Aston Villa deny 'doing a Fulham' with £100m post-promotion transfer spree

Dean Smith has defended Aston Villa’s massive spending spree and admitted more signings are imminent.

Play-offs winners Villa are on course to splash well over £100million, after their Wembley play-off win over Derby secured them a £170m return to the Premier League following three years in the Championship.

They have already spent £90m on Bjorn Engels, Ezri Konsa, Tyrone Mings, Wesley Moraes, Matt Targett, Kortney Hause, Anwar El Ghazi and Jota.

Villa, now owned by wealthy duo Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens, also expect to land Manchester City’s £15m-rated midfielder Douglas Luiz and have bids in for Burnley's England keeper Tom Heaton and Egypt winger Trezeguet of Turkish club Kasimpasa.

Villa made El Ghazi's loan from Lille permanent after he scored in their play-off final win (Mike Hewitt)

CEO Christian Purslow insists they are not going crazy on mercenaries who just want cash, and boss Smith says the changes were necessary after Mile Jedinak, Alan Hutton, Tommy Elphick, Albert Adomah, Glenn Whelan, Ritchie De Laet, Mark Bunn and Micah Richards were all released.

Last season's loan stars Axel Tuanzebe and Tammy Abraham have also returned to parent clubs Manchester United and Chelsea.

Smith, speaking on pre-season tour in USA, said: “The owners have shown their intent with the money they’ve allowed us to spend to strengthen the squad. It needed strengthening, because of the amount of players we lost.

Midfielder Jota's move from arch-rivals Birmingham is just one of many Villa signings (Aston Villa FC via Getty)

“We lost an awful lot of players. Six loans went back to their clubs and we made three of them permanent - Hause, Mings and El Ghazi - so that was great for us to get them back into our squad as our players.

“We feel we have bought a lot of youth, a lot of legs into the team, but also a lot of quality as well and that can only help our season this year.

“It’s a short window for us, because our season finished May 27 and the window closes on August 8.

“We’ve done business, eight signings, and we’ve done it all even before pre-season has started and they’re all with us now. It’s a great start to know what we’re about and what we want from them moving forward.

Smith argued Villa had to do lots of deals as so many players got released or were only on loan (Neville Williams)

“There will be some more additions because we need to make sure the strength of that squad is good.”

Villa fans are praying their spree works better than the one a year ago by Fulham, who spent £100m after beating them at Wembley in the previous season's play-off final only to come straight back down having won just 26 points.

The US tour started promisingly as captain Jack Grealish, Henri Lansbury and Birkir Bjarnason netted in a 3-0 win over MLS side Minnesota United. Wednesday's game included a debut for French right-back Frederic Guilbert, who was signed in January from Ligue 1 club Caen before being loaned back.

Fulham's expensive transformation of their promoted team backfired and they are back in the Championship after one season (Getty)

Purslow insists the club’s new boys are the right characters.

He said: “We want players who really want to play for Aston Villa for the glory, not the money. Not one person that we’ve reached out to sign since I’ve been here has said no. People want to get on board with what what we’re trying to do here.

“Outside of the big six — who have huge financial advantages — if you’re a professional footballer where else would you rather play than Villa Park, for Aston Villa?”

Villa hope to offset some of their costs by moving on big-earning striker Scott Hogan, who was loaned to Sheffield United for the second half of last term.