Aston Villa will sell Jacob Ramsey to Newcastle, which they welcome in Villa Park for their Premier League opener during lunch, but Unai Emery is still optimistic for a big season
Unai Emery insists that this season Aston Villa is not contenders for a top-sieve place but he remains enthusiastic about the challenge of disturbing people with larger budgets.
Villa starts their campaign against Newcastle during lunch and is approaching the end of a transfer window that is impeded by their need to comply with the rules for financial fair play.
Jacob Ramsey of Homegrown has been set to complete a switch of £ 39 million to the tone, while Leon Bailey will not play a part today if he approaches an exit. And although Villa is not busy punishing the sale, there seems to be little chance of arrival of a big money before the window closes on 1 September.
Emery, however, remains optimistic about the coming campaign and admits that their ambition is to protect their place on the continental phase next season – despite various rivals with much larger resources.
“We start more or less as I arrived here. We are not contenders for this reason to be in the top seven,” he said. “Of course we have the capacity to build a strong team, but not with the same budget.
“We have to be competitive with our players and continue to work hard and stay motivated, but we are not contenders to be in the top seven.”
Villa would be willing to splash the money, were it not for the sustainability regulations of UEFA. Last month, the administrative body has a fine of the club £ 9.5 million a fine of violating their rules for the cost ratio and could be able to climb considerably unless they will remain in accordance with the next three seasons.
But Emery added: “I am not frustrated – I accept the rules and how we compete, also how we are ambitious to compete with the better teams in the Premier League and in Europe. I am motivated and excited, not frustrated and I always accept it how we compete.”
EMI Martinez today serves a suspension of one game, which means a debut for new signing Marco Bizot. But after a summer of speculation around the future Emery of the Argentina, the fears seemed to alleviate that he went on.
“I am so happy with him,” he added. “In the transfer window there is the opportunity to leave, but if he stays here, as at the moment, I am so happy with his dedication and professionalism. He is a leader in the dressing room and he is very good for us. He is luckily here, he wants to fight for us.”