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Unai Emery really want aston villa Villa even made direct contact with the Tottenham Hotspur star in January.
The Midlands club have had a productive month overall, bringing back fan favorites Tammy Abraham and Douglas Luiz to bolster their squad, as well as exciting youngsters Brian Maggio and Alisson.
Abraham, who scored 13 goals for Besiktas in the Turkish Super League, joined from Besiktas for £18m, while Luiz returns from a loan spell at Juventus after a poor spell at Nottingham Forest.
It wasn’t all sunshine and roses, though, as Villa failed to cope with Harvey Elliott’s nightmare will continue to be delayed.
Emery cruelly made it clear that he had no intention of triggering Elliott’s £35m buy clause once he made 10 appearances, leaving the frozen Liverpool loanee in limbo.
The midfielder has featured in seven games so far and, despite training with the first-team squad, will have to watch from the sidelines for several months.
However, while Villa have managed to navigate several tricky situations, they have been painfully lacking in the signings that Emery considers to be a priority.
Unai Emery really wants to sign Connor Gallagher in January
According to The Athletic, Villa are serious about signing Connor Gallagher After learning that the then Atletico Madrid and England midfielder was available, it was seen as a “market opportunity” in January.
This isn’t the first time Vera has attended a rodeo with Gallagher, either.
Emery was actively pursuing him as early as 2024, when the 25-year-old ultimately opted to move to Spain from Chelsea rather than Villa Park.
The Villa boss clearly remains confident in the midfielder’s abilities and renewed his efforts last month to secure his signature.
Villa’s strong relationship with Atletico proved invaluable during the negotiations.
They have laid important foundations in the weeks leading up to the winter window, having held fruitful discussions with Gallagher himself and his representatives over a possible move to Birmingham.
Everything seemed to be going well until Tottenham suddenly emerged as serious contenders for his signature towards the end of the campaign.
It was then that Vera’s confidence completely disappeared.
They sensed Gallagher was beginning to deliberately delay decisions as other clubs tried to hijack negotiations and derail Villa’s carefully laid plans.
Before Tottenham stepped in, Villa had been acting directly on Emery’s personal desire to sign the former Chelsea academy graduate and genuinely believed Gallagher would like to join them.
Competitor It also confirmed that this was Emery’s leading pursuit from beginning to end. Villa sources revealed that their offer involved an initial loan with an obligation to make the transfer permanent, worth £22m, plus potential add-ons.
This is where Villa’s real pain lies, though – their offer contains a much lower wage package than what Tottenham are offering.
Spurs ultimately won the competition by breaking Villa’s wage structure, paying £34m to sign Gallagher and beating their league rivals.
Emery must have been furious to see one of his main targets choose Tottenham Hotspur, especially after Villa had invested weeks building relationships and laying the foundations only to see Spurs swoop in with their checkbook.
Villa had another frustrating near-miss in the transfer market.
