Unai Emery outlines Aston Villa transfer reality with January window set to open
Unai Emery has confirmed Villa will again be restricted on their spending during the January window.
The boss says while the club does have the scope to make signings, they cannot make a major outlay as they seek to comply with both the Premier League and Uefa’s financial rules.
Villa sit third in the Premier League, just three points off the top, after winning 11 straight matches and Emery has big ambitions for the second half of the season, with winning the Europa League a major target.
Asked about their January plans, he said: “We are alert. The club is working and if we can sign someone to help us and improve on something we need, we will do it.
“With the players we have, it is enough to compete because we are showing it the first four months. But for the second half of the season, with the same players, of course we can improve.”
Emery is thought to want attacking reinforcements but any significant buy would require them to get creative in the market.
Villa signed five players last January, including Marco Asensio and Marcus Rashford on loan, yet also made big sales with Jhon Duran moving to Al-Nassr for a fee which could eventually be worth more than £70million.
Emery said: “We can sign players, only we can’t spend a lot. But we can do something, of course.
“Maybe as well changing someone. Last year we signed four players in January and let others leave. We are in the same situation now.
“Of course, how we are competing in the Europa League, we want to try to be a protagonist and hopefully a way for a trophy now. In the Premier League, two months ago, we couldn’t speak like we are now as we were in a different situation.
“Now we want to be ambitious to achieve our objective.”
