- Unai Emery has not ruled out strengthening his Aston Villa squad this winter
- However, the club must first let players leave before splashing cash on others
- CHRIS SUTTON: Chelsea’s progress is too slow… they won’t be like a fine wine until they spend AGAIN – It’s All Kicking Off
Aston Villa must let players leave in this transfer window before signing others with out-of-favour duo Bertrand Traore and Calum Chambers told they can depart.
Boss Unai Emery has not ruled out strengthening his squad this winter but accepts Villa must sell first and that they also have an eye on Financial Fair Play regulations.
‘Chambers and Traore can go and if that happens, we can think about adding one or two players to the squad – but we are not focused on a particular player,’ said Emery, whose side can move level on points with Premier League leaders Liverpool if they win at Everton on Sunday.
‘I want to increase the level of the players who are here between now and the end of the season. In our situation is not easy to get something in this transfer window.
‘We have to accept the rules of FFP and we know where we are. Every meeting we have with our owners is about how we will get better and how we will improve the squad. We are second in the league and we are still in the Europa Conference League and the FA Cup.’
Aston Villa must sell players before splashing the cash this month, Unai Emery has admitted
Bertrand Traore has been told he can leave by Emery after struggling for game time at the club
Calum Chambers is also up for sale this month as Villa look to offload players and free up room
Emery is also reluctant to allow midfielder Leander Dendoncker to leave on a temporary basis, even though there are loan offers for the Belgium international, though he still may be sold in this window.
Villa are open to letting forward Jhon Duran, who does not see eye to eye with Emery, move on loan but only if they are certain they can replace him, with back-up needed for Ollie Watkins.
Emery added: ‘Young players need experiences and Duran is having them with us. We need a second striker as we have to have a strong squad with two players for every position.
‘We are happy with him. He is young and his commitment is improving. We are following the process we started when we took the decision to sign him a year ago.’
