Villa defends £150 million cash outlay
DEAN Smith has fired a message back at Premier League doubters over splashing the cash, beaming: “We’ve had to – that’s the be all and end all.”
Villa’s spending spree has saw the club sign 12 new players for almost £150million and, in doing so, becoming one of the biggest spenders in European football, just behind Juventus and Barcelona.
And Smith, when asked about the record expenditure, said: “We had to (spend), that’s the be all and end all, whether we were a Championship club or a Premier League team, we had to bring players in. I had to release eight players, another eight left, six went back on loan – and all of a sudden you’ve got to rebuild that squad again.
“That’s what we’ve had to do (sign players). Fortunately, we’re re-building it in the Premier League.
“The numbers banded about around the 11 players that we brought in so far, three of them were with us last season, two of them I’ve worked with before at Brentford with Ezri Konsa and Jota and there’s three or four who have worked with our players already, so the integration hasn’t been as hard as some people would imagine.
Villa’s £15million signing Douglas Luiz has finally been granted a work permit, reports in Brazil have confirmed.
The Man City capture was officially announced by Villa on July 25 but, frustratingly, has had to stay in Rio and work with a personal trainer until the visa was passed.
Brazilian media outlet Globo. com has announced that the Brazilian under-23 captain was granted his permit on Monday.