Aston Villa director of football Monchi has revealed how their January transfer plans were thrown into the air, leading to the deals for Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio.
The Spaniard was busy speaking to Sky Italia before Wednesday’s Champions League clash with Paris Saint Germain, with his comments relayed by Calciomercato.
January proved to be a very busy month for Aston Villa as they made several signings to boost Unai Emery’s squad.
They signed Donyell Malen in a €25m deal from Borussia Dortmund, Andres Garcia from Levante for €7m and then moved into the loan market, signing Axel Disasi from Chelsea, Marcus Rashford from Manchester United and Marco Asensio from PSG.
The latter pair have proven to be two of the best deals done in the window, adding a new dimension to Aston Villa’s forward line and helping them in both the Champions League and the Premier League.
Those deals were only possible because of big departures, though, with Jhon Duran heading to Al-Nassr for €77m, Jaden Philogene joining Ipswich Town for €23.7m and Diego Carlos going to Fenerbahce for €11.74. Emiliano Buendia also joined Bayer Leverkusen on loan.
Duran and Buendia were the big departures from that list and Monchi admits it meant he and Aston Villa had to quickly adapt.
“The important thing for me was trying to take players who would adapt to Unai’s system. That they could fit into the roles,” he said.
“The first idea of this winter market wasn’t this. The problem is that Buendia and Duran left, and we had to do the right things to replace them. If you look at Asensio and Rashford they arrived in the last three days.”
