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Kodjia And Adomah Arrive

Bristol City striker Jonathan Kodjia signed in an £11m deal, rising to £15m with potential future add-ons. The Frenchman signed a four-year contract and then jetted off to join his Ivorian national team for African Cup of Nations qualifiers.

Steve Lansdown, the Bristol City owner, had previously declared that Kodjia was “not for sale at any price”, before allowing him to leave for £11m – 15m. He later explained that he “didn’t think a Championship side would match [their] valuation”. He also made it clear a want-away player was a motivating factor.

Completely standard stuff, then. It plays well to the crowd when it comes off, but you look pretty silly when it fails. Similarly, when other clubs pay over the top for player it’s hilarious, but when it’s your club it’s all just fine.

This is fine.

In a deal that’s less clear, Albert Adomah arrived from Middlesbrough, also signing a four-year contract. Adomah’s a right sided wide player who’s played a lot of games in the Championship over the last several seasons, weighing in with a decent number of goals and assists. Must have been quite a lucrative offer to tempt him back down to the league he spent six seasons in having only tasted two games in the Premier League.

So these two players complete the additions to the squad for 2016/17. A total of nine new players were brought in this summer; all of them intended as significant first team members right now, this season, not in a year or two. There’s plenty of character, experience, and leadership among this new batch and there’s no question that was desperately needed. Plenty to like, but they’re not joining a club that’s on a solid footing so the chances of everything being sunshine and lollipops from here on out are slimmer than many seem willing to acknowledge.

It makes a very welcome change to be trying to keep feelings of optimism in check instead of feelings of dread. That said, I’d rather be pleasantly surprised with where this season goes than disappointed so I’m avoiding getting to carried away just yet.

Traore And Lescott Depart

With Adomah incoming from Boro, Adama headed in the opposite direction. The financial details of this isn’t clear, but it looks like two separate transactions at this stage.

Traore was a strange acquisition and though he was obviously full of raw potential he wasn’t suited to Aston Villa last year or any time in the near future. You know, if we’re willing to be honest with ourselves. Players who can do a few tricks, especially at mind bending pace, are exciting, but there has to be something productive happening as a result more often than not. That simply wasn’t the case with Traore, he was extremely expensive with possession.

Perhaps he’ll figure it out eventually and become the monster many think he can be. Maybe he won’t. Maybe he’ll keep putting his head down and running really fast with the ball before losing it. Either way, he just didn’t seem like a good fit at Villa and we’re all better off heading our separate ways.

Joleon Lescott also left, ending a short and unfortunate association with his boyhood club by heading off to Athens. It’s fair to say few fans will be sad to see him go. Under different circumstances his time at Villa would have gone much smoother, but it didn’t and he had no future here.

Moving on.

Round In, Riley Out

Steve Round was confirmed as the new technical director. Round was David Moyes’s assistant manager for the final five years at Everton and also the less than stellar year at Man Utd. He was offered the same role at Aston Villa under Remi Garde, but turned it down. Smart move, but it makes this little quote look like it requires an asterisk:

This is the sort of role I’ve wanted to see at our club for many years now and Round’s saying some encouraging things:

AVTV: New Technical Director Steve Round explains what his day-to-day duties will entail. #AVFC pic.twitter.com/MiIOwTwOEk

— Aston Villa FC (@AVFCOfficial) September 1, 2016

Again, much to feel (cautiously) optimistic about.

And on a similar subject, one of the few remaining connections to last season’s abysmal attempt to retain Premier League status, Paddy Riley, has left the building. It’s rare to see such universally well received news.

Hopefully the house has been cleaned enough now that everyone can look forwards instead of backwards. Much will depend on results, though.

As is always the case.

Internationals

Very briefly, the following players were away with their national teams:

Mile Jedinak (Australia); Leandro Bacuna (Curacao); Andre Green, Rushian Hepburn-Murphy, Easah Suliman (England U19); Jack Grealish (England U21); Jordan Amavi (France U21); Kevin Toner (Rep. of Ireland U21); Jordan Ayew (Ghana), Jonathan Kodjia (Ivory Coast); Alan Hutton (Scotland); James Chester (Wales).

This obviously has its own set of risks and rewards.

Upcoming Games

With the international break over, we’ll be back in Championship action next week with a pair of games at Villa Park:

Sunday 11th September @ 1315: Nottingham Forest (H) [Championship]
Wednesday 14th September @ 1945: Brentford (H) [Championship]