With just a few games left of the 2023/24 Premier League season, Aston Villa are still right in the mix for a finish in the Champions League places.
Under Unai Emery the Midlands-based side have been transformed, and the Villains are in the upper echelons of the table on merit.
Indeed, such has been the Spaniard’s impact, and that of Monchi in terms of recruitment, that Villa now have a side that is the envy of many of their opponents.
Former Aston Villa ace Mahmoud Trezeguet is now worth £13m
Genuine international class players pepper the side, and with a manager that has been consistently excellent wherever he’s been, they are a team and a club that are going places.
They could look wistfully back on the odd deal made in the recent past, however, with one deal in particular looking a little silly from the club’s point of view now.
According to Turkish outlet 61 Trabzon Haber, Mahmoud Trezeguet, who Villa sold for just £3m, could be on his way back to England.
They note that a number of Premier League clubs are interested in the player who is now worth in the region of £13m.
With 11 goals in 23 appearances this season for Trabzonspor, it’s perhaps understandable why other English top-flight clubs could look to acquire the player, and that would just rub salt into the wounds for Villa.
Not that it’s likely to bother them at this point in their development.
It’s clear that they are on the right track under the current management and even if they were to miss out on the Champions League, a win in the final of the Europa Conference League – should they make it that far – will afford them automatic entry into next season’s Europa League.