Why are Aston Villa still relying on the old guard – and can they continue?

Following the January return of Douglas Luiz – who was signed from Manchester City in 2019 – Villa are now just one left-back away from being able to field a squad of Smiths players.

Add Lucas Digne, who joined under Steven Gerrard, and it will be a team without the initial contribution of Unai Emery, even if the Spaniard re-signs Luiz and Ross Barkley.

Smith was dismissed in November 2021 after three years in office, but his influence still remains.

In January 2019 he signed Tyrone Mings on loan from Bournemouth, his longest serving player, who made his 200th appearance for Villa in the win over Brighton.

Ezri Konsa and Luiz arrived in the summer, following Villa’s promotion to the Premier League, while Matty Cash, Emi Martinez, Lamarre Boogaard, Barkley, Leon Bailey, Emi Buendia and Ollie Watkins also joined under the former Brentford boss.

The backbone of the team are the players – Mings, Konsa, Watkins, Cash and John McGinn – who were signed from lower level. [the Championship and Scottish Premiership] With an element of risk attached.

McGinn signed for £3.5m from Hibernian under Steve Bruce while Konsa – now an England international – joined from Brentford for £12m and a £16m cash cost from Nottingham Forest.

Emery has lifted the team to unforeseen heights, but unless they unearth a gem, Villa will not be able to replace Konsa for £12m in the current market and certainly not for the relatively low fee previously spent.

Here lies the biggest problem, which is succession planning with limited funds.

The average age of Villa’s starting XI is 28 years and 84 days – the second-oldest in the Premier League – and there is internal recognition that he should be dealt with.

Brazilian winger Alisson, 19, joined from Gremio for £10m last month, while 17-year-old Brian Madjo arrived from Metz for a similar fee to start the process.

Villa signed them both earlier than they would have liked, but moved to acquire the duo for a lower fee, reducing the risk.

Neither is expected to make an immediate impact, despite Alisson’s debut in midweek, but the January window was seen as striking a balance – addressing the age issue and solving first-team problems.

Striker Tammy Abraham arrived to support Watkins while Luiz returned on loan from Juventus out of necessity following Boubacar Kamara’s season-ending knee injury.

With Villa committed to spending £18.25m on Abraham, they had no money left to cover Kamara, so Luiz was ideal.

He was cheap and available, having canceled his loan at Nottingham Forest, and knew what Emery was asking for.