Joao Gomes won’t forget his Aston Villa debut in a hurry. On his early return from injury, the midfielder started an awful performance with a yellow card and ended it with a straight red. He played 39 minutes and Villa were already 4-0 down.
Their first half at Brighton & Hove Albion in the first Premier League match of the season was reflected in Gomes’ display and was a brutal reminder that decimating a football team by ripping out its spine is going to make life difficult.
Playing Arsenal is its own challenge but Villa’s first game already had the feel of a season nadir. It could get worse for Unai Emery before it gets better. Fortunately for Villa, his very presence is their saving grace.
Can Villa shake it all about and avoid a decline?
It would be naïve to pretend that everything at Villa is hunky-dory and they’ll be cruising through to the latter rounds of the Champions League while maintaining a top-four spot, but the sheer heft of their incoming transfer business is a counterweight to the black clouds gathering over the early part of the season.
Emery and president of football operations Roberto Olabe have revolutionised Villa’s squad. Nicolas Jackson, Johan Manzambi, Alejandro Garnacho and the arrival of Ibrahim Mbaye add to a pacy attack at the front of a team younger and more financially future-proofed than the one they’re replacing.
Medium-term sellability is something Villa must take very seriously if they’re to avoid stumbling back into the trap that led to six of the players who started the Europa League final in May leaving before the end of August.
Villa’s new signings offer hope for tomorrow but today and yesterday have been bruising. There’s no getting away from it.
Lucas Digne. Youri Tielemans. Morgan Rogers. Ezri Konsa. Emiliano Martinez. Ollie Watkins. That list of names will be etched into the memories of Villa supporters, for better, for worse, forever.
The exodus has the potential to be a disaster. Unavoidable in isolation but bearing the fingerprints of poor decisions past, such drastic change has compelled various pundits to speak of doom and disarray.
They might have a case. At the very least, a decline in Villa’s fortunes on the field is likelier than not. That’s as much about the heights of 2025-26 as the pitfalls of 2026-27.
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The Emery model will be put to the test this season
Emery himself is the single reason why decline is likelier than disaster and neither is inevitable.
Speaking to the media before the Arsenal game, the Villa boss tossed away the word that’s been on the lips even of optimistic supporters.
“In football, if you are expecting a transition, then maybe you are not in the right way,” he said. “We must compete and win, rebuilding the team as fast as possible. We have to accept our way and our decisions and why we are taking some decisions. I am positive.”
Next time The T Word comes up in a Villa context, remember that the manager has no truck with the idea. It’s that attitude that encapsulates everything Emery has brought to the club.
Notwithstanding his evident annoyance over Watkins’ absence against Brighton, Emery has come across as more positive and more fired-up at the start of this season than ever before.
He’s clearly raring to go the moment the transfer window is closed – Emery hates the transfer window – and he can get back to the task he’s excellent at.
Something else that’s often overlooked is that Emery, while not immune to poor results, is embedded in a club where he has near-total control over football matters. There are few eggs laid at Villa Park these days that don’t drop straight into the Emery basket.
It’s a spectacularly risky strategy on the part of Villa’s owners in an era of head coaches and sporting directors, but their faith in the boss has proved rewarding thus far. The manager and the model are in the foothills of their greatest challenge yet, and this season will put them both to the test.
They’ve already made a big noise together. Now, Villa can start to see the quiet return of the club’s trust in Emery.
The next few months and maybe a few more beyond that are bound to be a difficult spell. Villa have rebuilt quickly in terms of personnel, but teams take longer.
They have a manager who’s both emotionally invested enough to be committed through the rough stuff and good enough to justify the patience of Nassef Sawiris while it happens.
Anything could happen at Villa this season. Upheaval is a destructive force in football, and continuity can go a long way. Villa have precious little of that, but the one sturdy pillar they do have is the most important of all.
