Summer 26 Transfer Window - hopes, speculation, rumours etc.

[Toronto Villa]

If I was Rashford and I’m at a club that is paying me a grotesque amount of money I wouldn’t go anywhere. Or I would go somewhere that pays me the same (pretty much nowhere meets that criteria anymore), or agrees to make whole my salary by having Man U pay a significant chunk. But he’s 28 so I would hope he’s made multiple millions to allow him to make a good career decision.

[Toronto Villa]

The ever linked Ferran Torres is younger and overall would cost less.

[pauliewalnuts]

The ever linked Ferran Torres is younger and overall would cost less.

And is going to have plenty of choices given what he did yesterday, mind.

[Toronto Villa]

The ever linked Ferran Torres is younger and overall would cost less.

And is going to have plenty of choices given what he did yesterday, mind.

Yeh certainly won’t hurt. He had come in for criticism in the Spanish football media for not being effective in games he’d played in. So a great moment but not sure it raises his value significantly. It’s more a matter of Barcelona looking to cash in on fringe players and him actually wanting to leave.

[KRS]

Rashford simply isn’t worth the money he gets from Man Utd, and I dont think he impressed enough during his short stint at Villa to warrant us bringing him in on loan with ridiculously high wages again either.

[eamonn]

Would he get 10+ goals and 10+ assists in all comps?

[KRS]

I don’t know, but he hasn’t done that for a Premier League club since 2022-23 season. He also did for Barcelona last season, but obviously playing for the La Liga champions is a different game altogether.

[LeeS]

I don’t know, but he hasn’t done that for a Premier League club since 2022-23 season. He also did for Barcelona last season, but obviously playing for the La Liga champions is a different game altogether.

True, but if you extrapolate from his third of a season with us?

[kippaxvilla2]

I’m getting a bit concerned with these Jackson links.  Oh and according to FI (I know) we’ve been offered Liam Delap.  For £30m.

[Dogtanian]

I’m getting a bit concerned with these Jackson links.  Oh and according to FI (I know) we’ve been offered Liam Delap.  For £30m.

Surely that's Liam Delap and £30m?

[aev]

Chelsea want £65m for Jackson.

Surely we won't be stupid enough to take him at anything like that price, or go anywhere near Garnacho?

Also JP/DT reckons we may have to accept another departure this summer.

[olaftab]

Aston Villa have sold £400m of talent – now comes the rebuild
Club putting faith in Emery’s ability to punch above weight after selling Rogers for £117m to comply with Uefa’s spending restrictions
John Percy
Aston Villa have eased the pressure to sell more talent after the £117m exit of Morgan Rogers to Chelsea, as Unai Emery rebuilds his squad for the Champions League.
Villa’s record sale of Rogers was agreed over the weekend and will alleviate the strain to offload further first-team players this summer.
Youri Tielemans joined Manchester United last week for £35m, while Rogers started his medical on Monday ahead of becoming the most expensive English player of all time.

Villa are continuing to operate under tough financial restrictions imposed by Uefa as part of a three-year settlement agreement. Those restrictions mean that Villa will have to remain cautious on spending this summer, despite securing the return of Champions League football.

Will Villa have to make any more sales?
Villa are determined to resist any more major sales but the simple truth is they may have to accept another departure this summer.
While Rogers’s sale will go a long way to ensuring compliance for the 2025-26 season, there is still a degree of pressure to conform with the football earnings rule (essentially Uefa’s version of profitability and sustainability rules).
That means that another sale could be possible. Juventus are interested in goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, while Arsenal are tracking defender Ezri Konsa.

While the message from Villa at the moment is “no more sales”, it will come down to a number of factors: if the player wants to leave, if Emery agrees, if the offer is big enough and whether age comes into play.
Emery is intent on bringing the average age down and this explains why Villa broke their own transfer record to sign Johan Manzambi, 20, from Freiburg. The Switzerland international is regarded as a player with huge potential for growth who can play in a number of positions.
There are some sales expected this week, but not any of Emery’s key players. Lucas Digne is poised to join Paris St-Germain while Leon Bailey is a target for Premier League newcomers Hull City.
Villa are comfortable with any scenario because of Emery. With him in charge, they feel able to overcome adversity and have total faith that he will embark on a new cycle.
The other good news is that Rogers’s sale eases immediate pressure on Villa to raise money and allows them to plan properly for next summer.

Can Villa spend all the Rogers money on new players?
Villa do not have the capacity to invest huge amounts of money unless players leave.
This is down to the squad cost ratio (SCR), which limits the amount a club spend on player wages, transfers and agent fees to 70 per cent of revenue. It is unfair, and Villa remain frustrated about it. Emery has proved an outstanding appointment but there is no question the rules are preventing him from further disrupting the elite. Club owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens are also hugely ambitious, but limited on what they can spend.
Chelsea finished 13 points behind Villa in the Premier League last season and do not have European football this year, but still have the ability to flex their financial muscles by signing Rogers for a record fee.
Villa will of course spend, with Brazilian midfielder João Gomes completing a £35m move from Wolverhampton Wanderers.
They are also in talks with AC Milan to sign former Brighton and Hove Albion left-back Pervis Estupiñán.

The next major target is a winger, with PSG’s Ibrahim Mbaye and West Ham United’s Crysencio Summerville emerging as two top choices. Breaking their transfer record again is unlikely, though.

Emery wants a wide player with pace who is capable of playing on both sides. He felt his team were too reliant on the speed of Ollie Watkins on the break last season and wants a new winger to make Villa more dynamic.

How Villa have become elite sellers in the Premier League
Villa have now raised more than £400m in player sales since Emery’s appointment, which has rather gone under the radar.
While much of the focus has been on Villa’s grapples to comply with strict Uefa rules, the ability to sell for vast profit deserves more recognition.
It is Brighton who are usually renowned as the benchmark for a selling club outside of the “big six”. Their business model is to discover young players with potential, develop them under excellent coaching staff and then sell at the best time. With Villa under so much pressure to decrease their squad cost ratio, they have had no option but to follow Brighton’s strategy. Sales have become crucial, as has Emery’s ability to improve players.
Take Rogers. Signed for an initial £8.5m from Middlesbrough, after impressing against Villa in an FA Cup tie, he is now the most expensive English player at £117m. He has progressed rapidly under the coaching of Emery to become a regular England international and one of the best wide No 10s in the Premier League.
There have been other notable sales. Tielemans joined Villa on a free transfer and was sold to Manchester United earlier this month for £35m. A model professional and captain of the Belgium national team, he actually started slowly at Villa before adapting to Emery’s methods.
Jhon Durán, the Colombian forward, was sold for £65m to Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr after arriving as a raw teenager at a cost of £18m.
Villa escaped a points deduction by selling Douglas Luiz (signed from Manchester City for £15m) to Juventus for a £27m profit in June 2024.
Sales of academy graduates Jacob and Aaron Ramsey, Jaden Philogene and Cameron Archer have also raised about £90m in pure profit. It is a strength of Villa to sell that has made a difficult situation much easier.

[Ozzjim]

We can only do Jackson on loan. Buying him would be suicide considering the Rogers money. Utter and total stupidity if we buy him.

My bigger concern is that we came into the window needing 2 wide players, and now seem to only want 1, despite the departures.

[chrisw1]

just break the bank and get Rashford and Mbaye for £90m. Get Estupinian for £15m and a RB (ideally not Royal) for the same. Sell Bailey for £10-£15m and ideally Guessand for as much as possible. job done

I like the cut of your jib sir.

Yeah, this will do me.  So long as Rashy is sensible about wages, he is my dream signing.

[Somniloquism]

Chelsea charge stupid amounts in loan fees, so no thanks for that either.