Last week, Aston Villa director Monchi revealed Unai Emery wanted to sign Paris Saint-Germain’s Marco Asensio and Chelsea’s João Félix in the winter market.
On deadline day, the Blues allowed Félix to join AC Milan on loan while Asensio arrived at Villa Park on a temporary deal.
The 29-year-old joined PSG from Real Madrid in 2023 and struggled for regular game time this season.
Monchi has been speaking to Onda Cero’s Radioestaido Noche to review some of Aston Villa’s business in the recently concluded window. The Villans completed the signing of Marcus Rashford on loan from Manchester United on Sunday.
The former Sevilla director has used these two operations as examples to point out Aston Villa’s pull in the transfer market. The Villans official also states Emery has long been an admirer of Asensio and tried to sign him for he moved to PSG.
“Asensio has been a desire of Unai’s for a long time. Previously we tried and it couldn’t happen because he decided to go to PSG and since then we have been keeping an eye on him,” he said.
“We are excited about his arrival and that the Aston Villa brand is a magnet for important players, which is what we have been trying to do since we arrived.”
On January 31st, Aston Villa sold Jhon Durán to Al-Nassr and Monchi has warned Premier League clubs that they can’t compete financially with Saudi Arabia.
“The economic potential of Arab football isn’t even in the Premier League, it’s an important rival because it drags signings,” Monchi explained.
“I think that the economic level is still not comparable to the competitive level and for the moment it is holding back some players.”
Monchi believes qualifying for the Champions League next season won’t be easy for Aston Villa. They are eighth in the table, six points behind fourth placed Chelsea.
“The excitement that has been generated is great and we hope to be up to the task in the next round [playoffs],” he added.
“The idea is to be in the Champions League again next season but it’s going to be difficult because the fight is tough.”
