Inside story of Aston Villa’s summer: Why club dug heels in with Arsenal over Morgan Rogers, the Alejandro Garnacho loan explained, new £38m sponsor deals boosting the ‘brand’, the Villa Park revamp gamble and deals that could still be done

Aston Villa may have lost several key men from their march to European glory but at least the guy who made it all happen is still in place.

Unai Emery is arguably the club’s greatest manager of modern times. He may not have won the league title like Ron Saunders or lifted the European Cup like Tony Barton, but in less than four years at the helm he has transformed Villa into a serious force – against substantial odds.

Villa dread the day Emery leaves and though there was never any serious possibility of him doing so this summer, there were a few jitters around the club’s Bodymoor Heath training ground last spring. When it appeared briefly that Diego Simeone and Atletico Madrid might part ways, Emery looked the ideal replacement.

His reputation in Spain remains very high, and Atletico’s director of football Mateu Alemany is a huge admirer. Alemany, remember, was on the point of becoming Villa’s president of football operations in spring 2023, only to back out at the last minute. One day, Simeone will leave Atletico and if Alemany is still in place, Emery will be high on his list.

Happily for Villa fans, they do not have to worry about that today. Yet what should have been a summer of celebration and consolidation turned into one of transition – as Emery always suspected it would.

Villa’s wrangles with UEFA financial rules have been discussed at length. This summer, it has meant one in, one out, with the £117million sale of Morgan Rogers driving the process.

The sale of Morgan Rogers to Chelsea for £117m has shaped the whole summer for Villa

Rogers’ record departure

Even when they agreed a new six-year deal with Rogers last November, Emery and his key lieutenants knew it would likely be their star attacker’s last season at Villa Park.

Villa were facing an uphill struggle to comply with UEFA spending rules and Rogers was the one asset able to ease those problems at a stroke. There was interest from across the Premier League and from Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich, too, but Rogers’ next club boiled down quickly to two: Arsenal or Chelsea.

The Gunners were the obvious choice. Newly-crowned Premier League champions and Champions League finalists, Mikel Arteta’s men were a hugely attractive option.

During England’s World Cup preparations, it is thought Rogers was sounded out by the Arsenal players in Thomas Tuchel’s squad. There were also discreet meetings between Rogers’ advisers and representatives working for Arsenal. The signs were positive.

Yet one thing was missing. While he was willing to let Rogers leave, Villa co-owner Nassef Sawiris had studied the market and seen Elliot Anderson and Sandro Tonali given price tags of £100million and more. He was already irked by the idea that Arsenal might offer only £30million for Ezri Konsa when Villa value him at twice that. Why should he allow Rogers to leave on the cheap?

Arsenal had made Rogers their first choice but were unwilling to go above £80million, confident Rogers’ desire to join them would see the deal done in the end. How wrong they were.

It is unclear exactly when Chelsea sealed the Rogers deal but Daily Mail Sport has learned that at least a fortnight before the transfer was announced, the 24-year-old was very confident he would be heading to Stamford Bridge.

There are excellent relations between Sawiris and the leaders of BlueCo, who own Chelsea, and that undoubtedly helped the transfer and paved the way for Alejandro Garnacho to move to Villa Park on loan. Garnacho will join Villa permanently if he hits certain targets and could still be followed by Nicolas Jackson in the closing hours of the window. 

Villa have a good relationship with Chelsea which paved the way for Alejandro Garnacho to move to Villa Park on loan

Could Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson be on his way to Villa too?

With Youri Tielemans and Lucas Digne also leaving for Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain respectively, Villa are under no pressure to sell any more stars, though fringe players like Leon Bailey and – possibly – Tammy Abraham may leave.

Konsa’s future remains a doubt while there has been interest in Ollie Watkins, too, though neither would leave before high-level replacements are secured.

Zion Suzuki is set to join Villa from Parma for £30million and will become Villa’s first-choice goalkeeper, despite Emi Martinez’s move to Juventus collapsing. 

Villa have taken a risk with Johan Manzambi. Buying any player while he is injured is far from ideal, certainly not for a £52million record fee. Manzambi’s knee injury, sustained at the World Cup, was significant and Villa must hope there are no lingering effects when he eventually returns to action.

Off the pitch

After Emery, the most important figure at Villa is Francesco Calvo. Operating with the rather grand title of ‘president of business operations’, the Italian’s job is to grow revenue. Fast.

The summer has been tough and the coming months promise to be equally challenging, though Calvo is working impressively.

By offering front-of-shirt space to new sponsors Visit Rwanda, where wealthier clubs were proposing only sleeve space, Calvo managed to win the race and secure a £20million-a-year investment – easily the largest in Villa’s history.

Arsenal received significant backlash for their sleeve partnership with Visit Rwanda, which ended in 2025, and Villa were braced for something similar. In June, the Democratic Republic of Congo filed a case against Rwanda at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing its neighbour of breaching multiple international treaties.

Amnesty International have raised concerns yet compared with Arsenal’s deal, the reaction to Villa’s arrangement has been relatively mild.

Villa sealed a £20million-a-year sponsorship deal with Visit Rwanda, while last season’s front-of-shirt partner Betano will now have their name on the Villa sleeve

On top of the Visit Rwanda package, last season’s front-of-shirt partner Betano will now have their name displayed on the sleeve. That is worth an additional £18million over three years.

Apart from selling their best players, Villa’s only way to catch up with richer rivals is by improving their commercial status. Sustained improvement under Emery has made Villa a better ‘brand’, as the Spaniard put it ahead of the Super Cup against Paris Saint-Germain. Now the challenge is to bring more people through the door – another key item on Calvo’s to-do list.

New Villa Park

Formerly of Juventus and Barcelona, Calvo is ambitious. He is pushing ahead with a plan to increase Villa Park’s capacity to 50,000, starting from next season. The catch is that the North Stand will be closed this term, reducing the capacity to 37,000.

Trying to turn around a major building project in a little more than a year is brave. Liverpool needed nearly four years to complete the Anfield Road Stand. What happens if works run behind schedule, as they often do? Just ask anyone who has ever attempted even a minor renovation at home.

Emery has always had nagging fears about reduced capacity. The Villa boss was instrumental in shelving former CEO Christian Purslow’s redevelopment plans as he feared it would have too great an impact on home form.

If he is worried about it again, then he should look at Tottenham, who played at reduced capacity in their last season at White Hart Lane in 2016-17 and promptly won 17 of their 19 home games, drawing the other two.

Calvo is juggling numerous balls here. He is actively seeking a naming-rights deal but given the history behind Villa Park, must choose carefully. The North Stand project means 5,000 supporters will not sit in their usual seats this term.

Villa Park’s North Stand will be closed this season, reducing capacity to 37,000 as the club try to increase the number of fans they can accommodate in the following season 

On top of that, there is growing discontent about ticket prices and those voices may grow louder when the Champions League packages are announced.

Yet Calvo is in a tough spot here. Villa need to boost revenue and the temptation is to pull every lever to do so. There is a certain point, though, when fans will say ‘Enough’. The Villa Park atmosphere felt flat at times last season and that should worry everyone at the club.

If Calvo can emulate off the pitch what Emery has achieved on it, the future will stay rosy for Villa. It may prove an even more challenging job for the Italian than for his colleague in the dugout.