Did Aston Villa have a good season or not?

It is fair to say that, despite finishing sixth in the Premier League, Aston Villa had a very weird season.

Unai Emery’s second full season in charge saw some of the greatest moments in the club’s long history, such as their titanic victory over Bayern Munich and an incredible fightback against Paris Saint Germain. However, it also saw them go on a run of eight games without a win and put in some truly miserable performances in big games.

Their failure to qualify for the Champions League has also left the club in an uncertain position from a financial perspective. The club is almost certain to be forced into selling even more of their key players in the summer to comply with Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) despite selling Moussa Diaby, Douglas Luiz, and Jhon Duran for a combined £150 million last season.

So, with all this in mind, did Villa have a good season or not?

Transfers

In:

Amadou Onana from Everton (£50m), Ian Maatsen from Chelsea (£35m), Donyell Malen from Borussia Dortmund (£25m), Cameron Archer from Sheffield United (£15m), Jaden Philogene from Hull City (£13m), Samuel Illing-Junior from Juventus (£12m), Lewis Dobbin from Everton (£10m), Enzo Barrenechea from Juventus (£6m), Andres Garcia from Levante (£6m), Ross Barkley from Luton Town (£5m), Axel Disasi on loan from Chelsea, Marcus Rashford on loan from Manchester United, Marco Asensio on loan from Paris Saint Germain

Total spend (approx.): £187 million

Out:

Jhon Duran to Al-Nassr (£65m), Moussa Diaby to Al-Ittihad (£55m), Douglas Luiz to Juventus (£50m), Jaden Philogene to Ipswich Town (£20m), Cameron Archer to Southampton (£15m), Diego Carlos to Fenerbahçe (£9m), Tim Iroegbunam to Everton (£10m), Morgan Sanson to Nice (£3m), Viljami Sinisalo to Celtic (£1m), Calum Chambers to Cardiff City (free), Alex Moreno on loan to Nottingham Forest, Samuel Illing-Junior on loan to Bologna/Middlesbrough, Kosta Nedeljkovic on loan to RB Leipzig, Leander Dendoncker on loan to Anderlecht, Enzo Barrenechea on loan to Valencia, Lewis Dobbin on loan to West Bromwich Albion/Norwich City, Kaine Kesler-Hayden on loan to Preston North End, Philippe Coutinho on loan to Vasco da Gama

Total revenue (approx.): £228 million

Villa’s transfers over the course of the summer and winter transfer windows are difficult to judge. A fair amount of the transfers were just money spinners to keep the club compliant with PSR, though they proved pointless in footballing terms.

Douglas Luiz has been an unmitigated disaster at Juventus, while Enzo Barrenechea and Samuel Illing-Junior are unlikely to ever play for Villa. Lewis Dobbin was also loaned out immediately and will never play for the club, while Tim Iroegbunam was at least able to find regular minutes and form for Everton prior to getting injured in October.

Cameron Archer and Jaden Philogene were brought back and quickly sold again, although Villa had to re-sign Archer due to a clause in the sale that took him to Sheffield United a year earlier.

All these moves were essential to keep Villa compliant with the ever-present threat of PSR, but none of the players aside from Iroegbunam truly benefitted from their transfers and most are back to where they started.

As for the blockbuster moves, Villa’s biggest successes came in the loan market. Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio were brought in deep into the January window and both played a key role in Villa’s recovery in the second half of the season. However, Axel Disasi was less impressive due to some highly questionable performances when he was shunted out to right-back.

Amadou Onana had a stop-start first season with Villa as he struggled with injury, while Ian Maatsen took his time to cement a place in the team, but he impressed once he got his chance.

A surprise star of the season was Ross Barkley, who returned to the club for a second spell after an underwhelming loan stint in the 2020/21 season. While he was primarily used as a backup player, he had a habit of scoring big goals to bail his teammates out, most notably a late winner away to RB Leipzig in the Champions League.

As for the other arrivals, Donyell Malen impressed in limited minutes and Andres Garcia looks like a very promising prospect for the future. They also secured the signing of starlet Yasin Ozcan, although he was a pre-signing ahead of the 2025 summer window.

However, the outgoings were much harder on Villa. The club sanctioned the surprise sale of then-club record signing Diaby after a single season due to his patchy form and the explosive performances from Leon Bailey in the previous campaign. Unfortunately, the Jamaican’s form collapsed when he was faced with the pressure of being the main man again and Villa were left in dire need of creativity out wide.

Duran had also emerged as one of Villa’s crown jewels during the first half of the campaign, with the temperamental Colombian coming up with several big goals and signing a new contract in November. Despite this, he forced a surprise exit to Saudi Arabia in January, which forced Ollie Watkins to become Villa’s main goal threat once again despite his patchy form.

Losing Luiz, who was an incredibly popular figure at Villa Park, also did not help, but it did not matter as much as some expected. Boubacar Kamara and Onana between them picked up the defensive slack while Youri Tielemans dazzled going forward. However, it would have been helpful for someone to take the burden off the Belgian’s shoulders from time to time.

In short, it is tough to gauge just how successful Villa’s transfers were. Maatsen, Malen, and Onana should step up to become much more central figures next season and Garcia looks to have a bright future ahead of him, but losing Diaby, Luiz and Duran has only kept PSR at bay for so long.

Results

Yet again, this is an incredibly mixed bag for Villa.

On the one hand, they put in amazing displays that will go down in history against Bayern and PSG, as well as other brilliant performances against Liverpool and Manchester City at home.

However, there was also two turgid performances against Ipswich, a cowardly final day display against Manchester United that cost them Champions League, as well as questionable European displays away at Monaco and Club Brugge in the League Phase.

The biggest crime of all though was their repeatedly awful displays against Crystal Palace. Despite playing them four times, twice at home and twice away, they never got better than a 2-2 draw at Villa Park.

Emery elected to throw away their chances at winning the Carabao Cup by playing the reserves, got battered 4-1 at Selhurst Park in the Premier League, before getting utterly outplayed at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final.

Villa fans are desperate for a trophy, which is more than understandable as their drought will now stretch into a 30th year with four lost finals, and Villa were presented with two golden opportunities in cup competitions this season. Yet they threw them both away in the face of Oliver Glasner’s Eagles.

The Villans do not always crumble in big games, but they do seem to perform better as the underdogs. When they are the favourites and the weight of expectation is placed upon them, they seem to wilt and run out of ideas.

It is a deeply concerning trend for Villa fans, but Emery is surely wise to the problem, and it should be addressed in the coming months.

At the end of the day, Villa will be back in Europe for the third season in a row and have finished in the top six in consecutive seasons. Their Champions League campaign was also a roaring success that will be remembered at Villa Park for decades to come. These are genuine achievements that should not be overshadowed by the disappointment of the final day.

Overall, while they largely failed to hit the dizzying heights of last season, at least outside of Europe, the 2024/25 season has been a success overall for Villa.

Where next?

Unfortunately for Emery’s men, Villa will once again be dogged by the three most dreaded letters in English football: PSR.

It seems almost certain that at least one big name will have to leave the club, with the current most likely candidate being Emiliano Martinez.

However, while it is accepted that there is a PSR hole that will need to be quickly plugged, it is unknown how big that hole is.

If the gap is only small, they could probably get away with just selling the likes of Bailey who has been attracting interest from Saudi Arabia in recent weeks.

However, if it is in a similar ballpark to last year, then the club will be forced to sell the likes of Martinez.

While it might sound counterintuitive, a big summer clear-out could actually work in Villa’s favour.

The core of the squad that has sustained Villa over the last five years seems to be coming to an end – Matty Cash is no longer up to standard, Ollie Watkins has put up good numbers but with poor performances, and even Martinez has dropped too many clangers this season.

PSR looming over the club will force Villa to seek alternatives to some of these names on top of shifting some of the deadwood in the squad.

While fans are rightly disappointed with some of the shortcomings on the domestic front, there are still reasons to be optimistic for the future.

They should be in a good position to compete in the Premier League once again next season, and they will be competing in a European competition that Emery has won four times.

However, it is undeniable that Villa will soon reach a point where they will need something tangible to show for all their progress, which can only take the form of silverware.