Paul Lambert and the changing tides at Villa Park

Five nitpicked signings and one priceless contract extension – Paul Lambert ran through the transfer business in such a rampant fashion that it barely gave his fellow competitors a sniff of Villa’s transfer targets. Now, after a 3 match-run in Germany and another few scheduled on home soil, the Aston Villa side reflects nothing but a promising outfit comparable to a rather well-oiled Birmingham machinery forged a few miles ahead of Villa Park.

The new signings are already feeling at home while the dead wood have been granted their exit passes before it got too late. It’s evident that Paul doesn’t leave any of his pre-season preparations to mere chance. And it’s not just now that Lambert’s mini-revolution Villa Park has come up for discussion. Into his 3rd transfer window, the manager has already bought a new 11, leaving no doubts about Villa’s intention to present a brand new project.

All of this does exhibit the obvious shades of a wholesale turnaround at a mid-table Premier League club. Yet Lambert has brought his own set of objectives that could go a long way to changing the footballing perception at the club.

Radical changes in transfer policies

Instead of the conventional scouring from their 4 traditional feeders clubs – Sheffield, Crewe, Middlesbrough and Chesterfield – Lambert, like in his professional career, had an urge for reach out abroad. His inclination for foreign scalps meant the Villa management, for a change, had to finance scouting trips away from the British islands.

While other mid-table clubs were assessing their financial options, Lambert in the latter half of the last season had sketched his complete transfer model. Evidently, the labour behind planning methodically for the new season has been increasingly fruitful for the side that went about its transfer business in Poland, Denmark, Holland and the lower tiers of Spain.

The recruitment drive ticked all their requirements as Lambert made sure the lads were proven, tactically open to changes and easy on the pocket (€12.3 million to be precise).

The new recruits: Potential competitors or outright replacements?

After tailoring the transfer policies to match his own free-flowing football, Lambert had to jot down his needs and luxuries before any kind of transfer activity. What that resulted into was a systematic introduction of players that would not only set the ground running from the word go, but also send his message out loud to the complacent lot already donning the Claret and Blues.

In came Aleksandar Tonev, Jore Okore, Leandro Bacuna, Nicklas Helenius and Antonio Luna – with not much of a reputation on the English shores (yes! that means no YouTube compilations either). Yet, unfazed by the curiosity surrounding the media circles and countless fanzines, Lambert knew what he was doing.

In Tonev, he had found an ideal warhorse for the left wing that was led inefficiently by the Frenchman Charles N’Zogbia. Tonev has been backed by a fellow Bulgarian and Villa legend Stiliyan Petrov  to achieve great success at Villa Park. Also, Okore could fit right into the central defence along with Dutchman Ron Vlaar. Having gathered some priceless Champions League experience last year, this young Dane, largely known for his strength and tackling nuances, could only improve the Villa back four.