Manager Martin O’Neill admits he is trying to balance a juggling act between progress in Europe and building for Villa’s future.
O’Neill wants progress in the much-maligned Intertoto Cup but acknowledges that further strengthening would be ideal, before Villa get underway against either Odense or TPS Turku the weekend after next.
The bigger picture – building up Villa for the Premier League campaign – must not be compromised by rushed signings, according to the manager.
He said: “We’ve got 10 days or more before the Intertoto Cup but registering players is a 24-hour deadline before those games.
“It would be nice to get through but I wouldn’t want to just sign players just for the sake of trying to get them involved in the Intertoto Cup.
“We still need one or two. I want to get through the Intertoto if we can without it causing too much of a problem to our fitness.”
O’Neill is not taking winning the Intertoto Cup as a given either.
He said: “I notice Odense are 2-1 up from their away leg against TPS Turku and you would think over two legs they’d be pretty strong.
“I saw Hibernian were beaten 2-0 at home to a Swedish side – Elfsborg – so that’s a concern and we wouldn’t take anything lightly.
“But getting players in during this pre-season is our aim. I know we’ve got until August 31 to sign players but really we need the strength in depth before we kick off.”
The good news for Villa fans is that they can watch the team in action on their first venture abroad, no matter who they play.
Both legs of the tie, be it against Odense or TPS Turku, will be shown live by Setanta Sports, on Saturday July 19 and 26.
Villa play away first and the home leg is a 5.45pm kick-off.
Whether more new faces will be in the squad by then will be the question occupying most supporters.
While O’Neill chases replacements, freed keeper Thomas Sorensen is in talks with Galatasaray.
One Comment
I agree wholeheartedly, numbers is not the answer unless they are quality players. In the past I have seen lesser teams play 11 players against 9 due to sendings off and still lose and its all down to quality. Arsenal, Man Utd and Chelsea all have big squads with enough quality players to put out a second team in the premiership and all three would be capable of a top ten finish. With that in mind, its obvious the rest of us are going to struggle to keep up, we therefore need to add better players than what we are getting rid of but at the same time grooming the best young talent we can get our hands on for the future. By all means go for Bentley, I’d love it if he came but we are in dire need of a first class Goalie too.