18 May 2023 12:49:25
Interesting slant coming from Spain on the reasons why the Alemany move collapsed. Apparently although the salary we were offering was bigger than what he was getting in Barcelona, when he flew over to Birmingham to discuss the role the club were 'not willing to invest in the project he wanted to build' which forced him to re think. I wonder what that statement means? Particularly given the mood music coming out from Villa Park has all been around significant funds being made available to improve the squad.

1.) 18 May 2023
18 May 2023 14:41:26
Apparently he wanted full controll of transfers, that's why deal fell threw, ohwell we move on

2.) 18 May 2023
18 May 2023 16:07:21
I don't think we'll ever know the full truth, to be fair to Villa we have remained incredibly quiet on this whole conversation - All the noise was coming from Barcelona and the Spanish press and bar Emery speaking highly of him in a press conference Villa have remained tight lipped. All I know is, he doesn't publically quit Barcelona, fly to England and sit down with Aston Villa without being acutely aware of what the project looks like and what level of spend we have to play with. It's all so very vague and unspecific that is smells of the Barcelona PR machine, the proof will be in the pudding come August when we see what Emery has spent on the squad but I'd be absolutely amazed if Emery has signed up with Villa without guaranteed funds in the summer, January I can understand (it's hard to do business in that window typically) but there's no way he won't be spending big in the summer.

3.) 18 May 2023
18 May 2023 18:37:18
I perfectly understand why Alemany would use Villa as a lever to secure his Barcelona future but to get to the point where you announce you are leaving and then change your mind is I agree a little odd, particularly as Alemany has a very good cv and I can’t see him being so unprofessional as to not understand what ‘the project was’ so I can only assume that something did change post the initial conversations and I think as BK says we may never know but something doesn’t seem right to me.

4.) 19 May 2023
19 May 2023 07:38:05
I wouldn't get overly concerned LotM - All we have is information leaked to the Spanish press which will inevitably have come from Barcelona, if anybody comes out of this looking badly it's them so I'm not surprised they are trying to deflect. We've seen it before, players and agents know Villa have money so we are a good lever in contract negotiations (JWP and ESR come to mind) and it'll probably continue to happen. The good thing is Villa always keep their powder dry meaning everything is noise or hearsay but the proof will be in the pudding over the summer, Emery will be backed heavily or he won't, and at that point we'll know for certain what's what. My bet is on him being heavily backed for the record :-)

5.) 19 May 2023
19 May 2023 23:04:50
The job emery has done is a double-edged sword, yes he's proven the owners have made the correct decision.
But as the astute businessmen our owners are they may well be looking saying hold on unai that £150m you wanted when you joined in November can go on ice here's £75m as you've took this group from 17th to potentially Europe so it can't all be bad from a playing staff perspective.
Not saying that's what's going to happen but let's not all hang our hats on a war chest for a complete overhaul

6.) 20 May 2023
19 May 2023 23:35:27
I’d be happy with 75 million if we don’t get Europe Dan, bring back our young loan players and add 2 quality players for the 75, now if we get Europe I expect a much bigger investment

7.) 20 May 2023
20 May 2023 00:13:32
Yeah, but then Emery will walk - If Emery has been promised funds, which I'd be amazed if he hasn't, our owners will deliver that. We've the best manger we can possibly get, our owners aren't foolish, they will give him what he needs, I've zero doubt.

8.) 20 May 2023
20 May 2023 02:04:57
I think budget will be 100/200mil that's what is being reported plus there will be sales if its 100 mil that's 3 quality players

9.) 20 May 2023
20 May 2023 08:38:20
I think the summer is going to be really interesting, if memory serves me right when Gerrard took over he was promised significant funds and yet by the time he left our net spend was only something like £25 million. I agree that our owners are astute business men and you can see the logic of the argument that says this squad got us to within a hair’s breadth of European competition you don’t need anywhere near the £200 million you were originally promised that also may explain Alemany’s decision to back out of his move to Villa Park (I love a good conspiracy theory?) . I think the first month of the transfer window will tell us a great deal as Emery has said he wants any transfer business concluded early.

10.) 20 May 2023
20 May 2023 11:31:37
Big difference between Gerrard and Emery though LotM, I'm not surprised he wasn't backed given the final few months of the previous season and the reported targets he had in mind - It'll be a different approach this summer, Emery will be backed but agree we don't need 200M of investment, I expect 120M and that spend of a few key areas.