The overlooked issue Aston Villa need to fix this summer - and the £16m solution
Unai Emery is gearing up for a tough transfer looking to keep Morgan Rogers and inject youth into Villa Park
Aston Villa fans are preparing for another summer of avoiding all Morgan Rogers updates until September, despairing at Profit and Sustainability Rules and hoping one of the oldest squads in the Premier League can finally be reinvigorated.
Only Fulham have an older squad than Aston Villa in the top flight while Chelsea and Manchester United, the two teams behind them ahead of this weekend’s fixtures, are four and two years younger than them on average.
Why Aston Villa have headaches to handle this summer
Of the 11 men who’ve played the most minutes for Aston Villa in 2025/26, nine were in the same list last season and six were in Emery’s busiest starting lineup in his first full campaign at Villa Park.Meanwhile, in Chelsea’s busiest 11 this season only shared six and three players with 2024/25 and 2023/24, while for The Red Devils it’s four and three.
Villa might be forced to replace one of them if Rogers is tempted away from B6 while regardless of his fate, more creativity is required at the top of the pitch and plans are underway for Emi Martinez’s succession. Right-back depth is another item on the shopping list that isn’t getting nearly as much attention, though.
Turning 29 at the start of next season, Matty Cash has been a fantastic servant of Aston Villa and if he can continue to play at the top level into his 30s, then he will save Emery plenty of headaches.
But though he’s so far avoided a really major injury in claret and blue, there’s no guarantee that will last forever especially given Cash’s lung-busting performances. Lamare Bogarde is a helpful deputy in a pinch but he’s not a player that inspires confidence as a regular fixture at the position, Andres Garcia is unreliable and Ezri Konsa is best deployed at centre-back.
Aston Villa need a deputy (and one day successor) for Cash then, and they may be best off returning to Spain in search of him with Omar El Hilali and Jon Aramburu both intriguing options.
El Hilali could be Villa’s long-term right back
There’s certainly a stylistic choice to be made between the two defenders, aged 22 and 23 respectively and both valued at around £16 million (€18m-€19m).
Aramburu is relatively limited going forwards but he’s a defensive beast, boasting the most tackles in La Liga of any player this season, and more experienced for club and country.
El Hilali is the closer fit for Cash, boasting freakishly similar statistics this season. The pair have virtually identical assists, expected assists (xA), successful passes, accurate long balls and duels won per 90 minutes according to FotMob, so could be the perfect player to develop under the Pole.
Cash directly attacks the goal more often while El Hilali has been busier defensively this campaign, and would likely need time to develop his game in England, but making this signing now gives him the best chance of doing that.
Espanyol’s exact asking price for the Moroccan isn’t known but they wanted £12.5m for him last summer and given he’s only improved since then, a similar upgrade to the price tag is likely. Yet if Villa can turn him into a Cash clone before the Pole begins to regress, that will be money well spent.