Rafael van der Vaart buries Aston Villa for use of Dutch stars
Aston Villa spent over 100 million euros on new players in the summer 2024 transfer window and then added a handful of more big names in the winter after thos summer signings failed to improve Villa's status from a Champions League side to a potential title contender in the Premier League.
In fact, Aston Villa have fallen outside the top four entirely and have been worse off in 2024/25 despite the aggressive reinforcements. And many of those new additions have failed to get a solid foothold in the time.
Among the most prominent is left back Ian Maatsen, who was signed permanently for nearly 45 million euros from Chelsea after enjoying an excellent 2023/24 breakout season on loan at Borussia Dortmund, in which he was one of the standouts in BVB's return to the Champions League Final.
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