Transfer Round Up 2023/24
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After qualifying for the Europa League in a remarkable example of bottling from ourselves in the top 4 we would be going into this summer with a few ideas in mind for recruitment and to our delight they all come in with very little expense to our team in terms of playing staff departures.
We've managed to keep hold of pretty much our whole team with just Matty Cash leaving for a fee of 10.75M to Bournemouth. A wonderful servant to us the last few years and I wanted to keep him as he's a fine young player but felt standing in the way of regular first team football for him would be wrong and so off he goes in search of that.
So as always I'll list off our incomings and we'll go through them one by one! We've spent a lot so buckle in.
Transfers:
Francis Uzoho - 625K
Enis Bardhi - 20.5M
Fiete Arp - 3.5M
Jamal Lewis - 33.5M
Tosin Adarabioyo - 37.5M
To start with in comes Francis Uzoho. There isn't too much to say about this one but the Nigerian comes in as our back up to Emi Martinez who I was looking at replacing this summer but due to other positions being prioritised it just wasn't feasible so the Argentine has gained one more season at least which I'm cool with as he has been fantastic since I joined.
Then arrived Enis Bardhi. Dominik Szoboszlai's the national teammate from Barcelona for 20.5M. The winger came in as a replacement for Matty Cash. A big improvement on the Englishman for sure with the only negative being he can't play right back as well as him. The idea is though he replaces Bertrand Traore and Cash on the right wing and provides quality in depth. a good signing by all accounts.
My favourite signing of the summer was one of the cheapest. Fiete Arp from Bayern Munich for only 3.5M. I'm not quite sure how we pulled that one off but I'm very very happy with it. 23 years old with deadly finishing. The German has never really had a chance at top level so he arrives in England with a point to prove. THe idea behind this one was that Ollie Watkins last season really wasn't good enough and although Mousset filled in well - We just need another level of striker up front and I think Fiete provides us with that. A world class player, or at least soon to be.
Then arrived Max Aarons' former teammate from Norwich Jamal Lewis. Each player playing on opposing wings in the full back roles I like to think of them as Aston Villa's answer to Robertson and TAA. We had to pay a lot of money for Jamal to come in. His 33.5M pound release clause was just about the maximum I was willing to pay. A top quality signing I think.
Lastly we have BIG TOSIN. I've been keeping tabs on centre backs all season long. With the arrival of Tapsoba we were looking a lot more solid at the back and although Konsa has been very good of late I still feel like we need a different type of player at the back and that's why eventually we paid Fulham through the nose to get Tosin. He's an absolute brick shit house and I can't wait to pit him against the Leagues best. Our answer to Van Dijk.
We start the season at Bournemouth soon where we'll meet Matty Cash for the first time since his departure. A game I'm looking forward to. At Villa Park it's a match we should definitely be winning so lets hope for a good start!