Steven Gerrard Manager
Steven Gerrard insists that he has not been frustrated in the transfer market as Aston Villa aim to add a few more players to his squad before next week’s deadline. Reports claim that Villa remain in the market for a forward, while a midfielder and a centre-back are on Gerrard’s wish list. Asked if he was frustrated about his side’s summer business ahead of the final days of the summer window,
Steven Gerrard replied: “It’s not frustrating at all. It would be if people around me, people in the club didn’t share the ambition and didn’t want to try and improve the group, that’s certainly not the case here. We’re aligned from our owners down, Christian and Johan. I’ve mentioned it a few times before, when we believe there’s an area we need to improve, if the right people are out there we will try and execute to strengthen. So there’s no frustration, there’s hard work going behind a the scenes, but that will be the same at every club especially with days running out.”
Asked about what signs he is seeing that his squad is being shaped as he’d like,
Steven Gerrard said: “It has been mixed, which tells you there’s still a lot of work to do, there’s a lot of fine tuning to do. There’s still additions and certain areas that we want to strengthen, but you can’t do that overnight. We’ll continue to strive to be better every single day, that’s what we will do and what we’ll guarantee out supporters.”
Steven Gerrard insists Aston Villa have the capacity to wrap up deals ‘pretty quickly’, but admits nothing is imminent on the transfer front ahead of next week’s deadline. Asked if any business was imminent before the window shuts,
Steven Gerrard said: “It depends what you mean by close. A signing can happen in 24 hours if you really want it to. We have certain names we are pursuing and looking at and seeing if it is possible. That is all I can give you on it. In terms of a signing, it depends on both clubs. I could sit here now and say we are not close but you then press 409 on your TV and something lands tomorrow. If something comes up and it works and falls into place, it can happen pretty quickly. There’s a couple gaps. I’ve been open to say many times I like four centre-backs so I don’t think you need to do much exploring to know we’re trying to pursue that in the coming days. Again, if something that comes up that has changed in the last few weeks or there’s a chance for us to strengthen in a different area then we’ll try and execute that as well. But if they don’t and they’re not the right people we won’t force. I won’t make signings and make decisions just to collect players or just to stand still, the players have to be right and improve us in the short-term. They have to help us over the course of the season. Even if it’s detrimental to me I won’t make signings just for the sake of it unless I feel it’s right. To be honest with you we found a lot of the pieces we were looking for really early, at the back end of last year, so I was really happy with the way we identified those targets and executed them at the speed we did. Obviously things can change and it has for us in recent weeks with Diego’s injury, so you’ve always got to be prepared. While the window is open you’ve always got to analyse and there’s lots going on in the background and lots of chats. If the right pieces come up in the coming days we’ll try and make them happen. If they don’t we’ll continue with the group we’ve got and move forward. It has been ridiculous the amount of names that have landed on my phone. I don’t answer a lot of calls, I’ll be honest.”
