23 May 2023 08:30:02
Just read an interesting take on the Alemany fiasco, apparently Emery's budget for the upcoming window is circa £150 million plus anything raised from player sales which could take the overall budget in excess of £200 million which is fine. BUT spending in future windows will be significantly reined in to ensure we comply with FFP. If that's true and I know that's a big if you can perhaps understand why he turned us down, he already has to work under severe financial constraints at Barcelona why would you exchange that for Villa if you would be operating under the same constraints?
23 May 2023 21:28:02
All speculation, we can only judge on what we know, and what's happened so far under the NSWE ownership - And so far they have invested in all facets of the club, I don't see why that would stop all of a sudden!
24 May 2023 07:52:07
Because of the rules. City may end up paying a price for ignoring them. Allegedly.
24 May 2023 08:47:55
Purslow has said for years that FFP becomes easier after 3 years in the Premierleague - Our investment won't dry up because of FFP, it may reduce for other reasons like Stadium development or expansion of VSports portfolio but to be honest if we keep our key players this summer and invest 200M in the overall squad then we should be at the point of fine tuning the team which doesn't require 150M each summer IMO. Let's not worry about rumours, none of us know what will happen and the majority of this conversation is coming from the fact the DoF staying at Barca.
24 May 2023 10:19:13
Whilst I agree to a certain extent, Leicester have been ‘fine tuning’ for the last couple of seasons and look where it has got them.
24 May 2023 17:08:37
The opposite side of that coin is Arsenal who have been fine tuning their squad and making signings in a strategic manner for a few years now - Partey and Gabriel followed by White, Ramsdale, Odegaard followed by Jesus, Zichenko etc. I think this summer is massive, if we can add some genuine quality in a few key positions and maintain the quality that already exists in the squad we could very well be in a "fine tuning" period for the next few seasons. Obviously we could get it wrong but I've confidence in Emery to get it right and for us to be significantly stronger next season.
24 May 2023 18:27:24
BK, last year Arsenal spent £147 million net, the season before £119 million that’s more than fine tuning in my opinion.
24 May 2023 20:30:55
You're missing my point, if we spend 200M (potentially) this summer and retain our current squad who will (hopefully) finish 7th in the League this year then we SHOULD be able to enter a period of "fine tuning" where we add 1 or 2 players (in key position) a window who may cost 40M+! I'm not suggesting we will all of a sudden stop spending, I'm saying if we get this summer right we should not need to rebuild the squad year after year (spending massive money) like we have been doing under previous regimes. Fine tuning to me is identifying improvement areas within the squad and spending (big if necessary) to fix them. There may be a summer where we spend 150M, there may be another where we spend 50M, all I'm saying is it SHOULD be more strategic IF we get this summer right! This summer is massive!
25 May 2023 07:04:55
I get your point BK I just don’t happen to agree with it. If you look at the 2 clubs who have made the biggest strides in the last 2 years, Newcastle and Arsenal both have spent circa £300 million in that time and if rumours are to be believed will spend big again this summer. You can fine tune if you are the likes of Man City when your squad bristles with talent from 1 to 25 however we don’t have that luxury, so if we spend £150-200 million this window will it make us a better squad - yes, will we be more competitive - yes but will it enable us to break into the clubs who regularly compete for the Premiership I don’t think it will and unless you keep spending then you run the risk of ending up like Leicester.
25 May 2023 08:11:30
We definitely aren't on the same page LotM, you see "fine tuning" as spending less, I see "fine tuning" as spending smarter.
I don't see the investment in our playing staff reducing dramatically over the coming seasons (that's what you are suggesting), I think we'll consistently invest but in a strategic manner - We've already seen it in January, Emery felt the squad didn't need major surgery and had subsequently been proven right despite mass panic from fans. Only City (I believe) have won more points than Villa since he arrived so I'd argue our squad has a lot of talent already, add (based off another rumour) 200M of additional talent in the summer and we will absolutely have a squad that is capable of continued progression - Will we be challenging for the league next season, no but we will be moving in the right direction and with "fine tuning" of the squad, an elite manager, constant improvement of our scouting and academy and getting the right people involved from a business perspective (Heck etc) we'll continue to progress. Just my opinion, agree or don't, but for me Villa are moving forward and this summer will (if rumours are true) be hugely important!
25 May 2023 10:14:23
I don’t disagree the squad has talent and that we have made remarkable progress in a relatively short period of time but if you compare our squad man for man with the likes of City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Utd, Chelsea, even Spurs we are not as strong so whilst spending £200 million will undoubtedly make us better those teams will be spending similar amounts, if we then reduce our spending in the next few years to for example the odd £50 million here and there then we won’t be bridging the gap. A quality manager will take you so far but you need a squad packed with quality from 1 to 25 if you are to compete at the highest level across all competitions, and whilst we will I have no doubt make significant strides this summer we will need to continue in that vain to try to close the gap on those elite clubs ahead of us.
This site is all about opinions and on this one time will tell but until it does I guess we will have to agree to differ on this one BK.
25 May 2023 13:03:36
Fully agree, we won't always see eye to eye and that's the beauty of football!
I feel we have closed the gap on the "top' clubs without spending a penny (well, bar Moreno) by bringing in an elite manager. Other teams will be stronger next season but so will we, I don't see any reason why we can't continue to progress next season under Emery regardless of what these teams do. Time will tell I guess!