Boubacar Kamara was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad16 Aug 2027
John McGinn has improved at 32, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Aston Villa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amadou Onana is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Aston Villa asked and Ipswich Town said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I watch every Aston Villa game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Jagiellonia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
A loan enquiry to Nottingham Forest: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Manchester United have kept their man, and Aston Villa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Tyler Bindon has just signed for Aston Villa, and for once the answer mattered.
Boubacar Kamara and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Aston Villa can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Amadou Onana falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I watch every Aston Villa game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Lincoln City runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Aston Villa have made the call to Ipswich Town. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Nottingham Forest keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Amadou Onana falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Hilal have kept their man, and Aston Villa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A loan enquiry to Nottingham Forest: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Harrison Armstrong has, at Aston Villa, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Aston Villa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amadou Onana is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I watch every Aston Villa game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Tottenham runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Aston Villa have made the call to Al-Hilal. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Harrison Armstrong arrives from Everton with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
A season-long audition: Southampton still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Aston Villa's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
The deal with Everton is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Boubacar Kamara was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
20 new faces, and Aston Villa are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Aston Villa have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aston Villa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Oscar Schwartau has, at Aston Villa, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Boubacar Kamara and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Aston Villa heard it as anything else.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Aston Villa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The clubs have shaken hands with Brentford; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Nobody at the club will say out loud who this signing is for, which is how you know exactly who it is for. Lorenzo Palmisani has been brought in to take a shirt somebody is still wearing.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Lorenzo Palmisani has just signed for Aston Villa, and for once the answer mattered.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Aston Villa heard it as anything else.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Aston Villa have done the hard part with Norwich City, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs have shaken hands with Frosinone; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The fee is $22.9M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Brighton drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Southampton have kept their man, and Aston Villa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer from Viitorul for Ronnie Hollingshead 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Al-Ittihad is saying, and nobody at Aston Villa is enjoying the guessing.
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.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Bart Verbruggen is living that version at Aston Villa, and it tends to show in the first month.
The clubs have shaken hands with Brighton; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Boubacar Kamara was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Odysseas Vlachodimos has just signed for Aston Villa, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
The phone has started ringing about Ronnie Hollingshead again, and this time the name on the line is O'Higgins. Aston Villa are listening politely and promising nothing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ipswich Town have kept their man, and Aston Villa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Aston Villa people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The fee is $16.3M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Preston drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The clubs have shaken hands with Newcastle United; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Aston Villa offered $12.7M; Norwich City said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Aston Villa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Aston Villa have done the hard part with Wolverhampton, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Lewis Gibson has, at Aston Villa, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Boubacar Kamara and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Aston Villa have gone to Ipswich Town 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.
Aston Villa asked and Fulham said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Aston Villa offered $22.8M; Birmingham said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The offer went to Preston this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Aston Villa hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Amadou Onana falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Add another name to the list: Charlton Athletic have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Sam Proctor. The answer from Aston Villa has not changed — yet.
In brief
MarketKane Taylor comes back from a loan that worked
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ronnie Hollingshead is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
41 games, 1 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Aston Villa now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Alysson Edward is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alysson Edward trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Aston Villa. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Amadou Onana’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Boubacar Kamara was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
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.
37 appearances at Shrewsbury Town and the goals have stopped going in. Aston Villa lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
Nobody at Aston Villa will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
4 goals in 40 games at Wigan Athletic — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Aston Villa updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Aston Villa. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Words at Aston Villa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amadou Onana is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
11 goals in 40 games at Bolton Wanderers — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Aston Villa updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Nobody at Aston Villa will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Aston Villa. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Position 5 on 60 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Nicolas Jackson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Marked 8.54 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 89. Wolverhampton had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
10 goals in 39 games at Bolton Wanderers — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Aston Villa updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Boubacar Kamara is on it.
Boubacar Kamara was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Aston Villa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amadou Onana is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
34 appearances at Lincoln City and the goals have stopped going in. Aston Villa lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
Boubacar Kamara was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
12 clean sheets from 33 appearances at Lincoln City. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Stephen Atkinson after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Aston Villa told Patrick Dorgu something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Aston Villa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Diego Costa
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.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Aston Villa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amadou Onana is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
10 goals in 35 games at Bolton Wanderers — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Aston Villa updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Nobody at Aston Villa will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Aston Villa can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Aston Villa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amadou Onana is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Brandon Austin has come out of that comparison in the side, and Aston Villa have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Alejandro Garnacho has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
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.
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.
With 6 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
29 appearances at Shrewsbury Town and the goals have stopped going in. Aston Villa lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Stephen Atkinson after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
There were 86 minutes on the clock and Sunderland had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Aston Villa did not stop to explain themselves.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Aston Villa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amadou Onana is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nicolas Jackson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.12, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Matty Cash was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 88th, and West Ham United spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Sindre Walle Egeli has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Nicolas Jackson was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Amadou Onana at his very best
SquadDouglas Luiz falls out with a teammate over standards
Player ratingsFrom twelve yards, and Douglas Luiz misses
Boubacar Kamara and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
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.
Marked 7.21 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Tammy Abraham was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Douglas Luiz, and the manager let it.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Stephen Atkinson kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
Successful dribbles: 35. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Boubacar Kamara was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Aston Villa can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Amadou Onana falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
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.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Olympique Lyonnais moved on, Nicolas Jackson reports back to Aston Villa, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Aston Villa and Wolverhampton have settled on $1.0M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Zion Suzuki was one of the reasons people came, and $39.1M does not replace that by itself.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Aston Villa until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Boubacar Kamara and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Amadou Onana falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The fee is $33.6M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Manchester United drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Aston Villa people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Aston Villa asked and Benfica said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Patrick Dorgu is living that version at Aston Villa, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Brandon Austin and Aston Villa agree another 4 years.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
$43.8M was the most the club would pay and Ipswich Town 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.
$33.6M on the table at Manchester United. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Aston Villa asked and Manchester United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The fee is $8.1M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Tottenham drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Aston Villa people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Ronnie Hollingshead had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Brandon Austin has, at Aston Villa, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Aston Villa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amadou Onana is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of John McGinn
The offer went to Ipswich Town this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
$26.2M on the table at Benfica. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Boubacar Kamara and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
$790.0K was the most the club would pay and Fulham 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.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Coventry City will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Ben Wilson has pre-agreed a move to Aston Villa, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Boubacar Kamara was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Amadou Onana falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Stephen Atkinson after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Aston Villa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Amadou Onana falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nicolas Jackson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Diego Costa is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 32 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Aston Villa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boubacar Kamara was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Amadou Onana falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The words a physio says slowly. 40 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Stephen Atkinson chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Amadou Onana signs something — a contract at Aston Villa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 50 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
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.
8.43. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Boubacar Kamara and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Aston Villa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amadou Onana is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Stephen Atkinson after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Tammy Abraham has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Alysson Edward is on it.
Sunderland will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Aston Villa were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A brace, and Tammy Abraham takes the afternoon — 8.65
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tammy Abraham provided it, and the 8.65 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alysson Edward provided it, and the 8.25 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Aston Villa can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Aston Villa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Aston Villa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amadou Onana is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Johan Manzambi commits to Aston Villa for another 5 years.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Stephen Atkinson to a room that had heard them before.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Boubacar Kamara and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Elijah Briscoe is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
With 7 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
Marked 8.44 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
John McGinn was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.15. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Douglas Luiz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutDiego Costa dropped after a run of poor form
Looking aheadAston Villa take on the side everybody is chasing
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Boubacar Kamara was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ronnie Hollingshead is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
A mark of 7.47, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Diego Costa
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Stephen Atkinson was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Aston Villa dressing room was either.
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.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Stephen Atkinson after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ian Maatsen’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Aston Villa needing him to play as if none of it matters.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.63, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Stephen Atkinson after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Amadou Onana and Aston Villa agree another 5 years.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Amadou Onana falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Level with 87 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Aston Villa had all but put away. Liverpool will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Squad14 Sep 2026
15 new faces, and Aston Villa are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bournemouth have kept their man, and Aston Villa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Aston Villa close the window on a squad of their own making
10 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Zion Suzuki was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
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.
6 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
It needed Tammy Abraham to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Manchester United, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Diego Costa
The offer went to Ipswich Town this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Manchester City have kept their man, and Aston Villa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer from AC Milan 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.
The offer went to Millwall this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The most awkward business a club does is signing tomorrow's answer while today's is still in the building. William Osula comes from Newcastle United for exactly that purpose, and the handover will not be discussed publicly by anybody.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. William Osula has just signed for Aston Villa, and for once the answer mattered.
Boubacar Kamara and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Amadou Onana falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Aston Villa have gone to Newcastle United 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ayden Heaven has, at Aston Villa, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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.
The phone has started ringing about Tyrone Mings again, and this time the name on the line is Manchester City. Aston Villa are listening politely and promising nothing.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jonathan Cunningham is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Liam Morgan has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
In brief
SquadAston Villa are still strangers to each other
The dugoutBrian Madjo knocks on the manager's door
The offer from Inter for Amadou Onana 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Diego Costa is living that version at Aston Villa, and it tends to show in the first month.
Boubacar Kamara was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Aston Villa hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Emiliano Buendía wants continental football; whether Aston Villa can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The phone has started ringing about Ronnie Hollingshead again, and this time the name on the line is St. Pauli. Aston Villa are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Amadou Onana falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.