Aston Villa manager Unai Emery during pre-season.placeholder image
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery during pre-season. | Getty Images
Aston Villa are hoping to add to their squad before the transfer window closes
Aston Villa are targeting a return to the Champions League in 2025/26 and after keeping a largely settled squad throughout the summer, Unai Emery’s side will target additions late in the window in order to take their campaign to the next level.
The club are yet to truly replace Jhon Durán since the young striker moved to Al-Nassr in January, with Rashford acting as a short-term replacement and doing a good job before returning to Manchester United and then making his dream move to Barcelona.
With a striker a major target for Emery in the remainder of the window, the Villans have been given a major boost as they go up against a potential European rival for a huge signing.
Aston Villa preferred destination of Nicolas Jackson
According to reports by Football Insider, Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson prefers a move to Aston Villa over Newcastle United as he contemplates an exit from the Stamford Bridge club this summer. The report states that the 24-year-old has informed friends of his desire to join Villa this summer due to his relationship with Emery, who was previously his manager at Villarreal.
It is an interesting sub-plot that it is Villa’s opening day opponents who are reportedly rivalling them for Jackson’s signature, the Magpies also being the side who pipped the Villans to Champions League qualification on goal difference on the final day. Chelsea have previously slapped an £80 million price tag on Jackson, which seems unachievable for either interested club. Villa value the striker at £60m according to the report.
‘We have to believe’ - Unai Emery speaks on aims for new season
In a recent interview with BBC Sport ahead of the new season, Emery expressed some of his overriding thoughts on Villa’s progress and aims for the new campaign.
Emery said: "We are talking about a lot of teams who are spending a lot of money, but we are going to focus on ourselves. We are getting the belief, of course; we have to believe in our sporting objective through our capacity. You have to be intelligent against other teams who have more options than us to be in the top seven. We must be proud how we are building and being competitive.
"To be in the Premier League in the position we are finishing in the last three years is fantastic. We are thinking about how we did last year and trying to learn and avoid some mistakes we made. We were not being a competitive team like I want for one part of the season, mostly the first part. I will have to avoid it and try to be consistent. How we did the second part was amazing. We finished in the last 20 matches maybe second or third in the table. This is something we have to link in the season."
Continue Reading