Summer 2025 Transfer Window - hopes, speculation, rumours etc.

[AV84]

By my calculations we have added zero new nationalities since Emery took over. It's not good enough. I DEMAND a Uruguayan, Mexican, Korean and someone from somewhere mad like Tajikistan or Belize and I DEMAND them NOW!

I'd really like a Mexican winger (or full back would be fine, as long as he's one of the attacking type ones).  One that does loads of clever little jinks and tricks and stuff like that ...  a proper tricksy player who is a bit mental but everyone loves him cos he's ridiculously talented.  Ideally he'd wear a bandana, like Savo didn't.

Come on, Monchi and the boffins in the scouting department.  Time to earn your wages.

We're at risk of losing all our Latin American appeal if Martinez goes. We've already lost all the Brazilians. Mexican is definitely the way to go. Don't care what position.

[Brazilian Villain]

We're at risk of losing all our Latin American appeal if Martinez goes. We've already lost all the Brazilians. Mexican is definitely the way to go. Don't care what position.

That's why we have to hold on to Enzo.

[AV84]

We're at risk of losing all our Latin American appeal if Martinez goes. We've already lost all the Brazilians. Mexican is definitely the way to go. Don't care what position.

That's why we have to hold on to Enzo.

And sign Garnacho 😄

[Brazilian Villain]

Mohamed Abdoul Kader Koné, 17. Defensive midfielder from Côte d'Ivoire.
https://africafoot.com/livoirien-mohamed-kone-en-route-vers-aston-villa/

[Brazilian Villain]

Zepiqueno Redmond, 18 year old striker on a free transfer from Feyenoord.
https://x.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1927439305611325852

[Clampy]

Fabrizio (complete with his tradrmark 'here we go') reckons we've agreed a deal to sign that Zépiqueno Redmond on a free transfer.

[not3bad]

Time for his own thread?

[nigel]

Mohamed Abdoul Kader Koné, 17. Defensive midfielder from Côte d'Ivoire.
https://africafoot.com/livoirien-mohamed-kone-en-route-vers-aston-villa/

Translation:

Considered one of the greatest hopes of Ivorian football, Mohamed Abdoul Kader Koné is preparing to reach an important milestone in his young career. The ASEC Mimosas defensive midfielder is expected in the coming days at Aston Villa.

Spotted by the English club during the Mimosas tour in Birmingham, the player, who will celebrate his 18th birthday on July 3, 2025, is about to officially commit to the Villans. According to exclusive information from Africafoot, the signing of the contract is imminent. Koné has already distinguished himself with the first team of the ASEC Mimosas in the CAF Cup, where he got his first minutes of play. He also distinguished himself with the U20 selection of Côte d'Ivoire, playing five matches under the colours of the Elephants.

Unless the last-minute turnaround is unlikely, according to several sources close to the file, Mohamed Koné should rally England this summer to start a new adventure with Aston Villa.

[JUAN PABLO]

Mohamed Abdoul Kader Koné, 17. Defensive midfielder from Côte d'Ivoire.
https://africafoot.com/livoirien-mohamed-kone-en-route-vers-aston-villa/

Mohamed Koné

also a Ivory Coast goalkeeper , so he can replace Martinez too.

[SaddVillan]

More from The Athletic

DO ASTON VILLA NEED TO SELL BEFORE THEY BUY THIS SUMMER

Aston Villa’s 2-0 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday changed the entire outlook of their season, and potentially their summer.

The result meant Unai Emery’s side missed out on Champions League qualification by the narrowest of margins on just goal difference. The club now faces the prospect of reduced revenues, a tighter transfer budget, and the possibility of high-profile departures to balance the books.

On the latest episode of The Athletic FC Podcast, Ayo Akinwolere was joined by The Athletic’s Villa reporter Jacob Tanswell and broadcaster Dan Bardell to discuss how missing out on the top five could alter the club’s summer plans.

A partial transcript has been edited for clarity and length. The full episode is available in ‘ The Athletic FC’ Podcast feed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

AYO: Jacob, how big of a sliding doors moment is Villa missing out on the Champions League, especially when it comes to their summer plans? Because when you’re making a pitch to sign a player, Champions League football does make it a lot sweeter to come and play for you, doesn’t it?

JACOB: Yeah, absolutely, it’s massive. And just for context, Villa managed to total £100million from this season’s Champions League participation because they got to the quarter-finals, so not having that is going to leave a hole in the budget. And given that Villa have already lost £200m in the last two end-of-year accounts, until revenues catch up with other teams around them, the only way they can cover that deficit is through player sales. They know they would have had to sell regardless of Champions League qualification, but the calibre and the bracket of players they have to sell now is probably a little bit greater.  And, probably through gritted teeth, they’ll have to sell a couple of players.

What’s good for Villa is that they’ve got a lot of assets, and they’ve got a lot of players that other clubs are interested in.

Boubacar Kamara still hasn’t signed a new contract, and there have been talks about his contract for a good while. But although they’re progressing, he’s been a player who was waiting to see if Villa got into the Champions League.

Lucas Digne is another one, because ideally Villa would love to keep two left-backs as Digne and Ian Maatsen are great competition. But from the conversations I’ve heard, Villa don’t feel like they can stockpile in certain areas and feel unfairly compromised compared to a team like Manchester United, for example. They can’t have two quality players competing for the same position because they simply haven’t got the finances for it. So, although Digne has been a really good servant, he’s on a pretty high salary and he’ll have to go. There’s also been interest from Saudi Arabia in Leon Bailey, then you’ve got Jacob Ramsey and Ollie Watkins as well.

All these guys might not all go, but all their futures are now uncertain.

So Villa are heading into the summer not really knowing their squad. Emery said that if he could have the same squad next year, he would sleep far better and he would love that. But Villa know they have to rejig and revamp, so it’s going to be a very busy window again, like it was in January and like it was in the previous summer window. They have to navigate PSR, they’ve got to lower the squad cost to comply with the rules, and they’ve got to cover the deficit, otherwise they’ll face potential point sanctions from the Premier League.

They’ve got all these things going on while trying to follow Emery’s vision, because Emery wants the squad to improve every single season. But given that you could potentially be losing Emi Martinez, Kamara, and one of Watkins or Morgan Rogers, improving the squad when such massive players have to go is going to be very difficult.

AYO: Dan, Jacob just laid out there some of the potential exits at Villa this summer. You even think of Douglas Luiz and Moussa Diaby going not too long ago as well. These are some top, top players. Does it worry you that this is the tightrope you walk on as an Aston Villa fan, or as a club, in that it’s imperative that you get to the next level, otherwise you have to sell? Surely that lack of consistency in and out of every season must be quite tricky to take.

DAN: Yeah, it makes life very difficult, and I think the rules are pretty harsh on an upwardly mobile team like Villa who are trying to build and trying to do things properly to challenge the elite, and also have owners who really want to put money in but are hamstrung by the rules themselves. You missed out Jhon Duran there on that list of players that Villa sold, so it’s not like they haven’t sold some big players already.

They’ve sold so many good players for really big money, and that was maybe part of the problem in the first half of the season. They had to sell players, rejig the squad, and almost had to try to build on the fly, and it took time for things to come together. Then, ultimately, it didn’t really work and they had to get other players in January.

But I agree with Emery in that if I were told, ‘You’re going to keep this squad that you’ve got now, but you’re not going to buy anyone,’ I’d be quite happy with that because Villa won eight of their last 10 Premier League games. So I would be really confident with this group of players having a whole pre-season and a full season together, that they’d be able to challenge towards the top. But that’s not going to happen now, and it might be even worse because they’ve not got Champions League football.

Jacob was talking there about Kamara waiting to see what competition they’re in, he’s a huge asset and a really underrated player. He’s genuinely one of the best No 6s in Europe and such a pivotal part of how we play, but we might lose him now.

So you can’t underestimate how big not qualifying for the Champions League is for Villa because there was going to be flux anyway. And now, as Jacob says, there’s going to be even more, and it’s going to be a really difficult summer. That could then affect the start of the next season. But on the face of it, there are two avenues into the Champions League next season, which might not be a bad thing. You’d think they have a good chance of winning the Europa League, and obviously the Premier League offers another avenue.

So next season will be an exciting season. But if you’ve got to revamp your whole squad again in the summer, it makes the start very difficult. Along with balancing and managing everything that comes with that.

Big changes acoming?

[pauliewalnuts]

It makes you wonder, really, what is the fucking point?

[Rigadon]

It makes you wonder, really, what is the fucking point?

Honestly, it must be tempting for the club to put two fingers up to FFP, and if Man City carry on regardless, especially so.  It’s a closed shop .

[Gareth]

It makes you wonder, really, what is the fucking point?

Which is exactly what those cartel clubs want us all to think…give up and resume being cannon fodder for them to hoover all the money up

Fcuk them all…well do it our way & disrupt them as much as we can.

[Brazilian Villain]

Jacob seems keen for Kamara to not sign his new contract.

[eamonn]

Tanswell paints a pretty shitty picture, is he right though? We could sell a clutch of fringe and youth prospects (Bailey, Buendia, Barry, Iling, Enzo) that would mean not selling one or two of the seniors he talks about.