Ollie Watkins
Ollie Watkins (Image: Getty Images)
Former Aston Villa winger Stewart Downing doesn't believe anybody currently in the squad should be in a rush to leave the club this summer even if they fail to secure a second straight year in the Champions League.
Villa currently sit in ninth in the Premier League with nine matches still to play before the end of the season; with fifth place likely to be enough to earn any club a place in Europe's elite competition next term, they are only three points off Manchester City who currently occupy that position.
Away from the league commitments, Villa's season is very much alive; they are in the quarter finals of the FA Cup and the quarter finals of the Champions League, and both competitions offer Villa and Unai Emery the opportunity to make this campaign a memorable one.
Downing, who acknowledged Jhon Duran's sale to Saudi side Al-Nassr in January, has been impressed by the squad that Emery and Monchi have assembled and thinks that, even if they come up short in their bid to return to the Champions League next term, no player should be in a rush to bid farewell.
"Aston Villa have had a great season, but they'll still be looking at the likes of Fulham, Brighton, Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth and thinking 'we should be ahead of them'," Downing told Ladbrokes.
"They've got so much quality in that squad - and I'm actually surprised they let Jhon Duran go, to be honest. What a squad Unai Emery has built there. Yes, he's had the resources to do so, but you still have to recruit well. I think he's done unbelievably well.
"The thing is, he's a manager who is going to want regular Champions League football; he's not one to mess around with the Europa League, or a half-decent run in this year's Champions League and an eighth-place finish in the Premier League. He wants top four, so I really think they'll go all guns blazing in the next couple of months to try and get in there.
"If they don't make the Champions League next season, you do wonder what might happen to that team. You know, Ollie Watkins has been heavily linked with Arsenal in the last couple of transfer windows, they might come back in for him.
"As for the other players - it's about convincing them of the project, and where the club is going. If I'm a young player at Villa, and I can see we're flying as a club, and I knew we were going to spend big in the summer to go again, I think I'd give it another year.
"Unless you're going to a Man City, or a Liverpool - why would you sign for anyone else at this moment? I'd be surprised if there's many exits in the summer, even if they don't make the Champions League. Unless someone comes in with a massive offer and the club tell a player "that's it, you're going", I can't really see who they'd sell."
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