From Europa League glory to a historic overhaul: Aston Villa’s new era | OneFootball

Just 105 days separate the Aston Villa triumph in the Europa League final and the end of the transfer window in England. In that short space of time, the villans have gone from euphoria to uncertainty in the blink of an eye.

That's because the squad led by Unai Emery has been through a genuine revolution: the backbone of the side that had been fighting for top spots in the Premier League in recent years has been almost completely dismantled. The fact is that the Birmingham club has been affected by UEFA’s financial rules, so selling players was nothing new.

In 2024, Douglas Luiz’s move to Juventus prevented a 10-point deduction for breaching financial fair play; later, Moussa Diaby headed to Saudi Arabia because of PSR/SCR rules, which limit clubs in European competitions to spending only 70 per cent of their operating revenue.

Then 2025 began with the record sale of Jhon Durán to Al-Nassr. Mid-year, it was Jacob Ramsey’s turn to join Newcastle – it is worth noting that academy graduates tend to generate more profit, something that leaves fans deeply frustrated when they want to see local players thrive.

Now, in 2026, Aston Villa were still forced to ‘sell to buy’ and saw nine players leave permanently, in a process that generated £313.5 million - staggering figures that represent the second-highest revenue ever produced by a club in a single transfer window.

The previous record belonged to Monaco in 2018/19, who sold Kylian Mbappé to PSG for €180 million, Thomas Lemar to Atlético de Madrid for €72 million and Fabinho to Liverpool for €45 million, among others.

Interestingly, that feat was wiped out in this window – and by a side better known for buying everything that moves. Helped massively by the sale of Enzo Fernández and the departure of several fringe players, Chelsea brought in just over £384.55 million in this window.

Elsewhere, special mention must go to the other teams in the top five. Manchester City and PSG are renowned for their spending power, but the truth is they also knew how to sell in 2026/27. In City's case, they often manage to move on players who did not meet expectations for fees higher than the amounts they originally paid.

These windfalls point to only one thing: rebuilding! After a period of success, Aston Villa now face a new era at the club - both on and off the pitch, especially as even Villa Park has closed one stand for renovation work.

“I said goodbye with a huge hug and a small tear”

It is no exaggeration to say once again that the villans have lost their backbone completely. Looking at the starting XI that beat SC Freiburg 3-0 in Istanbul, we can see that six players are no longer at the club:

Emiliano Martínez, the first-choice goalkeeper, took the same role at Chelsea; Ezri Konsa, the leader of the defensive line, joined the current English champions (Arsenal); Lucas Digne, the trusted full-back in the big moments, moved to PSG; Youri Tielemans, the main playmaker, joined Manchester United; Morgan Rogers, the team’s main star, became the sixth-most expensive transfer in history by joining Chelsea; Ollie Watkins, the team’s top scorer in recent years, was tempted by the millions offered by Al-Hilal.

However, not all of these deals were planned. In the case of Digne and Tielemans, their release clauses of £8.5 million and £35.5 million respectively were activated by clubs of a different scale. Meanwhile, the €138 million offered for Rogers was impossible to refuse.

On the other hand, Dibu Martínez had already made it clear that he wanted a new challenge. Who could forget that video in which the goalkeeper cried at Villa Park but ended up staying for another year? Konsa also did not hesitate when Arsenal’s interest emerged and joined Mikel Arteta’s side for £51 million.

But the departure that hurt the club’s officials and supporters the most was Watkins’. The striker, who had a renewal contract on the table, refused to play in the opening round and fans did not hold back their criticism. Even so, the England forward headed to Saudi Arabia with Unai Emery’s blessing.

“We didn’t reach an agreement for him to play the last match, but after the game he apologised to us and admitted he had made a mistake. He was wrong, but we accepted the apology. The players did as well, because he has always shown exemplary behaviour and commitment to the club, to us and to me,” said the Spanish coach in the build-up to that fixture.

“For me, he is a fantastic man, even more than a fantastic player. I said goodbye with a huge hug and a small tear,” he added. Despite all these farewells, the truth is that the two most indispensable figures in the project remain firmly in place at the club: Unai himself and Super John McGinn.

The coach has done outstanding work in England, always securing European football – twice in the Champions League, once in the Europa League and once in the Conference League. The Scottish midfielder, meanwhile, has become a true cult hero since taking the captain’s armband.

Eyes on the future

Aston Villa’s start to the season is far from positive: defeat in the European Super Cup final against PSG (2-1); a humiliating 4-0 loss away to Brighton; and another setback against Arsenal (0-1).

Currently in the relegation zone and without a single shot on target in the Premier League, the Villans still have every right to remain extremely positive and confident about what lies ahead. Just look back to the start of last season, when the Birmingham club did not score until matchday five, while their first three points only came on matchday six. The end result A top-four finish and another Champions League place.

In addition, Roberto Olabe, the club’s sporting director, and Damian Vidagany, the football operations director, did not stand still and worked hard to bring in a truckload of reinforcements - in total, ten new faces were unveiled!

The recruitment strategy ranged from highly talented young prospects to players needing a fresh start and others with valuable experience. Even so, the clear focus was to lower the average age of the first-team squad.

Johan Manzambi, Ibrahim Mbaye and Zion Suzuki are the names that excite Villa fans the most; João Gomes, Matteo Ruggeri and Taylor Harwood-Bellis already have a certain standing, but still have plenty of room to develop; Nicolas Jackson and Alejandro Garnacho arrive with low morale; however, they were direct requests from Unai, who may be able to take them to another level; Leon Goretzka and Wan-Bissaka bring the experience and leadership that had been lost.

That is not all, though: George Hemmings, an academy youngster who has started every game this season, and Brian Madjo, a physical powerhouse who gave Willian Pacho nightmares in the European defeat, are beginning to make their mark early on.

In total, Aston Villa spent £251.5 million million for the season that has already started. And that is not all! It is a clear investment for the future, one that requires time and patience at this early stage.

Clearly, the doubts and scepticism are valid. After all, it is never easy to carry out such a deep overhaul of the squad and still fight for the top places in the most competitive league in the world.

On the other hand, Unai Emery – who has been given the power to choose his own players – has already proven that he lives for these challenges: he is a true master at outperforming the expectations set by the press. Indeed, he has done it a couple of times at Sevilla and Villarreal.

So only time will tell whether this step was a calculated risk or not. The Aston Villa 2.0 version now has the floor!