Many Aston Villa fans have reacted to a warning sent by Stan Collymore to Leeds United over the summer spending of his former club.
Former Villa striker Collymore has touched on Dean Smith’s summer spending which saw the Claret and Blue outfit spend £130 million on 12 new players.
Gaining promotion from the Championship via the play-offs last season, Villa were forced to find replacements for the likes of Tammy Abraham and Axel Tuanzebe who were on loan deals, whilst permanent deals were completed for Tyrone Mings, Anwar El Ghazi and Kortney Hause.
Also arriving at Villa Park were the likes of Douglas Luiz, Matt Targett and Brazilian striker Wesley, who Villa spent £22.5m on last summer.
Collymore, who now works as a pundit and commentator, warned Championship league leaders Leeds not to replicate Villa’s summer spending, writing: “What I hope is that they don’t make the same mistake Aston Villa made this season, spending £100million-plus on potential, as they already have the nucleus of an exceptional young team.”
Reacting to his comments via social media platform Twitter, many Villa fans handed their former striker a reasoning behind the spend, pointing to the fact that they barely had a squad after loanees had returned to parent clubs and other players were released. Meanwhile others suggested that it was not the amount they spent that was the problem, it was that they did not bring in the right players with Premier League experience.
Here is what some had to say…
Wasn’t the spending that was the problem, we all know it was needed at the end of last season due to numbers. It’s the quality of recruitment that has been villa’s downfall. So little experience and some players not just good enough. It’s not rocket science.
— Marcus Parry (@the_parrots) July 15, 2020
Agreed 100%, stan should know we don’t have the quality in youth maybe some should have been kept and tried, o’hare? But small difference. Villa needed players many retired or too old for prem or loanees. Grabban > Wesley short term but not a villa player.
— Rascal Centrist #FBPE (@centrist_rascal) July 15, 2020
3 older experienced players were rightly let go. 4 key first team players were loans and returned to their clubs. After that, we had a lot of recruiting to you. We needed and got a good keeper. Both new full backs have done well. Konsa is great. Luiz is great. Not all bad
— davidy1982 (@davidy1982) July 15, 2020
We were naive. Needed more like Heaton . Premier league experience and to go into the top flight without a recognised PL striker has cost us dearly .
— David Wainwright (@dwainwright1974) July 15, 2020
Needed players but should have took a leaf from Burnley get players who know the league works for them
— Jamie Clarke (@JamieCl54193410) July 15, 2020
We needed to buy players after losing 12 surely he knows that
— Tommygunn0802 (@FreedomGymKit) July 15, 2020
Do you think Collymore’s comments are correct? Should Leeds use Villa as an example? let us know in the comments section below…
