Ramón Rodríguez Verdejo (AKA Monchi)

[Percy McCarthy]

We're not selling Doug for £46m either.

€15m + €15m + €25m = €55m
€55m converted to GBP is £46.49m

All fees have been reported in Euros since day one.

Nit what I've been reading. Deal is £60m.

Ok, keep your hair on.

Yeah, I’m sure they’ve been through the figures with a fine-toothed comb.

Nurse!

[PeterWithesShin]

He's been combing the transfer websites

Ahem!!!!!

[Dogtanian]

He's been combing the transfer websites

Ahem!!!!!

 

[Chap]

Arteta is also Captain Black.

...which makes Gerrard Captain Coño

More like Captain Cunto!

[Toronto Villa]

Disappointed we haven’t signed or sold anyone today. Monchi overrated as VillaTim would say.

[kippaxvilla2]

Hair today gone tomorrow.

[Tuscans]

A little more interesting from Damian as his english is better.

[nigel]

Really interesting listen 👍

[eamonn]

"We don't need to have a meeting because every day we have a meeting".

I love that philosophy. I get it! Monchi is zen.

I appreciate how straight-talking Damian is. A pity Stelling and Townsend don't have the intellect to press him with specific questions and not generalities. I bet they did fuck-all research too and wouldn't have paid much attention to our selling of Luiz and Diaby.

[Dogtanian]

"We don't need to have a meeting because every day we have a meeting".

I love that philosophy. I get it! Monchi is zen.

I appreciate how straight-talking Damian is. A pity Stelling and Townsend don't have the intellect to press him with specific questions and not generalities. I bet they did fuck-all research too and wouldn't have paid much attention to our selling of Luiz and Diaby.

Oh, come on, that’s unfair! They got what colour toast out of McGinn.

[Tuscans]

Good read about the process Monchi, Unai and co took to bring the new players in.

Monchi.

Exclusive: Shrewd Spanish operator on the twin challenges of helping Unai Emery prepare for Champions League and navigating PSR.

Monchi - Monchi lifts the lid on Aston Villa's transfer strategy: 'We start with 500 players of interest'
Monchi says building the Aston Villa squad is his 'obsession'

It was at the start of June that Aston Villa’s president of football operations, Ramón Rodriguez Verdejo, known to everybody bar his mother as Monchi, gave supporters a teaser of the busy summer that has followed.

In a picture he posted on social media with the message “Work day. Up the Villa”, Monchi was sitting around a table in Madrid with head coach Unai Emery, director of football operations Damian Vidagany and scouts Alberto Benito and Pablo Rodriguez.

But what really caught the eye of Villa fans was the file marked ‘Aston Villa players of interest’ that lay open in front of Emery, as the club’s transfer committee plotted how best to prepare the squad for Champions League football.

“I’m not sure exactly, but when we start, we have maybe 500 players [of interest],” said Monchi. “Normally, we have 20, 25, 30, 35 in every position. But every step it’s reduced and then in the end there’s a shortlist with maybe eight or 10 players for every position.”

Aston Villa players of interest
The social media post that got Aston Villa fans excited: on the table sits a folder marked 'Aston Villa players of interest'
‘We need to make another step’
By his own admission, this summer has been one of the most challenging of Monchi’s career as he has attempted to help Emery get Villa ready for the Champions League while balancing the need to work within the Premier League’s profit and sustainability (PSR) rules and Europe’s financial guidelines.

Monchi is one of football’s shrewdest transfer operators, which is perhaps best proved by his work at Sevilla where he helped the club win 11 trophies. When he spoke to Telegraph Sport during 45 fascinating minutes at the club’s Bodymoor Heath training ground, Villa had signed eight players during the summer window and sold or loaned out 17.

“It’s very difficult because when you qualify for the Champions League you might think ‘OK, it’s finished’,” said Monchi, who has been at Villa for just over a year and lives with his family in the centre of Birmingham. “No it’s not finished, we need to make another step. The most difficult thing is not to arrive, but to stay, to remain in the Champions League.

“We were very clear where we wanted to work in the squad. In our opinion, and Unai is the one who decides, we needed to increase the level of the squad in three points: Physical, first. A younger squad, and to have a more complete squad, so Unai can have more options.

“When you play in the Champions League, it’s very difficult because you need to have 20 to 21 players at the same level. You might play on Wednesday in Paris against Paris Saint-Germain and then you need to play against Crystal Palace, and you need to have the same level because both games are very difficult. Unai needs to have the option to maybe choose two different starting XIs, but with the same level. This objective, in my head, is an obsession, to build a squad with a similar level in the different profiles and positions. It’s very difficult.”


‘It’s true, we work with a big file’
Midfielder Amadou Onana is Villa’s biggest signing of the summer, arriving in a deal worth £50 million, and referring back to June’s transfer meeting that was captured on camera, Monchi said: “Unai was on holiday, so it was easier to have a meeting in Madrid because the other guys, Pablo and Alberto, live in Spain.

“For this moment, for the midfield, Unai wanted a physical player that plays well with the ball. We worked in this direction with many names and in the end we signed Onana. He’s a top player, he played in England, his adaptation is easier. But it’s true we work with a big file.”

Ross Barkley has returned to Villa from Luton Town, having spent a season on loan at the club four years ago.

“With Ross, it was a personal decision from Unai,” said Monchi. “Together with me, but Unai wanted him 100 per cent because he knows him after playing against Luton twice.

“Unai wanted this profile. A player who is physically good, technical, plays well and can fight. And with experience because we need to play in the Champions League and we need to have some mature players.

“Ross, when we had the first meeting with him at the Belfry Hotel, he was very, very happy to come back. And for me and Unai, that is very important when a player has a desire to play in our club. It’s the first important step. He’s a different profile than we have in the squad. Not Onana, not [Boubacar] Kamara, not [John] McGinn, not [Youri] Tielemans. He is, technical and physical, maybe the most complete player. He can play as a six, a No 8, maybe a No 10.”


Jaden Philogene-Bidace is another player to have returned to Villa Park, albeit in very different circumstances to Barkley. Monchi inserted a matching rights clause into the deal that took the winger to Hull City last summer, which the club triggered after Ipswich Town and Everton made moves for him.

“With Jaden, it’s an interesting story,” said Monchi. “When he left the club last season, maybe not every day, but every week, Unai would say to me: ‘Monchi, maybe we’ve made a mistake to sell Jaden.’ Because he played very well for Hull and every week, it was: ‘Monchi…’ I would say: ‘OK, Unai, but we have the possibility to bring him back.’

“When we had the possibility, we didn’t have any doubts and we fought to sign him. We are very happy because he’s a top player and he’s homegrown, he’s an academy player for the Champions League. An interesting profile for many situations.”

‘PSR is not working in the right way’
Villa have balanced their incomings with some high-profile outgoings, such as Douglas Luiz and Moussa Diaby, which Monchi admits were influenced in part by the profit and sustainability rules that he believes need modifying.

“We agree there must be controls because we need sustainability,” he said. “I don’t see many clubs more sustainable than Aston Villa. We have no debt and we have solid and committed owners.

“In my opinion, any financial control must preserve the right of every club to have ambition and to be competitive. The rules need to be fair and not work to the advantage of some clubs over other clubs.

“I think the Premier League knows that because they want to change the rules next year. But it is strange to accept that the system is not working, but still enforce the rules for one more year.

“PSR currently is not working in the right way if the system forces the clubs to sell academy players, inflate the cost and protects the highest revenue clubs, not considering the debt of the clubs.

“It’s true that PSR and the Uefa rules [squad cost ratio] were the primary motivation for the Douglas Luiz and Diaby sales because we needed the profit. But I must say that Unai, me and Damian thought it was the moment to sell them to invest the money in other players, and it was possible to replace them.

“This is what I have done, in my history, when I work in Sevilla. The level of Sevilla increased by selling players, to buy players, to sell players. I think that is the way to increase our level.

“Diaby is a situation because he had a big offer for him and for us it was a good offer because we invested a lot of money when we bought him from Bayer Leverkusen. Maybe our first idea was not to sell him, but when a good offer arrived, we studied it and made a decision.”

The £19 million sale of 18-year-old Omari Kellyman to Chelsea undoubtedly gave Villa some PSR breathing space, but there was one academy graduate the club did not contemplate cashing in – no matter how much it might have helped the books.

“If we wanted to sell Jacob Ramsey, we would have sold him already because we had different offers from different clubs,” said Monchi. “But Unai has big confidence in him and I think that Jacob can continue to improve his level. Last season was difficult for him because of three injuries, but Unai thinks that with Jacob, Aston Villa is the best thing. He’s convinced 100 per cent that Jacob’s level will increase this season.”

‘Aston Villa is a family’
The success or otherwise of Villa’s summer deals will be important to whether or not the club can maintain their upward trajectory under Emery. But, just as important in Monchi’s view, is the culture he has helped to cultivate.

During the pre-season tour of the United States, Villa co-owner Wes Edens hosted an upmarket reception to toast the achievements of last season and look forward to the new campaign, which all 70 club employees who had travelled were invited to attend.

“This is the spirit and reflects what Aston Villa is, a family,” said Monchi. “The difference between the teams is not far. Manchester City maybe, Real Madrid. But between Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester United, Aston Villa, the difference is in the small things.

“I was a goalkeeper at Sevilla and in the 1992/93 season, I had a coach, [Carlos] Bilardo. He had a philosophy that success is in the small things. It’s easier to find success if we all want the same. If someone goes to the left and another goes to the right, it doesn’t work.

“If you want to go fast, you can’t go alone. If you need to go far, you need to work together. It’s been my mentality for the last 25 years and I won 11 trophies with this mentality.”

[danno]

Thanks for posting that Tuscans. Good read.

[Tuscans]

Thanks for posting that Tuscans. Good read.

Aye it was pretty insightful and interesting that. From the Times.

[Footy-Vill]

Monchi:

"We navigated two distinct phases in this transfer window. Pre-June 30 was about addressing financial fair play concerns, while post-June 30 shifted focus to assembling the best squad conceivable. The last week of June was particularly tough as the stakes couldn’t have been higher.”

Monchi suggested to sell either Watkins or  Martinez could simplify  PSR challenges.
Maybe that is why it took so long for the Douglas Luiz deal and that went through last minute because there was debate on which player to sell.

It's know Ramsey had offers but Emery wasn't looking to sell him.
And it's also now being revealed there were offers again for Emi Martinez.

Also if Monchi was trying to shift these players does this impact Watkins no show over pre season ? Was there a idea to protect the asset.
And what of Duran? Monchi ultimately failed selling him before ethe deadline.
And Carlos. If those two were sold would have allowed  few more incomings.

[pauliewalnuts]

I think you need to reread that

He said selling either of those players would have solved the problem.

It’s a hypothetical situation. One which you don’t really need to be Monchi to understand.