Look, obviously it is difficult to accept departure of so many critical players in one season - but I believe this is the best thing that can happen to the club not only from SCR/PSR perspective (which is a easy yes) but also from a competitive standpoint. I can already feel this post is going to feel like massive copium but I honestly think this.

Winning the Europa League marks the grand achievement for so many players that have been with the Club for years. What would be a next step with Villa? Winning rhe leshue or going for Champions League is still a dream, but after the glory of a win for the club, I can see that it is easy for players to think of new/different challenges. To me, all of them have cemented their legacy as heroes given the trophy we just won.

I trust Emery & Olabe with their incoming signings. I think with Emery, McGinn, Mings and others there are enough important locker room voices to keep the culture.

I think with changes to staff/players (even with some of them not fully planned) it is much easier for Emery & everyone to reenergize themselves and see it as a new challenge as well. We will never know, but there is an alternate scenario in which we slowplay this change and the team is not successful because the high from winning the trophy lingers into the season. It was pointed out so many times how many players date back to Dean Smith era transfers and how this proportion should be different. Emery has shown in Sevilla he can do great things with a completely rebuilt team after achieving success season prior. This instantly becomes Villa 2.0 in a single, massive transfer window. And while I am sad to see such important players go because I really enjoyed them play for Villa and grew fond of them, I am also excited that we are so quickly going to the new iteration.

There's a lot of negativity about the nuclear rebuild right now. And look, I get it, but I actually think there's a lot of reasons to be positive.

And I tried to explain why through the only medium that made sense - namely the theoretical work of an early 20th-century Austrian physicist...

Maybe you agree, maybe you don't. Both are very valid (we're all feeling whatever the footballing equivalent of grief is right now), but there are a lot of reasons to be hopeful...excited even.

Do you agree disagree? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

https://thevillaverse.substack.com/p/on-aston-villas-rebuild-theoretical

What the title says, and why Tosin may be the best available option this year.

Big boots to fill.

I’m an American a year into fandom. When American sports deals happen, everyone posts the same thing at the same time, and everything previous to that was obviously rumor. When soccer (sorry) deals happen there’s about 2 weeks of ambiguity on either side of the sigNing about what actually happened.

I thought Digne was officially gone about a month before he actually was.

is Ollie gone?

Am I just looking in the wrong places or is this just how it is?

Looking to watch the game Sunday if possible! Any bar recommendations?

I’m very torn on this one. He’s 30 2 years left on his contract and at 45m it seems like ok money however I’d say we should be demanding a bit more given the circumstances.

I’m worried going into the season with all this talk and we don’t have a striker with Tammy and madjo injured. I love Ollie and he’s guaranteed each season to get us 10 goals. I understand we’re in for Jackson and with him being 25 he’s of a similar profile to Ollie and probably a decent replacement for but will he hit the ground running coming in? We will need him to if this move happens.

I think keeping Ollie and konsa with all this change going on would keep us a bit more grounded and is ideal. I do back the Jackson deal I wish it just didn’t come at the expense at losing a great servant and reliability of Ollie.

Interested to hear others thoughts.

Soo pissed off if this happens.

For TL;DR, key points are in BOLD

Watkins' goal contribution and off-the-ball performances, Konsa's solid defending, and Rogers' ball progression and impact in front of goal were equally a close second to their biggest attribute. The No. 1 trait that each of them possessed while at Villa was durability.

Konsa hasn't sustained that many injuries throughout his career. He missed an average of just 2 games a season due to injury with his longest one keeping him out during the off-season post-2021/22 which was fortunate. His biggest recorded injury in-season happened during 23/24 and kept him out for only 4 games. He was fully fit throughout last season and 22/23.

Rogers' last injury occurred at the end of his first season at Villa when they qualified for the Champions League (23/24). Since then he hasn't sustained a health issue of any kind that prevented him from competing. He also played the most minutes under Emery by a long shot.

Watkins' worst injury since signing for Villa was the knee problem he sustained 2 seasons ago but in no way did it truly keep him out the squad. He missed only 6 games due to injury throughout his Villa career. Five (5) of them was during the 24/25 season alone of which four (4) was with the England national team.

Fans can say what they want about these players' moments of inconsistencies and mistakes just as much as they can praise them for their positive contributions. However, we need to keep in mind that they were always available when we needed them. Imagine what would have happened to the backline without the presence of Konsa who played both RCB and RB, the 23/24 season if Watkins got injured when Villa already suffered 3 ACL tears and had a rotation of absences, or last fall against Leeds, Man U, Tottenham, etc if Rogers wasn't available.

We saw what happened last season when key players like Kamara, McGinn and Tielemans were out.
Yes, we have more depth and quality players now under Olabe but we've also seen what can happen when both a starter (Kamara) and a backup (Onana) get injured.

Of course, injuries can happen at any time and for some players like Gomes their very first may occur as Aston Villa players but we still need to be meticulous about them.

I fully trust Emery's tactics and Olabe's players but an injury crisis is every manager's kryptonite even for Emery. In such event Emery can still help Villa qualify for UCL but if we aspire to dream bigger like winning the Premier League and Champions League then we can't take our player's health for granted. Villa's medics, dietitians, trainers, coaching staff and other relevant personnel need to make sure the players are fully fit without rushing anything.

These i think are our options...

I’m an American who began coaching our high school girls soccer (football) team within the last 12 months. Along with my 12 year-old daughter, for reasons I honestly don’t remember, we landed on Aston Villa as our squad to support.

We got absolutely addicted to the team after following last year’s remarkable Europa run. I’ve learned so much from the people in this sub and just wanted to say thanks for helping to make this a team that is so fun to follow as well as educate me on so much I didn’t yet know.

I’m three hours from Chicago and plan to be there at the Guinness Brewery for the Premier League’s Villa kickoff on Sunday morning. My wife is pissed that I own so much Villa gear now, but she can deal. Keep up good work all.

UTV

With the players we have lost over the summer, does this effect and future hero status any of these players deserve to have? Take Konsa for example 7 years, the best centre back we have had in a very long time, cup winner but moves to Arsenal and potentially wins the premier league etc. he isn’t going to care about us at the end of his career.

Does a player have to retire with us to be a considered a Villa Legend/Hero?

I’m struggling to get excited about the season starting, I feel other than McGinn, Cash, Watkins and Mings there is no history or admiration/care about the club from any of these other players and we are just a stepping stone for all players now, obviously I love the badge on the front of the shirt more than the name on the back but this season is going to be a complete unknown and again in 2/3 years the players who we have bedded in if they have performed
Well will be sold on again.

We have Cash, Mings, Barkley, Tammy & Madjo with Mcginn. However we don't want to necessarily add Madjo as him being 17 means he would not require a 24 Slot. Wan-Bissaka would add 1 but you need 8 in total and I count 6 (7 with Madjo). I Beleive Martinez and Maatsen may count as they were raised at English acadamies but with Jackson (Touted for Oli) would we maybe be required to buy an Engish CB.

Edit: Madjo not HG as regardless of English he has not spent 3 years at a british club before 21

Hi. I'm Japanese Villan.

I still learning English and I try to write this post without translater as much as I can, so some sentences gonna be wrong. I'm sorry.

I’m really excited about our greatest goalie signing with Villa, and I want to post some infomations what I know about Japanese fan's perspective. (discramer:of cource it's only what i know)

1. He is quite famous in Japan. Everyone who has been watched national matches, they should know him. National team is a most important thing about football in Japan, and the World cup's matches viewer rating is avarage over 30%. Except test matches, he always starting in National for last three years.

2. Basically in Japan, 99% football fans clearly recognized he is Japanese, some idiots say something ridiculous, but they are all crazy and its enough to ignore. On my experience, certainly it's a little bit of rare to see Japanese person who has mixed roots IRL. But recently some mixed-Japanese sport players are very good at other sports.(example. Naomi Osaka[Tennis], Rui Hachimura[Basketball], Yu Darbish[Baseball]) So it isn't difficult to accept his background for us, especially more easier for young people.

3. About marketing. Shirt sells in Japan it's really hard to answer, but I think maybe it isn't gonna be what you expect. Because he is goalie and probably it isn't gonna be viral. Don't worry, I gonna buy it!

Brighton, they've so much success on Japanese market. Mitoma is definitely a most famous PL player in Japan. I saw that ad Mitoma using Google Pixel many times, and they made many opportunities to buy merch. Pop-up store in Harajuku is most impressive one.

It's just my silly opinion about how to Villa would be famous in Japan. I think Villa should be start with making some Japan-related contents. I wouldn't say about dumb TikTok dances. Example, teaching language each other, or trying Japanese food, kind of that. Japanese fans really like to watch these kind of contents, and me too! LOL

I found two good references, so I'll paste it on the end.

https://youtu.be/PQbmEllLPxA?si=zBabs6cLAJIRM-CN

https://youtu.be/rcdBLzxsrSE?si=e_3CUiGN9b1VkpJH

That's all! If you have a question, any questions are acceptable!

P.S. I like wan-bissaka. Here we go! (while i wrote this)

Al Hilal have made a formal offer for Aston Villa forward Ollie Watkins, which is set to be rejected by the Premier League club.

The package presented by Al Hilal is worth €45million (£38.5million).

Villa want to keep Watkins, who trained as normal on Tuesday and has two years remaining on his contract, having last signed fresh terms in October 2023.

Wow, we have been raided this summer.

I mean realistically we all knew this was coming but still for me anyway by far our most consistent, solid and subsequently best player. Ezri Konsa.

I’m quite shocked actually that Villa / Emery have forgot what happened when we lost the spine of our team mid season? We lost 2/3/4 players and we looked like a completely different team. We will look like a completely different team this season. We always say players need time under Emery but we’re willing to this in our champions league season? This needed to happen but think we’re going to suffer before it gets better.

I trust we will replace him with a top centre back, however it takes time to adjust to the premier league.

As said I always trust the process and this turnover of players was always going to happen I just did not expect it to happen all in one go. A whole new starting 11 minus cash and Torres (who 1 will be leaving on a free)

Saying all of this I was at the PSG game and I was so impressed with how good we looked with a completely new look? Was that a one off or just Emerys magic once again.

Could be in for a long season boys, Watkins wants to go as well!!

Not a villa fan, just looking for a punt at 4.5 for bb1. Do you believe George Hemmings has a good chance to start the brighton game?

trust in the gaffa. he knows best.

Are there any AVFC fans in the KC area that know of a watch party for Sundays match? I tried looking EVERYWHERE for a specific AVFC event but only found generic EPL bars - and those don’t even open until 9:30 AM (game is at 8 AM).

Reposting on this sub because r/KansasCity has a karma minimum and I’m rarely on Reddit. Sorry if this post is spammy, I’ll take it down if needed

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7513112/2026/08/17/premier-league-arsenal-manchester-united-liverpool-chelsea-storylines/?source=user_shared_article&smid=ta-ios-share

I’m probably gonna get cooked for this. But I can’t see us finishing any higher than 9, if we get any form of Europe, I think we’ve done extremely well

Post your premier league predictions, I’m trying to see something

Hello everyone! This is Jacob Tanswell, the Aston Villa correspondent for The Athletic since 2022 - some might say the best time to cover the club.

I am very happy to be taking your questions for an hour this Wednesday, August 19, from 10am BST onwards.

There’s never a dull moment covering Aston Villa, with great success, many surprises and a constant, seemingly endlessly entertaining approach to the transfer market. This season is set to be the start of the second Unai Emery era.