Unai Emery briefed the media before his men travel to **Brentford**for their second showdown of the Premier League schedule.
It is the first time since the summer of 2020 that Jacob Ramsey will not be around, and though his exit has hurt his teammates, the boss broke down how business is at play.
‘We have enough players tomorrow’
The big news in the Villa dressing room was the exit of Birmingham boy Jacob Ramsey. He has put pen to paper for a deal with Newcastle United, causing Tyrone Mings and John McGinn to make known their admiration on social media for a player whom Emery knew that many liked to work with.
*“They like him. They are so friendly. I wish him the best at Newcastle United. I really enjoyed the moment we had together. The players’ emotions are more closer thinking about him leaving.”*
However, he indicated that several factors, not just PSR, pushed through this transfer to Tyneside.
“When a player leaves, it’s something that we have to accept for different circumstances: the club, the team, and the players. Normally it is getting the objectives with two wishes rather than just one.”
The squad will be without Ezri Konsa, who clipped Anthony Gordon on a breakaway at Villa Park last week and picked up a red card. However, Emery expressed his confidence in the other options.
*“He’s a very important player but we play four competitions this year, hopefully 50 matches and we will have circumstances like we have now. We have enough players tomorrow. We have three centre backs: Tyrone Mings, Pau Torres, and Lamare Bogarde. We are working with those three players.”*
At the other end of the field, the Villans have chosen to let go of Leon Bailey. He recorded ten goals and nine assists on the way to a top-four finish in the 2023/24 season, but his output was virtually null in the league last term, and that has pushed the manager to enquire about alternatives this summer.
"Sometimes we were missing one right-winger. But when he was playing, he was not performing and we were missing something more. Leon Bailey is a fantastic player and he left as he was thinking something needed to change for him, expecting better in his career.
"We extended his contract two years ago because he did fantastic, but last year he did not achieve the same performances."
His exit might mean Evann Guessand gets his first minutes for his new outfit off the right. The forward stood out the most as a deputy to Ollie Watkins, but he has strength in several positions.
*“Guessand we signed him knowing he is versatile and he can play in the attacking third all the positions. We’re testing Donyell Malen, Guessand, and we are comfortable with John McGinn.”*
Leander Dendoncker and Alex Moreno have also left this week for Real Oviedo and **Girona,**respectively. Their departures have placed the numbers in a slightly lighter position than Emery expected at this point in the transfer window. But he holds faith that the situation still can be fixed.
“The first reason we are now missing some other in our structure, in our squad, with the players, is because, left, some players, one week, two weeks ago, when we were expecting maybe to do a deal before. We are working, and we have some solutions as well to try to fix it, but we have to be alert.”