Aston Villa will 'for sure' make 'one or two signings' in winter transfer window

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·3 December 2023

Aston Villa will 'for sure' make 'one or two signings' in winter transfer window

Aston Villa could look to sign a left-back during the 2024 winter market, with it being a position that “seems to always come on the radar”, as transfer insider Dean Jones discusses what areas of the squad must be strengthened at Villa Park.

Unai Emery has enjoyed a fantastic start to the 2023/24 Premier League and Europa Conference League season with his Villans squad as he aims to secure continental silverware for the West Midlands giants.

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Villa’s rise to success has been astonishing since the Spanish head coach’s appointment in October 2022, but the Villa Park chief is unlikely to rest on his laurels in 2024. The Villans could bolster their impressive squad as they close down a qualification spot for the 2024/25 Champions League season.

Following Steven Gerrard’s sacking in October 2022, Villa were looking over their shoulders into a potential Premier League relegation battle. A 3-0 defeat at Fulham on 20th October 2022 left the Villans sitting in 17th, having accumulated nine points from 11 games.

The result left them level on points with 18th-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers, with a drop into the Championship looking like a real possibility. However, Emery's appointment in November 2022 transformed the club’s fortunes.

Fast forward to the end of the 2022/23 Premier League season, and Emery’s troops had secured a seventh-placed finish and qualification to the following season’s Europa Conference League. The arrivals of Youri Tielemans, Pau Torres, Moussa Diaby, Nicolo Zaniolo and Clement Lenglet during the 2023 summer transfer window have significantly boosted the options available in the Villans squad.

Whilst Villa had been backed to push on heading into the 2023/24 season, Emery’s side found themselves sitting pretty in fourth place in the Premier League before gameweek 14. Staying there until the end of the campaign would ensure qualification for the 2024/25 Champions League, which would surely take the one-time European Cup winners to another level in the transfer market.

Meanwhile, Villa are still alive in the Europa Conference League and will be one of the favourites to win the competition, which would secure their first piece of continental silverware since 1982. Jones has also told GIVEMESPORT (29th November) that the club’s owners, Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens, could provide further funds to Emery’s January transfer budget, with the chance to secure qualification to the Champions League and win a European trophy not a regular occurrence at Villa Park.

Dean Jones on Aston Villa’s 2024 winter transfer market

Jones has indicated that Villa could add an “attacking presence” to cover in-form striker Ollie Watkins for the remainder of the 2023/24 campaign. The transfer insider suggests the Villans could make “one or two signings” in January. Jones told GIVEMESPORT:

“There's no way that Watkins is not starting nine games out of ten. They will look at an attacking presence, and then there'll be other areas of that pitch that they look to influence. I think the midfield seems in pretty good shape, but defensively, left-back is talked about, and I think it seems like the position Villa always seem to turn to when there's potential for a new signing. The left-back position seems to always come onto the radar. But I think they’ll make one or two signings for sure.”

Aston Villa transfer news

Unsurprisingly, with the winter transfer window upon us, the transfer rumours for Premier League clubs are warming up, with Aston Villa no exception. According to Football Insider, Everton are interested in signing Villans midfielder Leander Dendoncker during the winter market.

Sean Dyche is believed to be a fan of the Belgium international, who is below John McGinn, Boubacar Kamara, Douglas Luiz and Youri Tielemans in the pecking order at Villa Park. The same report claims Villa are prepared to listen to offers for Dendoncker in the new year, after the 28-year-old came close to sealing a move to Turkish giants Fenerbahce during the 2023 summer transfer window.

Meanwhile, Sunday People chief sports writer Neil Moxley has suggested to GIVEMESPORT (27th November) that the Villans could target Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips if they lose Douglas Luiz in January. Arsenal have reportedly been keeping tabs on the Brazil international, who has been crucial to Villa’s success during the 2023/24 season. However, if the 25-year-old is sold, then there could be a deal to be done with Manchester City, with Phillips out of favour at the Etihad Stadium since his arrival from Leeds United in the summer of 2022.

Following AFC Bournemouth’s visit to Villa Park on 3rd December, Emery’s side welcome reigning treble holders City to the West Midlands on 6th December, before Arsenal are the visitors on the 9th.