Sports

Poor recruitment by previous regimes hampered Villa – Purslow


Villa chief executive Christian Purslow can count Scottish midfielder John McGinn – ultimately Monday’s Wembley match-winner – as this term’s best signing

Chief executive Christian Purslow says promoted Aston Villa are ahead of schedule after “a period of poor management” by previous regimes.

Following Villa’s return to the Premier League three years on from being relegated, Purslow told BBC Radio 4: “We must make sure we do things right.

“I am pleasantly surprised. We are a little bit ahead of target in terms of getting promotion.

“We’ve had a period of poor management at the club,” he continued.

“On the recruitment side in particular, things have not been handled as I think they should be in the way our fans expect, which is for us to be a young exciting team and a team that over time establishes itself back in the Premier League.

“That will be our goal. We have a core of a good team but we need to recruit well this summer and make sure that when we arrive in the Premier League we do our great club justice.”

The first job for the Villa hierarchy, while taking heed of clubs who have overspent upon rising to the top level in the past, will be to address the make-up of a squad bolstered by loan players.

Top scorer Tammy Abraham (Chelsea), midfielder Anwar El Ghazi (Lille) and defenders Axel Tuanzebe (Manchester United), the highly influential Tyrone Mings (Bournemouth) and Kortney Hause (Wolves), for whom they have an option to sign more permanently, are all due to return to their respective clubs at the end of the campaign.

And, aside from the players who won promotion under Dean Smith at Wembley, they have several players brought in by previous managers under previous regimes who simply have not figured, but are still contracted to the club.

Still on the Villa payroll…

Ross McCormack: The Scottish striker still has one more season to run on the four-year deal he signed when he was signed for £12m from Fulham in August 2016. He is reportedly in line for a rise to £70,000 a week