Aston Villa transfers: Every January 2022 deal rated - and where it leaves Villa this season

The January transfer window is now over. Clubs up and down the country had 31 days to either ship deadwood or boost their squad as they face the second half of the season.

It’s hard to find another team in the top flight that worked as efficiently or had a better window than Aston Villa. Key areas strengthened, and a real platform to build on for the future.

Despite a largely quiet deadline, Steven Gerrard had already concluded his business for the month early on.

Incomings:

Phillipe Coutinho

The silky Brazilian hasn’t quite had the rub of the green since his mega money move to Barcelona back in 2018. Despite winning a Champions League medal with Bayern Munich, since leaving Liverpool it seemed like his stock, and quality had dropped. Gerrard decided to link up with Coutinho again, and we’ve already seen glimpses of the talent that made him a key component at Liverpool.

We rate this: 9/10

Lucas Digne

Digne was heavily linked with Chelsea, due to their left-back crisis. They were whispers of a potential move to Newcastle too as they looked to strengthen in that area. The left-back eventually signing for Villa, and was seen as a massive upgrade on Matt Targett.

The Frenchman has built up a reputation for a wicked dead ball delivery and overall being a very technically gifted player, as we saw when delivered a great ball to assist Emiliano Buendia in a 1-0 away win against Everton, ironically. It was Digne’s first game for the club.

We rate this: 8/10

Robin Olsen

Quite a run-of-the-mill transfer. Jed Steer had attracted the attention of Championship clubs, and Villa needed a backup to Emiliano Martinez, so went with Olsen from Roma. This is a loan, but could turn into a permanent deal if Villa want to activate a buy option, and Sweden’s number one will be looking to push the Argentine.

We rate this: 5/10

Kerr Smith

Football Manager players, all rise. The Scot signed from Dundee has linked up with Aston Villa u23’s, with him slowly being integrated to the first team over the summer. Gerrard was probably familiar with Smith during his time at Rangers, and with the youngster, signed for an initial £800,000, showing lots of potential it has to go down as a great signing.

We rate this: 8/10

Calum Chambers

A transfer that wasn’t reported everywhere, and come out of the blue. A versatile defender, who has been deployed at centre-back, right-back and even as a defensive midfielder, Chambers, signed on a free is great addition.

We rate this: 6.5/10

Outgoings

Not too many losses for Villa.

Axel Tuanzebe’s loan was cut short due to lack of minutes and he was swiftly moved on to Italian side Napoli.

Wesley’s loan away from Villa Park at Club Brugge was also cut short, and he was shipped out to Internacional S.C on loan, where he scored a hat trick in his first game.

Highly rated youngster Keinan Davis found his game time cut short due to the presence of Ollie Watkins and Danny Ings, so he moved on loan to Nottingham Forest.

Anwar El-Ghazi moved on loan to Everton, again due to a lack of game time, arguably shortened even further by the Coutinho signing.

Cameron Archer joined Championship side Preston North End to aid his development.

Another highly rated youth product Jaden Philogene-Bidace dropped down a league, joining Stoke on loan and has already appeared for them.

Perhaps the biggest outgoing was Matt Targett, who joined Newcastle on loan, ending their search for a left-back.

Jed Steer moved to Hertfordshire and joined Luton on loan, fighting with James Shea for the number one spot.

Louie Barry who shot to stardom when he scored against a strong Liverpool side around a year ago, Barry has moved on loan to Swindon Town.

To round off, Aaron Ramsey moved to Cheltenham Town on loan, Caleb Chukwuemeka joined Livingston and Tyreik Wright joined Colchester.

A great list of outgoings too. Key youngsters who have good potential getting first team minutes.

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