John Townley answers questions about Morgan Rogers and Jadon Sancho’s future, agent fees, and winning the Premier League
The latest Claret & Blue Q&A is now live
The latest Claret & Blue Q&A is now live
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Aston Villa's European journey continues on Thursday night against Bologna in Italy, 18 days after beating West Ham before the March international break.
A number of players from Unai Emery's squad represented their respective nations on international duty, while others headed to Spain for a mini training camp and a friendly against Elche.
On Claret & Blue, Dan Rolinson and John Townley headed to Villa Park for their latest Q&A episode, as they opened their mailbag ahead of Villa's return to action.
If you want to submit your question or just give your opinions on the latest goings-on at Villa, you can do so by clicking this link. Below is a transcript of Townley's answers to this week's questions...
A chat about Villa’s high agents fees...
"The agent fees are high. There are obviously lots of different reasons for that - firstly, Villa need to attract players, so there's perhaps a bit more needed to tempt them to come here instead of somewhere else. But then you look at the fact that we signed Lindelof, Sancho, Elliott, Bizot, and Guessand - some of those are the scraps of the teams we're competing with.
"With free transfers, there may be more involved in signing-on fees too. This also includes contract renewals, of which we've done a fair few over the last 12 months - and we need to do more, because quite a number of players are going into the final two years of their contracts this summer.
"On the ticket price conversation - this is precisely one of the reasons we say fans are being fooled when clubs suggest that supporters need to ‘play their part’ for PSR. It’s a difference of a few million pounds from the Champions League run with ticket sales that were £80–90 when they probably should have been £50–60. Only Man United, Man City, and Chelsea have spent more than us on agent fees over the last two years. Over the last 12 months, only Chelsea have spent more.
"We know Villa have to battle within the rules - it's boring to say, but it's simply not going to change. The most obvious solution is to increase commercial revenue. That's difficult, but it means growing the fanbase locally and abroad. None of that is easy, and it's all a result of performing well on the pitch - which we know is down to Emery, on the budget we have.
"The Premier League is the most-watched sport in the world, and we're in the epicentre of it. The Champions League helps, winning the Europa League would help, but this is a long game. Villa's ticket prices being higher isn't suddenly going to make the agent fees irrelevant.
"Why erode goodwill with supporters for the sake of a few million when you're spending the amounts we are on agent fees? It's not going to sit well with the fanbase - and neither should it."
Should Barkley retain his place in the team now Sancho is injured?
"Let’s deal with Bologna first - I'd imagine McGinn starts, with Rogers and Watkins up front, Tielemans at 10, and Onana alongside Luiz. Barkley can't play in Europe anyway. For the Forest game, I think Barkley would come in - he's been better than Luiz in recent weeks. There'll be some rotation after Bologna given the schedule: five games in 16 days including Fulham.
"McGinn will retain his place. Tielemans starting both games would be a lot of minutes, but he's a good option. Without Sancho it's a shame - it was a bit of a freak injury in a friendly. He had shown some decent form recently. As he shouldn’t be available, McGinn shifts wide and thank goodness Tielemans is back. One more injury in that area and we're in real trouble.
"On whether to sign Sancho permanently in the summer - it depends what alternatives there are. We'll need a squad for the Champions League and Sancho is a useful option. He arguably suits European football better than the Premier League, as his starts in Europe versus the league shows.
"But when Sancho came in on deadline day, that was very much reactive - we need bodies, let's get him over the line. I don't want to be in that position again after qualifying for the Champions League. We signed Guessand for a chunk of money and that didn't work, so that was our fault too.
"If we want Harry Wilson over Jadon Sancho, go and get Harry Wilson - don't sign Sancho just because he's a free. He'd still command decent wages, he's scored one goal this season, and there's always the risk a player performs to earn a deal and then drops off. I'm not fully convinced."
Who would you pick to play for Villa from the relegated teams?
"Wolves and Burnley will go down. The third is genuinely hard to call - you could make an argument for any of them, including Leeds, although Leeds still have Wolves and Burnley at home. Spurs I think edge it, probably by more than people expect by the end.
"From Wolves - Mateus Mane. Burnley - there's perhaps no one who'd improve a top-four Villa side. The left-back, Hartman, is decent with a good left foot. The more interesting one is the club we don't know yet - because that's where the Bowen or Gibbs-White calibre players could be.
"Gibbs-White would be an top signing. He wouldn't replace Rogers exactly, but if someone slaps down a big fee for Rogers and he goes, then OK. Forest would also want a chunk of money for Gibbs-White. Bowen I'd still take - he's a better player than Sancho for me, and he's got Villa in the family.
"The goalkeeper is a huge question mark. Replacing Emi Martínez is going to be difficult, and James Trafford is someone I'd be interested in. Then you look at the squad - Watkins and McGinn have two years left, Tielemans two years too years. All of a sudden there's an ageing team whose values will drop after this summer. That could inform who we buy."
What price would you sell Rogers for?
"Selling Rogers alone won't fix everything - but if the Villa-to-Chelsea ticker flashes up, I'd look at £90 million and think, all right. The questioner suggests no less than £160 million, arguing that full-backs go for £70 million now and Rogers is around 80 per cent of prime Ronaldo. I don't agree - he's good but not that good. I'd try and hold out for £100 million.
"But Emery might say don't sell at any cost, and Villa might agree - so then the options become: you can't do this, this, and this instead. Here are your trade-offs. After the summer window - which was a poor one - we're still pushing for a Europa League semi-final and fourth in the Premier League with seven games to go, so it's never as bad as it seems with the manager we have.
"The important thing is that it doesn't unsettle our summer. If Rogers has to go to enable a rebuild, so be it - as long as the rebuild actually happens during pre-season. The World Cup could complicate things if key targets are away with their nations, and Rogers' value might even rise if he plays well there.
"For me, it's simply: what is Villa's price, what can they do with the money to improve the squad, and if someone matches that price, the player goes. That's football. Villa always try to put a plan in place where they don't have to sell key players - Emery gets some say, there are options presented - so it's not a binary ‘sell Rogers or fail’. It might mean tweaking elsewhere and taking longer."
Do you think Villa will win the Premier League in your lifetime?
"I think we'll see Villa win the top English league - but I'm not sure it'll still be the Premier League. Something has to give eventually. The financial gap between clubs keeps widening, it hasn't kept pace with inflation, and it can't just carry on as it is.
"There are only a finite number of people who can actually afford these clubs, and we're talking several billion, not millions anymore. What are their motives? The Super League announcements that dropped out of nowhere is a reminder that the landscape can shift fast. I think there could be something bigger at play down the line."
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