Since Remi Garde took over as Aston Villa's manager on November 2nd (for the recently sacked Tim Sherwood), things seemed to look up slightly for the embattled football club. Before Garde stepped in for his first match, the Lions had lost seven Premier League fixtures in a row. Garde's first game in charge resulted in a scoreless draw with then-table-leaders Manchester City.
Since then, Garde has managed three additional draws, but while his overall average this season has probably been better than Sherwood's was, he still hasn't gotten a win.
Turning Things Around
Bottom line, Garde needs to hit the winter transfer market hard if he is going to have any chance of changing his team's momentum. Sherwood brought in a lot of new players over the summer-forced to do so by the departures of key players like Christian Benteke and Fabian Delph. Unfortunately, most of those signings haven't paid off. Jordan Ayew (formerly of Lorient) and Rudy Gestede (formerly of Blackburn Rovers) have been decent, scoring nine EPL goals between them. The rest of the lineup has struggled.
Garde's quest to turn things around at Aston Villa will likely lead to an active transfer window once more, but hopefully, the signings this time, will integrate more quickly into the football club's bottom line. The top target for the Lions appears to be Chelsea striker Loic Remy. Remy scored nine goals in all competitions for the Blues last season, but has been somewhat frozen out this season as Jose Mourinho (and now Guus Hiddink) have worked to turn things around at Stamford Bridge.
At 28, Remy has seen his fair share of soccer clubs over the years but has only spent a couple of seasons playing for each of his squads. The Frenchman signed with Chelsea in 2014 on a four-year contract, but a 2016 departure would fit well with his pattern of shorter stints. Furthermore, Garde has confirmed that he would be interested in signing Remy. The question is, would Chelsea be willing to let go of an obvious talent like Remy? Or will Hiddink mix things up at Stamford Bridge and start using the French striker/winger more consistently?
Other Transfer Options
Another currently underused player that could don the Aston Villa home jersey 2015/16 in January is Tottenham Hotspur winger Andros Townsend. 24, Townsend has been signed with Tottenham since 2009 but has to date recorded just 85 appearances with the football club. Most of his time has been spent on loan stints, to teams like Leyton Orient, Milton Keynes Dons, Ipswich Town, Birmingham City, and Queens Park Rangers-among others. Only in the last two seasons has Townsend started to see a considerable amount of playtime at White Hart Lane.
This season, though, Townsend has been removed from Tottenham's starting lineup once more. He's played in just three Premier League fixtures all fall, and all three of those saw him coming into the game off the bench.
Unlike with Loic Remy, there is no doubt that Townsend is for sale and will be moving somewhere in January. The question, of course, is where? The Spurs reportedly want £14 million-which might be a little steep for Aston Villa. (The Lions didn't spend more than about £9 million on a single player over the summer.) Newcastle United, Watford, and West Bromwich Albion are also supposedly interested in Townsend.
In addition to Remy and Townsend, Garde is considering transfer moves for Roma defender Ashley Cole, Bordeaux winger Wahbi Khazri, Marseille goalkeeper Steve Mandanda, Monaco midfielder Jeremy Toulalan, Leicester City midfielder Gokhan Inler, and probably others. All of Aston Villa's January transfer rumors have to do with new signings, not departures.
How do you think Aston Villa will approach the January transfer window? Will Garde focus on shoring up his offense, or will he make comprehensive signings across every position? Follow Soccer Box on social media to see what the Lions do in January! You can find us on multiple social platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
