The 2015 summer transfer window has certainly been a period of rapid activity for Aston Villa and their loyal fan-base. One way or another, things have rarely been boring for Villa supporters out there ever since last season finally reached its culmination.

With the door at Villa Park seemingly remaining open in the run up to the new campaign, several players have already signed and departed at the Midlands based club, with Tim Sherwood likely eyeing further new recruits ahead of the 2015/16 season.

High profile names likes of Fabian Delph and Christian Benteke leaving the club in recent weeks will have hardly sent shock-waves of positivity through Villa Park, however, despite the seemingly inevitable nature of their departures. Such dramatic moves in the transfer market have even led many football fans to questioning Aston Villa’s credibility as a Premier League club next season…

So then, although the Villans have already signed five new faces to aid their cause throughout 2015/16, will the threat of relegation ultimately prove too much for Sherwood’s side next term, or can Villa in-fact pick themselves up from their latest big money departures, and ultimately push on where several expect them to fall?

It seems the club’s fate in 2015/16 could potentially go in one of two directions. The first would seemingly condemn Aston Villa for failing to hold onto their most important stars this summer, and offer nothing but the slim hope of avoiding relegation as the only route of access for Sherwood’s plucky outfit next season.

And even for those Villa fans out there who remain distinctly positive ahead of the new campaign, such concerns simply remain relevant for the fan-base as a whole going into the next domestic term. Without the likes of Delph and Benteke on board, Aston Villa could dramatically struggle throughout 2015/16, and ultimately find themselves sinking faster than they can swim.

Under Paul Lambert for large parts of the previous season, the Villans simply weren’t good enough. They failed to justify their long-standing position in the English top flight with their all-round lacklustre displays, distinct scarcity of organisation throughout the spine of the team, and sheer inability to do the business in front of goal. The art of goal-scoring across the latter part of 2014 truly proved too hard a task for Lambert’s team to handle.

Whilst Tim Sherwood’s brief reign at Villa Park has so far seen a great improvement among the club’s strikers ,and the rest of the team in general, admittedly, managerial honeymoon periods in the Premier League inevitably die out eventually , and whilst the former Spurs boss does seem to possess a great deal more enthusiasm and excitement than his struggling predecessor , the core group of players within his ranks ultimately remain the same bunch that completely failed to do the business for Paul Lambert.

Tim Sherwood should therefore remain sensibly cautious ahead of the new campaign…

However, with the reported £32.5m that the club received as Liverpool’s payment for Christian Benteke this summer, there is no reason to suggest that Aston Villa can’t now push on in the run up to next season, with a view of enjoying the new term instead of dreading it. Such a hefty amount of cash should hopefully go a long way in the current transfer market, with the likes of Jordan Ayew, Diego Rolan, and of course QPR’s Charlie Austin, all remaining possible targets for Sherwood in the coming weeks.

In successfully staving off the threat of relegation with relative security in the end last season, and admirably reaching the FA Cup final when most had written them off in the competition a long time before their impressive run, Aston Villa could arguably be seen as a club on the up. Whilst it’s easy to remain concerned over the recent marquee departures that have afflicted the team, now should nonetheless be a time for positivity above all else.

If the likes of Christian Benteke and Fabian Delph didn’t want to commit themselves to the club’s cause next term, then Aston Villa simply don’t need players like that on board in the cold light of day.

If Tim Sherwood can sign some fresh new stars ahead of the new campaign, whilst continuing his good reputation among the younger players at the club - such as the rapidly emerging Jack Grealish - perhaps relegation may ultimately be the least of Villa’s concerns next term – with the hope of achieving a top-ten finish not completely out of the picture for the plucky Villans in 2015/16.