Aston Villa window review: 52 days which changed the face of Unai Emery's team

Tuesday’s transfer deadline brought to an end 52 days which changed the face of Villa.

A transfer window initially as quiet as the one a year previously exploded into life when news of the club’s club record move for Johan Manzambi emerged on July 12.

Over the course of the next seven-and-a-half weeks, Villa would sign nine more players, sell more than half of their Europa League final starting XI, spend the thick end of £300million and recoup about the same, transforming one of the Premier League’s oldest squads into one packed with potential, containing two of the brightest young players in Europe.

Now is when we get to find whether it all works out.

With Unai Emery at the helm, supporters should always feel optimistic. The Spaniard has long proven himself one of the best managers in the game and with Pep Guardiola having departed, there may be none better in the Premier League.

Yet even Emery has rarely faced a challenge like this, assimilating what equates to almost an entirely new team into what remains of the previous squad.

It is similar in scale to that tackled by Dean Smith when Villa were promoted back into the Premier League seven years ago. Not since then has the playing staff undergone such a shake-up. The difference now is Villa are operating from a far stronger footing and - even allowing for the financial restrictions - a much bigger budget. Still, the onus is on Emery to find quick solutions, most notably in reworking an attack which, in Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins, has lost its biggest two sources of goals.

Rogers’ exit had long been expected and though in public Villa made clear their desire to keep him, in private it was acknowledged a sale would go a long way to alleviating the pressures around Uefa’s financial fair play rules, which always go some way to dictating the club’s movement in the market.

The then British record transfer fee of £117million received from Chelsea was one they simply couldn’t turn down and it opened the door to incomings.

Ezri Konsa’s departure was another one the club knew they needed to plan for, along with that of Emi Martinez.

Less easily foreseen or desired were the exits of Lucas Digne and Youri Tielemans after Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United respectively triggered release clauses, while the sale of Watkins to Al-Hilal was one Villa desperately wanted to avoid before it became clear how much the striker wanted the move.

In Martinez and Watkins alone, Villa have lost arguably their greatest-ever goalkeeper and finest striker since the turn of the century. Konsa is also in the conversation to have been their best centre-back since Paul McGrath.

Their importance to the success of Emery’s reign to this point cannot be downplayed. Villa have signed a lot of players but the success or otherwise of the rebuild may well come down to how that trio’s direct successors - Zion Suzuki, Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Nicolas Jackson - perform.

Amid all the trading, Villa were also unfortunate to lose Amadou Onana to long-term injury. His replacement, Joao Gomes, endured perhaps the worst debut in club history but feels a good long-term deal. Villa will hope Manzambi, when he recovers from injury, and Ibrahim Mbaye hit the ground running. Leon Goretzka feels a savvy free agent pick-up in a similar - albeit more prestigious - mould to Victor Lindelof.

Key to it all is Emery. Supporters should take heart from the speed in which he was able to transform the team inherited from Steven Gerrard four years ago.

Admittedly, the newness of this group - with five players experiencing English football for the first time - makes it more testing this time around.

Villa’s record on recruitment under Emery has been patchy and there was hope the replacement of Monchi with Roberto Olabe would see improvement. The president of football operations could hardly have faced a tougher first summer. Time will tell if it was a success.