Ex-Aston Villa man tells Liverpool they ‘missed’ elite signing who headed to Villa this summer
Former Aston Villa and Liverpool man Stephen Warnock has told the Reds they “missed” a top player who has ended up at Villa Park amid a huge overhaul.
Villa saw some of their biggest names depart the club over the summer. They sold Emi Martinez, Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins, Ezri Konsa and Youri Tielemans, among others.
Martinez, Rogers and Konsa all made moves to Premier League rivals, with the former pair heading to Chelsea and Konsa to Arsenal.
Warnock feels that Martinez’s exit was coming, and his replacement, Zion Suzuki, would have made a great addition for Liverpool.
He told GOAL: “I completely understand Emi Martinez. He’s been wanting to get away from the football club for a while. I actually think they’ve got a brilliant goalkeeper in Suzuki in that position. I was at the World Cup and did his game against Brazil.
“I thought he was brilliant in that game. I think he probably could have done better with the first goal, but his distribution is brilliant. I look at Liverpool [with Alisson heading towards free agency] and think, you missed one there, if I’m being completely honest.
“But, yeah, it’s not an ideal situation. What you will find with Unai Emery is it’s the right man to build that football club again, build that team, that understanding of how to play. I think they’ll be in a better position in the next two or three years, rather than the short term. But the next two or three years, I think it’ll be a blessing in disguise.
“I think the hard thing is you want to do it in dribs and drabs, don’t you?
“But it’s just come to a point where it’s six players out of the starting team from the Europa League final that have left the football club. All your experience is in that.”
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Danny Murphy not worried for Aston Villa
Many pundits have some fears for Villa’s initial transition, but Danny Murphy, like Warnock, feels they’ll be ok.
He said on Match of the Day: “Massively in transition, I mean 11 signings is a hell of a lot, and they’ve lost real quality.
“Look [at] the starting 11 from the Europa League final which they obviously won, a lot of quality international players, experience, this is what’s left.
“Six have gone, they’ve spent a lot of money bringing in 11 players, and there’s a lot of quality international players in there.
“But it’s going to take him [Emery] a little bit of time to implement his style on those players and then get them integrated into the team.
“I’m not worried about Villa. I think they’ll be absolutely fine, they started slowly last year, he’s a wonderful manager, he improves players. I don’t worry for Villa.”
