There are new contract offers in progress for three key Aston Villa players as manager Unai Emery looks ahead to the January transfer window.
Villa have adopted a strategic approach to contract negotiations and their timing, with deals hitting the two-year mark evidently deemed to be stick-or-twist time. Every effort is made to keep above that length the contracts of players who have a first team role to play or whose profitability in the event of a sale would be vastly diminished.
It’s been confirmed by Emery that three players are negotiating new contracts. Reports indicate that Matty Cash, Morgan Rogers and John McGinn are all close to agreeing extensions at Villa Park, or indeed already have.
“The club is working in the individual situation with Matty Cash, with Morgan [Rogers] and with John McGinn,” Emery told reporters before Villa’s Europa League fixture against Eredivisie side Go Ahead Eagles in Deventer on Thursday.
“They are very important players for us. Their commitment with Aston Villa is massive, always being very, very positive, and playing with their qualities.
“Now they are probably getting better and for the team that is very, very important.”
Villa have different motivations for each of the three new deals on the table. In the financial regulatory framework set out by the Premier League and UEFA, the club needs to meticulously manage each of its playing assets and, crucially, to make a serious dent in its transfer outlay over time.
That’s the challenge facing new president of football operations Roberto Olabe and Villa’s football department.
That all has to be done while pursuing constant improvement on the pitch and that means looking at the squad as a whole and every player within it from a variety of angles that might not lead to the obvious conclusions.
Of these three players, a Rogers deal will be the one with the most familiar motivations from the club’s point of view.
Rogers is a player in huge demand among the richest clubs. Having held on to him during the summer, Villa’s hand is now naturally weakened by a year. Extending the 23-year-old’s contract, which is currently set to expire in 2030 after he signed a previous extension a year ago, would improve the club’s position in two ways.
Firstly, it minimises the risk of having to sell Rogers against Villa’s will. Secondly, if they do have to sell him – indeed, if the plan is to sell him – it’ll be a financial game changer.
It’s a different story for Cash and McGinn.
Cash was contracted to 2027 and is playing as well as ever. Whatever a section of Villa supporters think about the idea of keeping Cash as first choice, a new deal is ultimately designed to prevent Villa being vulnerable to losing a trusted player without an easily viable upgrade. It’s been reported that Cash has already signed up until 2029.
It’s also a matter of control in McGinn’s case. There was enough interest in the summer transfer window for Villa to know that there are clubs sniffing around for a bargain now the captain is beyond his 31st birthday.
Villa might choose to bank a profit for him. They might choose to keep him around for a good long while yet. Either way, it’s the club’s prerogative to hold the cards.
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