Express and Star journalist Luke Hatfield believes that Aston Villa's transfer window has been very good but would have been outstanding if they had managed to keep Jack Grealish. 

Dean Smith and sporting director Johan Lange made some terrific signings this summer with Danny Ings, Emi Buendia, Axel Tuanzebe, Leon Bailey and Ashley Young all penning deals at Villa Park.

In terms of outgoings, Villa saw a number of players depart the club either permanently or on loan during the transfer window with the most high profile of those exits being Jack Grealish to Manchester City.

He joined the Cityzens for a British record £100m and signed a six-year deal at the Etihad Stadium.

Hatfield graded Villa’s transfer window as a good to great one, telling Transfer Tavern: “Very good. I think Villa have managed to deal with a loss of such a substantial player in Jack Grealish really well, they’ve signed plenty of exciting players.  

“You could argue that they’re now more balanced this squad in comparison to the way they were last year. Jack Grealish was so relied upon by Villa, you could pretty much tell how Villa were going to play, the ball was going to go to Jack Grealish on the left flank and he was going to run the game from there.

"Now when Villa are fully fit and they’ve got the likes of Buendia, Bailey, Ings and Watkins all playing they’ve got so many more threats, so they’re a much more balanced side because of this window.

"Despite the loss of Jack Grealish in there, if they managed to keep him it would have been an outstanding window for them, but it’s still been a good to great one. 

Villa have bounced back from an opening day Premier League defeat to Watford, with a win and a draw in their next two matches against Newcastle United and Brentford.

Dean Smith’s side currently have four points and sit 11th in the league table which is where they finished last season and after a summer of good recruitment everybody connected with the club will be looking to improve on their league position this season.