After their narrow 2-1 play-off final win against Derby on Monday afternoon Aston Villa’s manager Dean Smith promised the club’s supporters that his team won’t hold back in the Premier League next season.
It’s quite extraordinary what has transpired for Aston Villa this season from sitting at 10th in February to getting promoted, it is quite the achievement. Smith has done one hell of a job so far in his short Aston Villa managerial career.
He is now very optimistic about going head to head with some of the best managers in the Premier League, as he told BBC WM:
We’ll come up against the likes of Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp. People might laugh at me but I’ll still want to try and win those games.
He also obviously acknowledges that his side will be huge underdogs next season like the other two promoted side as well.
Smith accepts that his side will have to spend big but spend wisely as well as we’ve seen the likes of Fulham, who spent an astronomic amount of money flop and fall straight back into the second tier.
Also, the likes of Tammy Abraham and Axel Tuanzebe, who have been integral to their promotion will be returning back to their respective clubs this summer, so Villa know they have a big transfer window ahead of them.
Villa will also hope that they can keep their star man Jack Grealish as it’s reported that a few teams are after him with one familiar face popping up in Spurs.
In preparation for next season, Villa are already a month behind the other two promoted side Norwich City and Sheffield United as the normal Championship season has been finished for some time.
