Read our 2026/27 season preview for Aston Villa with Unai Emery's side looking to follow up on an impressive 2025/26 campaign.
The Villans lifted the Europa League to end their 30-year trophy drought – all whilst finishing fourth in the Premier League – but can they replicate the same success following a number of key departures this summer?
Key question
How will they deal with the departures of key players?
There’s no denying that Aston Villa have been hamstrung by their inability to substantially spend in recent windows, but dealing with the departures of three regular starters could pose an even bigger problem.
Morgan Rogers’ exit felt inevitable after impressing in back-to-back seasons for the Villans – and they did well to bank £117m from Chelsea – but the sales of Youri Tielemans and Lucas Digne for comparatively low fees came somewhat as a shock.
The three combined for over 9,900 minutes in all competitions last campaign, proving crucial as Unai Emery’s side won the Europa League and recorded a top four finish in the Premier League.
While the likes of Chelsea and Tottenham – both of whom finished below the West Midlands outfit last season – have improved in the summer transfer window, there’s an overarching sense that Villa’s squad has worsened.
Emery has dealt well with change and squad overhauls throughout his career, and the 2026/27 campaign could represent his toughest at Villa Park since being appointed in November 2022.
Key transfer
Joao Gomes
In a market where Elliot Anderson is worth £116m, Sandro Tonali is worth £100m and Mateus Fernandes is worth £85m, the addition of Joao Gomes for a reported £34m is a serious coup for Aston Villa.
The Brazilian joined the club for nearly the exact same fee that Villa banked for Tielemans, and everything points towards him filling the midfield void seamlessly at just 25 years of age.
Nicknamed ‘The Pitbull’ for his relentless work out of possession, Gomes ranked amongst the top tacklers in the Premier League in the 2025/26 campaign – adding a key attribute to Emery’s midfield that Tielemans didn’t necessarily thrive in.
While often shrewd operators out of possession lack quality on the ball, Gomes thrives in this area of the game too.
Press resistant in the build up with a knack for gliding past opposition players, the former Wolves man could prove the perfect fit in the absence of Tielemans.
Breakout star
Hayden Cottle
Brian Madjo
As a relative unknown, Aston Villa's £10m signing of a forward named Brian Madjo flew under the radar in January.
However, protracted issues with work permits - leading to #freeMadjo posts from key players on social media - thrust the youngster into the spotlight.
His performances in pre-season did little to change that, scoring four goals in four friendlies ahead of Villa's UEFA Super Cup contest against the European champions Paris Saint-Germain.
In between, Unai Emery's side were successful in their appeal to CAS over his registration, meaning that Madjo was free to play in competitive matches for Aston Villa for the first time.
The 6'4" target man was finally unleashed, bullying both William Pacho and Marquinhos for his 70 minutes on the field in Salzburg and scoring his first competitive Villa goal in a 2-1 defeat - as the youngest UEFA Super Cup goalscorer of all time. But that doesn't tell the full story.
Madjo would have been disappointed not to have four goals in that first half, with his movement and strength - barrelling through Pacho to create an opportunity for himself - catching the eye on the biggest stage.
Physically, the preococious striker is ready to compete in senior football and - with the futures of both Tammy Abraham and Ollie Watkins up in the air - this season of revolution at Aston Villa could open the door for Madjo to establish himself.
Having already earned comparisons to Manchester City's Erling Haaland - and being touted as Harry Kane's England successor - Madjo is sure to have a bright future in the game, building anticipation for his season ahead.
What is a good season?
To qualify for Europe
Aston Villa have qualified for Europe in all of the last four seasons – dropping no lower than seventh since the 2021/22 campaign – and so there’s a broad acknowledgement that this is now the bare minimum for the West Midlands outfit.
With that said, competition for the European spots is at an all-time high in England’s top-flight and so they can’t head into the 2026/27 campaign thinking that qualification for one of the three UEFA competitions is easily attainable.
Since breaking into Europe, they’re yet to qualify for the UEFA Champions League in back-to-back seasons, suggesting an inability to balance 38 Premier League games, domestic cup tournaments and Europe’s leading competition in a single season.
Emery will hope that he can strike a balance with his squad this time round to record a second successive top five finish and compete in Europe, but even in the event that Villa don’t qualify for the UEFA Champions League, a Europa League or Conference League finish would likely be deemed acceptable after several big departures in the summer window.
Bold prediction
Liam Williams
To finish bottom half
All things considered, Aston Villa finishing fourth last season was one of the most impressive achievements by any Premier League club. They’re continuing to fight their financial restraints while still competing in Europe and performing well domestically.
But this could be the season where it comes crashing down. Villa have had the wolves at the door for too long, and it appears they need to make a profit on player sales this year. They don’t have that many sellable assets, leaving Morgan Rogers to depart and taking last season's 16 goal contributions with him, while there's a lot of pressure on their new signings to hit the ground running.
That, combined with the slog of UEFA Champions League football, could make it a really long season for Villa.
Will they be better than last season?
)
Ellis Statham
No!
It’s hard to see how, with an arguably inferior squad following the losses of Tielemans, Rogers and Digne, Aston Villa will have a better season than the 2025/26 campaign.
The 2025/26 term undoubtedly marked Villa’s best under Unai Emery, ending their 30-year trophy drought with success in the Europa League and recording their joint-best Premier League finish – fourth – since 1992/93, where they finished second.
With fiercer competition in the top-flight, it’s hard to make a case for them finishing in the top four again, while their 33/1 price to win the UEFA Champions League demonstrates how hard that will prove.
Emery is too good a manager to oversee a catastrophic drop-off, but they will ultimately fail to reach the heights scaled last campaign - but that's certainly no disgrace, and another top seven finish is not to be sniffed at.
All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.
