Despite boosting revenues by reaching the quarter-finals of last season’s Champions League, the club’s spending was heavily restricted by the need to comply with the Premier League and Uefa’s fair play regulations.
Villa were fined £9.5million in July for breaching the latter’s rules in earlier seasons and would have been prevented from registering new players to their squad for this year’s Europa League without a positive transfer balance.
Forward Evann Guessand, who joined from Nice for an initial £23.5m, was their only “big money” signing of the window, while Jacob Ramsey was sold to Newcastle for £39m to help with the bottom line.
That sale - and the rules in general - have frustrated Villa’s players.
Konsa, currently away on international duty with England, said: “It is crazy. I don’t understand it myself but from the outside looking in, it doesn’t look too good.
“I know that and I know it’s really killed us this transfer window. We’re going to have to deal with what we’ve got now.
“Everyone knows it’s been a tough start but it’s part of football. We’ve done some recruitment on deadline day so hopefully the boys that have come in can really help us.”
Villa signed three new players on deadline day with former Manchester United defender Victor Lindelof arriving on a free transfer, while loan deals were struck for United winger Jadon Sancho and Liverpool midfielder Harvey Elliott.
Konsa, who is among Villa’s longest-serving players having joined from Brentford six years ago, did not keep track of deadline day developments on TV.
“I definitely didn’t watch that,” he said. “It’s been tough, especially for us. I knew that signing players was going to be difficult so I did not look at transfer deadline day.
“Around eight o’clock, I went on Aston Villa Twitter to see what happened and I saw that we’d signed three players, who are really good and have Premier League experience. I think that’s what we needed as well.”
Villa have taken just one point from their first three matches and failed to score a goal.
But despite the restrictions placed on the club, Konsa says their ambitions remain big.
He said: “We want to stay in the top six, top five … we want to play Champions League football.
“I’ve been at Villa at the worst times so I know how bad it can be. We’re not there yet. It’s three games in.”