Aston Villa head coach Steven Gerrard has confirmed that he will have the final say on all transfers ahead of what could be a busy January window.
Steven Gerrard said: “Well listen, I’ve certainly enjoyed my relationship with Johan [Lange] so far. Obviously I knew Christian very well prior anyway, but the meetings we’ve had, the support and welcome I’ve had from both has been fantastic, and everyone else at the club. What I will say about Aston Villa is they are very thorough, they are very detailed and you’re obviously aware that they use a lot of data as well and research. But there is a lot of hard work that goes into identifying players, trying to get a lot of information to try and make sure we take the right decisions. So I have been very impressed with structures and the systems in place, but at the end of the day I will always trust my own eye as well and my own feel when it comes down to making additions. And that’s what we will try and do, we will have a combination of data, analysis, people watching them and also a collective discussion and we all have to be on the same page before we make big decisions for this club. I’ll make the final decision of course I will, but I’m very happy with the support we have in place.”