Can Aston Villa do it again? Why the 2026/27 season may be Unai Emery’s toughest test

Given the gulf that existed between Aston Villa and the traditional superpowers of English football when Unai Emery first took the reins, what he has achieved over the course of the last four years has been little short of astonishing – and the 2025/26 season might his greatest accomplishment yet.

To take Aston Villa back into the top four with relative ease and win a European trophy in the same campaign despite a significant financial disadvantage was remarkable. To do it again next season after the loss of yet more key players might be even more impressive still. But is it too much to ask, even of Emery?

Why Aston Villa will find it tough to reach the top four again next season

When Aston Villa first forced their way into the Champions League placing back in the 2023/24 season, it was a success which came at a cost. Several high-value players left that year, with Douglas Luiz, arguably the single greatest driving force behind their fourth-place finish, the biggest loss.

Given that their squad was arguably weaker after breaking into the top four than beforehand, even finishing sixth in the 2024/25 season represented a respectable achievement. Now Villa could find themselves back in just the same situation.

Just like in 2024, they have lost their midfield engine with Youri Tielemans leaving to sign for Manchester United. Lucas Digne is expected to depart, too, with PSG having triggered his release clause. Arsenal are in hot pursuit of Morgan Rogers, their best playmaker, and there is continued speculation over the future of first-choice goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez. Aston Villa may not have the chance to build on the foundations laid down last season – instead, they have no choice but to tear it all down and start again.

That’s partly a reflection of the financial issues which still hobble them in the transfer market. While the sale of the women’s team to a holding company controlled by the club’s owners allowed them to circumvent the Premier League’s outgoing PSR rules, that accounting trick didn’t do a thing to improve their position with regards to UEFA’s financial fair play rules – there, they continue to sail close to the wind.

The financial concerns are not existential but they do restrict Aston Villa’s access to elite players, make some sales a necessity and make it difficult for the club to offer the kind of wages which could persuade players like Rogers to stay put. Actually improving the squad will be exceptionally difficult until they can make the bank balance look a little healthier.

The potential sale of several key players isn’t the only problem. Amadou Onana ruptured his ACL at the World Cup and will miss most of the season, Boubacar Kamara is recovering from a serious knee injury of his own, and they have arguably relied too heavily on Ollie Watkins to lead the line since Jhon Durán and Moussa Diaby left in 2024. After an inconsistent 2025/26 campaign, there’s a reasonable concern about how much the 30-year-old might have left in the tank, and at the very least he needs a competent support act.

Aston Villa would need to sign reinforcements even if they didn’t also have to work out how to plug several yawning gaps in their squad on a relatively limited budget. A Villa side with no Rogers, no Tielemans, no Onana and no Digne could look very different indeed.

Gomes & Manzambi are on the way in – but will they be enough?

The process of replacing their departing stars has begun, and on paper Aston Villa are buying well so far: At the time of writing, they were reportedly close to finalising deals for Wolves’ João Gomes and Swiss World Cup star Johan Manzambi, who started May’s Europa League final for Freiburg.

Gomes’ tough-tackling take on the holding midfield position should make it easier to get by without Onana, while Manzambi’s recent performances for Switzerland suggest that he could have an immediate impact in the final third while operating in the same transitional, between-the-lines role that Tielemans often thrived in.

Still, that’s two players who have to adapt and settle in, one of whom is very inexperienced, and they will very likely need to address both Rogers and Digne’s positions – and perhaps others besides. Villa have made a strong start to the summer on paper, but there is a long way to go.

The question is just how far they’ll be able to stretch their spending. They are expected to pay a significant sum for Manzambi given that they came over the top of Newcastle – another club whose spending is curtailed at present – and that may limit their financial firepower as the window drags on.

The sale of Rogers, if it happens, would at least ensure that the coffers are replenished, but there is reasonable doubt about whether they can add the depth required to get the job done. Manzambi and Gomes look like good signings, but with Tielemans leaving, Douglas Luiz’s loan finishing, Onana out for the long haul and Kamara’s fitness a concern, they won’t be enough on their own. And that’s just central midfield.

Even leaving squad building aside, another potential issue is that several of the sides Aston Villa finished ahead of this year are likely to rebound, at least to some extent. It’s hard to imagine Liverpool being as poor again, Xabi Alonso may well breathe fresh life into Chelsea, and Tottenham Hotspur are spending big as they try to buy their way back to the top of the table. Teams like Bournemouth and Brighton continue to narrow the gap as well. The competition for European places could well be fiercer than last year, and Aston Villa’s squad may be stripped bare in the build-up.

So long as the club can keep hold of Emery, who has worked wonders with limited resources already, there is cause for optimism – but the shape of Aston Villa’s squad for the 2026/27 season is unknowable and they could be forced to try and replace most of their best players at the same time. Few teams in Premier League history have managed that successfully and while Villa have something approaching a track record after recovering from 2024’s departures, this summer could be more painful still. Emery has performed brilliantly as Aston Villa manager. Now he might need to perform miracles.