13 Feb 2026 11:59:11
There has been plenty said about our recruitment policy and I think it's fair to say it's not been what many of us would have expected. I hear people say financial restrictions have been the main reason, may be so, however I watched Sunderland and Brentford this week and some of the quality in the squad from previous unknowns was amazing. Brentford currently have the best scoring striker in the premier league, found in the Belgium League, they have permanently been under financial controls because of their limitedeincome.Their midfield were superb last night and most of their squad came at reasonable transfer fees.
Sunderland were in the doldrums, they got promoted and bought virtually a new team with sensible fees and they have competed with the best. There are quality players out there at costs we could easy afford, other teams manage it why can't we.
14 Feb 2026 06:35:11
100% agree Scot, there are probably a few things working against us, i'd imagine the price goes up when clubs have teams that play in Europe interested in their players, then you have playing time to consider, players who go to the likes of Brentford, Brighton, Bournemouth etc know they will get more first team chances than at Villa, but they usually move on quickly if they show their quality. Look at the fees the big six pay for players they don’t get to many bargains, compare ours then and most of our team cost under 30 per player apart from Buendia and Maatsen, 95% of them cost less than 20, then you have bargains like maginn under 5 million, Kamara and tielemans for free, I’d say if you added all our players up to get the average player cost we are well under 20 million per player, pretty incredible when you consider what other big clubs are paying, unfortunately they have the revenue to afford it.
I do agree about some of our recruitment and if we can improve it there’s no limit to what we can achieve we just need to be consistent getting Europe which will expand the fan base worldwide and get our stadium expanded, it’s just going to take time.
1 thing we have majorly improved on is our weekend results after playing in Europe midweek, I haven’t heard the phrase “European hangover” once this season and that tells me we are getting that “big club” mentality. be consistent and we will get there?
14 Feb 2026 08:18:02
To add to your points Whack.
It is easier for the likes of Brighton and Brentford to get work permits for their players because, the overall quality of their squad means they are more likely to play a significant number of minutes.
We originally signed Luiz because Man City couldn't get a permit, and now we are moving into that territory where we can only look at the top South American players, not unknowns.
14 Feb 2026 18:38:45
Good point RK. those top Brazilians are not cheap either.