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Villa have invested in a number of players in their early 20s this summer to bolster and revitalise their squad By Ali Tweedale for Opta Analyst There is a pattern to Aston Villa’s recent transfer business. It’s not as if their squad was too old last season. They had the fifth-oldest starting XI of the 20 Premier League teams and achieved their highest finish in 28 years, qualifying for the Champions League for the first time. But manager Unai Emery and president of football operations Monchi have been working hard to improve the squad in the transfer window – almost exclusively with players in their early 20s. Villa have signed Amadou Onana (22), Ian Maatsen (22), Cameron Archer (22), Jaden Philogene (22), Samuel Iling-Junior (20), Lewis Dobbin (21), Enzo Barrenechea (23) and, the only exception, 30-year-old Ross Barkley. There is also the possibility that 18-year-old Kosta Nedeljkovic, who signed in January before going back to Red Star Belgrade on loan for the rest of the season, will join the first-team squad. Considering the players Villa signed in the winter window – Morgan Rogers (22), Lino Sousa (19) and back-up goalkeeper Joe Gauci (24) – work is clearly being done to reduce the age profile of the squad. The average age of the Villa team last season was 27 years and 149 days. Only four clubs had older starting XIs but there’s nothing wrong with that in itself – Manchester City’s lineup was on average just 113 days younger than Villa’s and they did alright for themselves – but the club is now looking to the future. Important first-team players, Lucas Digne and Diego Carlos are both over 30, and John Mc Ginn turns 30 in October. Most of Villa’s regular starters last season were in their peak years, which is fine for the here and now, but not ideal for the long term. Emery gave just 658 minutes of league action to players aged under 21, and all but 38 of those minutes were given to Tim Iroegbunam, who has now moved to Everton, and Jhon Durán, who appears to be doing everything he can to force a transfer out of the club. Villa have clearly decided to prioritise youth in the transfer market but they also want players who can step into the team straight away. In the cases of Onana (£50m) and Maatsen (£37. 5m), that has meant paying big money. Onana adds ball-winning ability to midfield, having averaged 3. 1 tackles per 90 last season – the sixth-most of Premier League midfielders to play at least 2, 000 minutes – as well as aerial presence and plenty of technical skill. Maatsen is more of a modern-day left-back than Digne, preferring to play it short rather than get up and down the touchline and whip balls into the box, so he provides a proper alternative on that front. Maatsen had a pass success rate of 89. 4% in the Bundesliga last season while on loan from Chelsea to Borussia Dortmund, while attempting just 1. 7 open-play crosses per 90 minutes; by way of comparison, Digne completed just 81. 4% of his passes in the Premier League but put in 4. 6 open-play crosses per 90. Elsewhere, Villa have done cheaper business for players who will begin as back-up options before hopefully becoming starters. The decision to re-sign Archer from Sheffield United and Philogene from Hull City raised eyebrows, but those players effectively just went out on loan for a year and have now returned to the club with a year of first-team experience – even if Philogene cost significantly more than he was sold for. As one of few bright sparks at Sheffield United last season, Archer proved he is more than capable of playing at this level, and Philogene showed his attacking potential at Hull. He led the Championship in 2023-24 for the number of times he took a shot or created a chance following a carry, doing so 2. 7 times per 90 on average, and he was also Hull’s top scorer with 12 goals and their top assister with six. Iling-Junior and Dobbin are exciting prospects who will need game-time at the top level. Iling-Junior made 24 appearances for Juventus in Serie A last season, racking up 801 minutes for a giant of European football, so may expect to feature regularly. He also played 90 minutes in the Coppa Italia final, so has invaluable experience of winning a major trophy. Dobbin was expected to kick on last season after a year on loan at Derby where he featured regularly in the Championship, but he struggled to make an impact at Everton, where he was given just 286 minutes on the pitch. He will hope the move to Villa reignites his career. Both he and Iling-Junior – as well as Philogene – play out wide, though, so there is plenty of competition for places on the flanks. Barrenechea is the most unknown quantity of the lot but, after spending last season on loan from Juventus at fellow Serie A side Frosinone – for whom he started 32 of their 38 league games and came off the bench in four of the remaining six – he has a year of top-flight football under his belt. A deep-lying midfield technician who is extremely comfortable on the ball, Barrenechea likes to dictate play while barely ever getting close to the opposition’s goal – as his heatmap from last season shows. He also brings a tenacity to midfield, though he can dive into tackles a little too readily – he picked up 10 yellow cards in the league last season. It all adds up to a major refresh of the Villa squad and a group to be excited about for years to come. There’s an argument that Emery should have looked to the club’s academy rather than buying players but, with so much at stake and with the club now in the Champions League, the manager perhaps didn’t want to take too many chances. One way of mitigating that risk is to bring in experienced players. Having already signed Barkley, Villa have been linked with João Félix, Raphinha and Kalvin Phillips, all of whom would add Premier League and Champions League experience to the squad. It’s a hugely exciting time at Villa Park. If the club’s summer transfer business works out, things could remain that way for a while yet. This is an article by Opta Analyst

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