We were very interested in new Villa signing Diego Carlos’ comments on the PL, the Brazilian CB who switched from Sevilla to Villa Park for a fee of around £30M.
The stopper, 29, was more than a spot Freudian with his slippage when he spoke of his pleasure at his move, saying:
“Even now I can’t believe I’m here because it’s a dream to compete in the Premier League.”
So, a player coming from the lucrative LaLiga in Spain, a player who has sampled playing Real and Barcelona and having won the UEL himself with Sevilla, admits that the English PL is where EVERY player wants to be.
But more tellingly, he didn’t include Aston Villa themselves in his praise. Just the league.
This is what every other league in the world is now up against.
Unless you’re Real, PSG or Bayern, most sides in Europe (yes, including Barca these days) would be second choice to any side in the PL, including promoted teams.
Look at Coutinho – he only went to Villa because they were PL, it had nothing to do with Steven Gerrard. Because Gerrard’s influence at Rangers really didn’t bring in any superstar names, including Coutinho, unless you count Defoe, and we don’t.
No, the PL is where it’s at, and that’s what Rangers and hundreds to thousands of other clubs outside the top flight in England face.
So if we can fend sides like these off to hold onto Calvin Bassey a little longer, we’ve done very well indeed.