Unai Emery says he has no regrets looking back at Aston Villa’s January transfer window. Across the six games since the January window closed, Emery has had two goalkeepers on his bench in all but one match (vs Arsenal). For last week’s 1-1 draw with West Ham and, as well as having two stoppers on his bench, Emery had four defenders – including the unfit Diego Carlos – and two attackers. The manager has already confirmed that it will be the same against Bournemouth on Saturday (3pm) with two goalkeepers and six outfield players on his bench.
Unai Emery said: “Yes, I’m OK with it. It will be the same [against Bournemouth]. We have 16 players and three goalkeepers, two on the bench. We have six on the bench. It’s enough. We have now three players injured; Dendoncker, Coutinho, Kamara, and Carlos is coming back. He will play progressively. At the beginning he will train with the team. It’s enough but, of course, the idea is progressively, in one year, when we are starting to play Premier League, Carabao Cup, FA Cup and, of course, hopefully in the future, Europe, we have to take more players in the squad for some circumstances during the year. But not during this moment, not yet.”
On his and Villa’s transfer policy in January, knowing it has left him short of options,
Unai Emery replied: “I don’t have regrets. No, not really because we were very, very clear inside. We only added players thinking to improve the squad or the team but not being in a hurry to do something, rather than really adding someone who will not improve the squad like I want. We had three players (Moreno, Duran, Traore) in January and I am happy. There was a different situation with each one. The best quality was to respect the players we have now and give them the opportunity to improve and show his progress in the squad. We finished the two cups and we weren’t playing in Europe and we only had the Premier League. It’s enough for what we have.”
Emery, meanwhile, will be hopeful of having Dendoncker, Coutinho and Kamara all back for Villa’s fixture at Chelsea (Saturday, April 1, 5.30pm) following the two-week international period.
