Unai Emery’s biggest transfer mistake has now been made clear after Aston Villa entered the latest international break in a poor run of form.
Aston Villa have encountered rare recent struggles under Unai Emery, losing their previous four games in all competitions.
Although the performance against Liverpool was solid, Villa were still beaten 2-0 by the title chasers and Emery’s men could not break down Arne Slot’s brick wall.
It means that the Villans must use this two-week break as a chance to figure out what has gone wrong, while the manager must also digest one mistake he made during the summer.
Aston Villa have failed to replace Moussa Diaby in the transfer window
Villa were hamstrung by PSR issues in the transfer window, meaning they had to sell some of their most valuable assets to raise funds that they could spend.
One player they decided to sell was record-signing Moussa Diaby, who was tempted by a lucrative move to Saudi Pro League side Al-Ittihad.
Diaby was only captured from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2023, and the Frenchman enjoyed a brilliant first season at Villa Park, producing 19 goal involvements in all competitions.
While Diaby is flying at his new club Al-Ittihad with 10 assists in as many matches, the Villans have struggled with their output in wide areas, as highlighted by journalist Matt Kendrick.
Speaking on the Claret & Blue podcast, the Villa expert mentioned how the Frenchman helped to get the best out of Leon Bailey last season, whereas new signing Jaden Philogene is incapable of pushing him to the next level.
“The problem that we’ve got, and I’ve said this before, is we’ve got Bailey who’s out of form and low on confidence. You’ve got Philogene who’s learning his way in the game,” Kendrick said.
“Are they enough of a challenge for each other to keep the standards really high and we’ve said before, Diaby, he was that presence, he was that breathing down the neck of Bailey type presence, which seemed to get an extra level out of Bailey. So I think that’s my concern at the moment, that there’s not enough pressure on their positions.”
Jaden Philogene’s struggles at Aston Villa
With PSR holding them back and other positions taking priority such as midfield, Emery neglected strengthening in wide areas, spending just £13 million to bring Philogene back from Hull City.
The 22-year-old was sold in the previous summer for around £5 million but after watching him decimate the Championship, Emery couldn’t resist buying him back.
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Philogene produced a 12-goal haul in the second tier and six assists. Meanwhile, 10 appearances into his time at Villa and he’s yet to get on the score sheet or assist his teammates.
| Jaden Philogene Aston Villa 2024/25 | Appearances | Goals | Assists | Minutes played |
| Premier League | 7 | 0 | 0 | 196 |
| Carabao Cup | 1 | 0 | 0 | 90 |
| Champions League | 2 | 0 | 0 | 115 |
Although the England under-21 international has been restricted to mostly minutes from the bench, he’s struggled to show the X-Factor that essentially saw him return in the summer.
Philogene has recently been told ‘he doesn’t look quite right’ despite previously being labelled ‘sublime’, as he’s perhaps playing on low confidence and failing to express himself.
There is a huge chance he comes good and develops into an incredible talent however, in this current moment, not adequately replacing Diaby is looking like a mistake.
