Jack Grealish for Aston Villa
Jack Grealish for Aston Villa
Aston Villa ended the summer transfer window £50m richer than when they draped the curtain down on a title-winning 2025/26 campaign.
They were the fifth-highest spenders in the Premier League this summer, but that was a pre-requisite, with Unai Emery's Europa League-winning squad stripped of its depth. Six of the starters during that triumphant win over Freiburg are no longer at the club, and it's no surprise that the first month of the campaign have presented the Spaniard with teething problems.
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Supporters will hope that the exciting newbies gel with the Villa squad. They will hope that, in time, they will live up to their predecessors. It's a hard thing to achieve, though, with Jack Grealish's big-money departure from his boyhood club evidence of that.
How Aston Villa failed to replace Jack Grealish
Grealish left Aston Villa before they took flight, but it didn't matter in the end, with Emery leading the club toward their greatest period of sustained success in many decades.
Jack Grealish GA at Aston Villa
Jack Grealish GA at Aston Villa
Manchester City raided Villa for their £100m man in 2021. Homegrown, the England playmaker was instrumental in guiding the club out of the Championship and cementing them as a stable Premier League side once more.
It was a chastening transfer for the Villa persuasion, but in the end, though, it didn't matter too much. Emery would end up replacing a rather beleaguered Steven Gerrard, and the rest, as they say, is history.
However, for all the Midlands outfit's success since then, it has to be said that Emi Buendia has been a big downgrade. The Argentine attacker joined the club from Norwich City for Villa in a club-record £33m deal in 2021, the same summer Grealish moved on.
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Emi Buendia vs Nott'm Forest
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A tidy, skilful player, Buendia has played a part for Emery's side over the years, but he's never quite been a mainstay, and his poor performance against Nottingham Forest illustrated deficiencies that have been heightened in a team lacking its usual poise and oiled energy.
Now, it looks like the same problem is occurring for the Villa persuasion - albeit a far less costly ordeal for Emery to overcome.
The new Buendia has emerged at Aston Villa
Morgan Rogers did what no one thought possible: replacing Grealish as a world-class attacking midfielder at Aston Villa. After 31 goals and 29 assists across 36 months, the Three Lions star left Villa Park with a European trophy under his belt, joining Chelsea for £117m.
An irresistible offer, and no mistake. However, Emery and co were always going to be up against it in finding a successor, and it's curious that one has emerged from the youth ranks in the form of George Hemmings.
Morgan Rogers celebrates scoring against Arsenal
Morgan Rogers celebrates scoring against Arsenal
Hemmings, 19, has only made ten senior appearances for the Villans, but Emery believes he is ready to feature prominently this season, having started each of the club's six games in all competitions, playing 90 minutes in the Super Cup against Paris Saint-Germain.
Versatile, athletic and quick-footed, Hemmings has shown evident potential, but he's not Rogers, one of the finest attackers in world football right now.
He has started all four of Aston Villa's Premier League fixtures so far this season, and while he has worked hard, there's no question that he pales in comparison to Rogers, who has made a rip-roaring start to life at Stamford Bridge.
It's perhaps unfair to criticise Hemmings too harshly. Rogers has joined Chelsea for a staggering amount of money, and the one-time Nottingham Forest youth product has limited experience on the major stage.
But he's not ready to produce the same kind of results as Rogers - who himself took time to click into gear in the Premier League, following that £8m move from Middlesbrough.
Let's just hope some of Aston Villa's new summer signings will cover the right bases over the coming months.