The Aston Villa Courier
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
An offer of $48.5M for Kaoru Mitoma
Aston Villa have gone to Brighton with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Market18 Jan 2027
Emile Smith Rowe arrives at Aston Villa in a $31.7M statement of intent
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Aston Villa have paid $31.7M for Emile Smith Rowe, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Market18 Jan 2027
Alysson Edward has said yes to Peterborough United
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Aston Villa have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market18 Jan 2027
Aston Villa say no — this time
The offer from Betis for Boubacar Kamara was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Too dear: Aston Villa walk away from Dominik Szoboszlai
$16.0M was the most the club would pay and Liverpool were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Emile Smith Rowe gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Emile Smith Rowe has just signed for Aston Villa, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Boubacar Kamara in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aston Villa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Aston Villa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amadou Onana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market18 Jan 2027
Doncaster Rovers join the queue for Ibrahim Mbaye
Add another name to the list: Doncaster Rovers have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ibrahim Mbaye. The answer from Aston Villa has not changed — yet.
In brief
- Match Manchester United take the points off Aston Villa
- The dugout No hiding place for Jack McGrath
- Squad James Maddison is a square peg at Aston Villa