Aston Villa's mega £166m summer transfer window predicted - including shock Man City & Tottenham Hotspur deals

Unai Emery has already achieved extraordinary success at Aston Villa but the legendary Spanish head coach isn’t done yet with many more years of triumphs likely to come.

Villa are in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League and FA Cup with fixtures against Paris Saint-Germain and Preston North End lined up for a spot in the last four of both competitions. The race to play in next season’s Champions League is still on, too, with Villa three points behind fifth-placed Manchester City and a top-five finish expected to be enough for qualification.

Whatever happens, this will go down as another mega campaign for the Villans with Emery’s side looking stronger than ever and building momentum ahead of future campaigns. As a result, Villa are already looking forward to next season and are preparing themselves in the transfer market.

The Villans have the option to buy Marcus Rashford permanently from Manchester United for £40 million and fellow loanees Marco Asensio and Axel Disasi are being tipped to join for the long term. But who else could arrive through the doors at Villa Park this summer?

As Villa supporters wait with eager anticipation, we loaded up the latest edition of Football Manager to run a simulation, predicting every player the club would sign before the end of the 2025 summer window.

Which players did Football Manager predict Aston Villa would sign?

Time travel doesn’t exist, they say, but in the parallel universe of Football Manager we were able to jump into the franchise’s very own version of Doctor Who’s Tardis.

Fast forward to the end of the season and Emery was giddy having narrowly pipped Chelsea to a spot in the top five, in turn securing Champions League qualification for another season. Huge wins over Nottingham Forest, Man City and Newcastle United played a key role as the Villans went on a late charge. PSG ran out victors in the Champions League quarter-finals and Brighton & Hove Albion went on to win the FA Cup, but it was still a tremendous season.

It didn’t take long for Emery and Monchi, the president of football operations, to start ringing up clubs as the summer transfer business got underway. To kick things off, the Villans decided to activate their option to buy clause for Rashford in a £40 million deal and they managed to tie down Asensio for another six months on loan from PSG.

A great start, then, but it went very quiet after those deals as Villa decided to bide their time and ensure any other signings were undoubtedly the correct ones. There was one significant exit, though, with winger Leon Bailey joining Tottenham Hotspur in a huge £33.5 million deal to secure some funds.

What business did Vila do on Deadline Day?

Having made a fairly slow start to the window, Villa upped the ante on Deadline Day, completing two huge marquee signings.

First up, Emery finally found the world-class centre-back he was hoping to sign as John Stones sensationally made a shock move from Man City for £38 million. Pep Guardiola opted to cash in on the ageing England international who was promised to become an important player at Villa Park following six Premier League titles and one Champions League triumph at the Etihad Stadium.

Then, just as the Sky Sports presenters were about to pack away their infamous yellow ties for another year, Villa brought some late excitement with the biggest deal of all.

Ademola Lookman, wanted by the likes of Barcelona, Liverpool, Arsenal and Man Utd in real life, chose to join Villa in an eleventh-hour swoop. Emery gave the green light to fork out a record-breaking £55 million fee to secure the versatile attacker’s signature from Atalanta, batting away competition from Juventus and AC Milan.

Lookman, a UEFA Europa League winner in 2024, has scored 13 goals and made five assists in 23 Serie A matches in real life so far this season. Back in the Football Manager world, the Nigeria international had gained the interest from clubs all across Europe but was convinced by Emery to make the move to Villa Park, with Champions League football the deciding factor.

That deal rounded off a stunning transfer window with a total bill of £133 million and a significant £33.5 million sale. Just imagine the scenes if Villa go on to spend similar in real life this summer.