Monchi and Unai Emery on same wavelength as Aston Villa choose two January transfer priorities

Villa’s president of football operations Monchi and head coach Unai Emery have agreed on two key areas to prioritise in the winter transfer window.

BirminghamWorld understands the two Villa figureheads are eager to dip into the market to acquire a new right-back and a new versatile attacking midfielder amid concerns over squad depth. The club won’t spend funds necessarily - so the options must be right - but the desire is certainly there to improve in those two positions.

The Villans, currently without a win in eight matches across all competitions, look a worsened outfit from last season. It was always going to be tricky to balance the Champions League and the Premier League, but even more so with Douglas Luiz and Moussa Diaby leaving in the summer.

Both players were replaced as Amadou Onana and Jaden Philogene joined from Everton and Hull City respectively, but those signings have had mixed success. Onana has put in some excellent performances but has gone missing in other matches, whereas Philogene has failed to hit the ground running since his return.

Leon Bailey’s poor form on the right flank hasn’t helped matters for Villa as the Jamaican was vital to last campaign’s joy. A confident Bailey can be one of the best wingers in the division on his day but he’’s looked a shadow of his former self.

The right side of defence has been an issue, too, with Matty Cash and Ezri Konsa both being sidelined by injuries on several occasions. Diego Carlos, another player seemingly low on confidence, has been very hit and miss and the likes of Lamare Bogarde and Kosta Nedeljkovic aren’t quite ready to compete at this level.

All of these factors have contributed to a drop-off in performance and consistency from Villa, leading to a fall into the Premier League bottom half. It definitely won’t take just a click of the fingers to fix these problems, either, but Emery and Monchi want to try.

Funds are once again limited for the upcoming window as Villa don’t want to flirt with breaking the Premier League’s financial rules. It’s crazy, really, that a team newly qualified in the Champions League must sell rather than buy, but that has been the reality over the last 12 months.

Nonetheless, efforts have already begun to source a new right-back and versatile attacker with a shortlist being drawn up as we speak. It’ll become clearer and clearer over the next few weeks as to who exactly Monchi and Emery are looking at. Strap in, this January could be quite the ride.