The Birmingham Mail's Ashley Preece has dropped a major Aston Villa transfer update on what the club could look to do after clinching the signing of Emi Buendia from Norwich.
What's the story?
Dean Smith's side confirmed in recent days that they had reached an agreement with the Canaries to sign Buendia this summer, fending off intense competition from Premier League rivals Arsenal.
In response to a question about whether Villa could sign both Buendia and Tammy Abraham this summer, and how much money Smith has to work with, Preece said: "Villa will be spending less than £100m this window. That's a guarantee. It's not sustainable to keep blasting £150m etc... Villa could make 2 top-class additions and a couple of hidden gems, as it were, to help beef up their squad.
"Villa will need a new left-back to play understudy to Targett. A ball-winning defensive midfielder will be considered. A new striker is on Villa's radar as well, with Smith to assess Wesley's PL credentials when the players return on July 5. Tammy Abraham will be looked at with his price set to come down. However a deal for Tammy remains highly unlikely."
Who's next after Buendia?
After beating Arsenal to the signing of Buendia, Villa have picked up some superb early transfer window momentum and will now feel confident of enticing some other high-profile targets to Villa Park even amid rival interest.
As Preece says, another massive window of spending is unlikely to happen, but it doesn't necessarily need to anyway. Villa enjoyed a superb first three-quarters of the Premier League campaign last season, before the injury to Jack Grealish stopped them in their tracks and caused them to slide down the table and out of European contention.
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However, with the signing of Buendia and possibly a couple of shrewd additions just to enhance the first team squad rather than overhauling it, Villa should be confident of taking that next step.
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