notably Joe Cole, Philippe Senderos and Kieran Richardson – while bringing vital Premier League experience, are not fantastic inclusions by any means.
Perhaps Lambert’s best hope is that some of the players returning from injury can have a significant impact. The most obvious candidate is talisman striker Christian Benteke, but he cannot be expected to keep the club up by himself, that is, if he remains at the club after the transfer deadline. Charles N’Zogbia (achilles) and Jonas Okore (knee) both played basically no football last season, and as such, their impact won’t be substantial.
Perhaps the necessary impact can come from new assistant manager Roy Keane? Also the Republic of Ireland assistant, the former Sunderland boss has been brought in to help Lambert. In the eyes of many, Keane’s presence only serves to undermine Lambert, whose own staff have been sacked by the club over the past few months.
Don’t be surprised to see Keane take the reins before the year is out.
Key players Ron Vlaar, Fabian Delph and Gabriel Agbonlahor are all in the final year of their respective contracts. All in all, the outlook is gloomy for Mr. Lambert.
In
Tom Leggett (Southampton) Free.
Isaac Nehemie (Southampton) Free.
Philippe Senderos (Valencia) Free.
Joe Cole (West Ham) Free.
Kieran Richardson (Fulham) Free.
Out
Marc Albrighton (Leicester City) Free.
Nathan Delfouneso- Released.
Marquee signing: Joe Cole (by default).
It’s hard to choose a marquee signing when there hasn’t been a dime spent on a single player! Simply for the fact that he is the biggest name of those coming into Villa Park, Joe Cole gets the backhanded compliment here.
Cole joins from West Ham, after only 18 months back at his boyhood club, with injuries curtailing a bright start to last season. In fact, the 32 year-old has had injury issues for many years now, highlighted by his terrible time at Liverpool. It would be a surprise if Cole could play for an entire season, in fact, it would be a downright shock. The fact that he is Lambert’s marquee signing is proof of how far Villa have fallen.
Key man: Christian Benteke.
The Belgian striker has been a revelation since joining the Premier League from Genk two years ago. He scored 23 goals in an excellent debut campaign, but attracted some criticism last season, despite scoring 10 goals in 24 games.
Benteke’s World Cup dream was shattered when he ruptured his Achilles tendon in April, sidelining him until at least September. Perversely, Villa will probably benefit from his injury, given he is unlikely to pass a medical to complete a transfer before the deadline, meaning their primary source of goals will be at the club until at least January.
It’s a big year for – Darren Bent.
Villa’s record signing Darren Bent was frozen out by Paul Lambert, then farmed out to Fulham on loan last season. However, Lambert has indicated that the striker could return to the fold this season and has featured (and scored) in pre-season.
Bent will have to fill the void up front until Benteke and Libor Kozak (broken Leg) return. Another poor year and Bent’s footballing future will be cast into extreme doubt.
Manager pressure: 9/10.
Two extremely poor years and a seeming lack of improvement, in addition to his restrictions in the transfer market don’t bode well for the Scotsman. An oft forgotten fact is that Lambert has actually spent £40 million ($72m), money that has been largely wasted.
Furthermore, it’s the last year of his contract, with fans growing increasingly frustrated, particularly with cup exits to lower-league opposition. With the shadow of Roy Keane looming, Lambert has his work cut out.
Headline Villa fans want to see: ‘Villa bought by Arab billionaire.’
Headline Villa fans don’t want to see: ‘Keane sacked as Villa boss.’
Headline you WILL see: ‘Benteke chases exit.’
Prediction: 19th.
EPLextra
Roar Rookie
I think it will be somewhere between 13th and 17th. Look for the pressure to build up on the team as we have to play last season’s top six, and all but two of the teams that finished in the top half, in our first 10 matches. If we can get through that period in good shape then we should be okay, but there is a reason why Lambert is one of the favourites to be the first manager sacked. It's always hard to make predictions for the season ahead and I'm sure some of the ones we have made in the podcast will be out of date before we get underway, but its building up nicely for the season ahead. Marko
Carl
Roar Rookie
True returning from a knee injury means he will probably take some time to get back up to speed, same with Benteke and Kozak with their serious injuries as well, however, the Villa backroom staff do have a good record of getting players back into at least close to top shape if not at their best. Martin Laursen springs to mind immediately, a career blighted with injury yet during his run at the Villa it never had the same effect on his playing ability as at other clubs. Of course a lot of this is down to the player themselves and how much work they put into their rehab etc but it helps having the people around you to get you back in the game. I'm expecting Villa to win the league and Cup double lol, at least that is what we should be doing according to Football Manager...Seriously though I'm expecting a mid table finish this year, upper mid table at best baring any horrible injury runs like last season. Although I think we have the nucleus of a good team with our crop of youngsters (annoyed Marc Albrighton was allowed to leave though he seemed to have stalled in his development the last two seasons) there are definitely areas for improvement and as with any team that has a large complement of youngsters keeping concentration for a full 90' will be key, an area we didn't excel the last two seasons. Mostly looking for some good entertaining football to come back to Villa Park though (and some damned positivity from my fellow Villans, but Brummies aren't known for a positive outlook) as we had definite trouble linking play moving forward post Christmas
Ben Fraser
Roar Rookie
Appreciate the detailed comment Carl. In reference to the Arab owner, I can understand your sentiments. Thr headlines part of each preview was merely a bit of fun. I agree that Lerner put money into the club previously, thus why I deemed it a failed business venture, as he didn't get a return out of it. I did just go back and reexamine Lambert's signings and perhaps I was a bit harsh. Some of the young players he signed such as Lowton, Bacuna and Westwood were good business, as of course, was Benteke! Can't believe I made the Okore mistake, my bad! I just wouldn't expect too much from anyone coming back off knee surgery. Where have you got Villa finishing?
Ben Fraser
Roar Rookie
Thanks Marko, I'll make sure to check that out. Where did you have Villa finishing out of curiosity?
Carl
Roar Rookie
Headline Villa fans want to see: ‘Villa bought by Arab billionaire.’ Err not so much, I'd have rather that take over by the Brummie/American group had gone through. As seen at our rivals the Blues foreign money can have unfortunate consequences when these people buy clubs as a status symbol with no real love of the game. If the new owner genuinely loves football and wants Villa to succeed as a club then it won't matter where they're from but I don't want the club thats been near and dear to my heart my whole life to become just another play thing for some random bilionaire. Also Randy Lerner has effectively been open to selling the club for a few years after seeing the massive investment he put in to get Villa in to the UCL not come to fruition with 3 consecutive 6th place finishes under O'Neill and his transfer policy has reflected this. You mention that Lambert has spent the £40 million but this spread across quite a few younger players, the older guys coming in on free transfers in this window are being brought in for a very specific reason, to help these good young kids grow as players and provide a stop-gap in the team until these kids are truly ready to become frontliners. Also i would say the manager pressure is lower than a 9/10 right now, somewhere in the 6-7 range, however, if a new owner can be found then the 9 or even 10 would be correct. Pedantic note: It's Jores Okore, not Jonas. (And he should be a big in for us this season to stiffen up our defence a little as he has shown all signs of being a quality young defender...so far)
EPLextra
Roar Rookie
Hi Ben Great summary. As a Villan myself, I'd say its pretty much spot on although I'd point out that the young lads we have picked up from Southampton are very much for the future and I would not expect them to be in the first team this season. I'm just hoping there are 3 teams worse than us again this year. We covered off what our predictions were for Aston Villa as well as nine of the other teams in our first episode of our football podcast EPLextra. It will be interesting to see how your predictions line up with some of ours. Marko
Ben Fraser
Roar Rookie
I think many people would agree with you, but I'm not a fan of what they've done in the window so far. Nor am I convinced on the Lambert-Keane partnership working.
Terry
Guest
People always seem to predict that Villa will go down and yet they always manage to stay up. I expect that trend to continue.