After 13 years away from European competition, Aston Villa made their return to the big stage this week, after qualifying for the UEFA Europa Conference League.
Unai Emery took charge of the club when they sat in 16th in the Premier League table, on the back of some poor results that saw Steven Gerrard dismissed in October 2022.
The Spaniard has installed a new level of belief to Villa Park, having the backing of the fans and his players, as well as NSWE who enabled the four-time Europa League winner to have a lucrative transfer window.
This summer, five new faces emerged in the Midlands in the bid to bolster the personnel in the squad, with Emery and Monchi smashing the club's record transfer fee to acquire Moussa Diaby for £51.9m from Bayer Leverkusen.
Despite bringing in a wave of talent, some deadwood still remains at Villa Park, which sees a vast imbalance in quality at times between those in the first team and those in the rotation squad, as opposed to having depth in quality to support some positions.
One area that could have been improved during the summer was the depth at left-back, which Villa were rumoured to be in the hope to strengthen in the market.
Who were Aston Villa linked to this summer?
Following the close of the transfer window, journalist Rudy Galetti revealed via GIVEMESPORT that the Villans were “one step away” from capturing the signature of Sevilla left-back Marcos Acuna, a deal that didn’t prevail as talks broke down.
The Argentine wasn’t the only left-sided defender that Emery had his eye on, with links also made to Arsenal fullback Nuno Tavares, who has since joined Nottingham Forest on loan from the Spaniard’s former side.
Talks increased in the search to bolster that department as concerns over the future of Lucas Digne circulated, with French reporter Fabrice Hawkins revealing that both Villa and Ligue 1 outfit OGC Nice were “confident” that a deal could be reached for the player to be loaned.
It looked as though the former Everton whiz would no longer be part of the Spaniard’s plans, which subsequently linked the Midlands giants with another star in north London, in Emery’s former player Kieran Tierney.
The Villa boss signed the Scotsman from Celtic in 2019 for a fee of £25m, with the manager lauding his new arrival at the time as a “very talented player” added to widen the Gunners’ defensive options.
Did Aston Villa nearly sign Kieran Tierney?
Fast-forward to the summer of 2023 and Emery was once again mentioned with reference to the 26-year-old, as his future at Arsenal was uncertain with him the suspect of a move away from the Emirates.
A report from the Times in June claimed that Villa had joined Newcastle United in the hope to lure the Isle of Man-born gem away from the Gunners, with his former club Celtic also said to be interested.
Galetti told GIVEMESPORT that a price in the region of £25m to £30m could be enough to pry the Scotsman from Arteta, in what could have been a valuable reunion for Emery at Villa Park.
Unfortunately for the Villans, Tierney did leave north London this summer for a season, joining Real Sociedad on loan to gain much-needed game time in order to return to the capital and compete next term.
Villa weren’t left completely short as Digne surprisingly remained in Birmingham instead of returning to his homeland, however as time goes on, missing out on the Arsenal man has become more and more of a howler.
What is Kieran Tierney’s market value now?
There was a lot of anticipation regarding Tierney’s arrival in the Premier League, after conquering the Scottish Premiership by winning five titles with his boyhood club by the time he was 22 years old.
The defender was voted the Young Player of the Year in three consecutive years in the Scottish Premiership in 2016, 2017 and 2018, hinting at just how exciting of a talent Emery had secured for his Gunners.
At the time of his arrival in north London, Tierney had an expected transfer value (xTV) of €19.2m (£16.6m), which rapidly soared as he cemented his place in the squad, with his xTV peaking in the winter of 2021 at €63.6m (£55.2m), via Football Transfers.
Things were far from plain sailing at the Emirates for the former Celtic hero, named a “baller” by talent scout Jacek Kulig, as he combatted numerous injury woes and competition for starting places that limited his game time since the point he arrived.
In his first season, the Scot made just 15 Premier League appearances as he nursed a dislocated shoulder halfway through the campaign, the following two terms he was absent for separate knee injuries, in which he required surgery in the 2021/22 season.
Kieran Tierney Premier League appearances for Arsenal
Season
Apperances
2019/20
15
2020/21
27
2021/22
22
2022/23
27
Figures via Transfermarkt
During Arsenal’s title-challenging campaign last year, Tierney secured just six starts, which all came due to the absence of Oleksandr Zinchenko, who was signed from Manchester City that summer.
As a result of his gracious fall down the pecking order to the Ukrainian’s remarkable impact on Arteta’s squad, Tierney’s market value has dropped to €28.7m (£24.9m), making his rumoured £30m price tag this summer a fair asking sum.
What could Kieran Tierney have offered to Villa?
While Emery’s side conquered the odds to return to European action, the Villans' start to the continental campaign went horrendously, as Villa kicked off their journey in Group E with a 3-2 loss to Legia Warsaw.
The glaringly obvious weakness in the fixture was the full-backs, where Calum Chambers and Digne had poor games, with the Frenchman notably at fault for the game's opening goal, while he was also 'beaten too easily' for Legia's second of the night – as per Birmingham World's Charlie Haffenden.
A lack of depth at left-back saw the 30-year-old start in the hope that he could translate his impressive form in the league to the Conference League, however it was evidently too much to ask as he had a woeful night in Poland despite scoring, notably squandering possession on 17 occasions and winning just two of his seven duels.
The frailties in Digne’s defensive actions last night – for which he was described as 'very poor' by Haffenden – hammered home what Villa should have done in the window, which was to sign an additional left-back to compete and eventually surpass him.
Tierney could have been the perfect individual for the job, as highlighted by his numbers last season in comparison to the Frenchman.
As per FBref, the Arsenal outsider averaged 4.08 progressive passes and 2.83 progressive carries per 90, as well as registering an average of 2.26 tackles per 90 in the 2022/23 Premier League season.
Such figures were unable to be matched by Digne, who averaged 3.42 progressive passes, 1.74 progressive carries and 1.80 tackles per 90, indicating just how much of an upgrade the Gunner could have been in Emery’s current squad.
Unlike Digne’s start to European competition this term, the Scotsman had a stellar start to life in the Champions League with Sociedad this week, with Spanish journalist Aritz Gabilondo comparing him to Roberto Carlos for his performance against Inter Milan, as relayed by The Sun.
This week alone has shown why Emery should have pushed to try and sign Tierney, in a deal that could have made Villa’s start to the season even better.