Snaffling Barcelona guru Mateu Alemany is both a sign of Aston Villa's intent and the financial might offered by the Premier League... his arrival will ensure Unai Emery's team takes shape and should leave observers in no doubt as to the club's ambition

If there were any doubts about Aston Villa’s ambition to rejoin English football’s elite, their pursuit of Mateu Alemany should dispel them.

For the club seventh in the Premier League to target and tempt one of the key decision-makers at Barcelona shows the financial strength of both the league and Villa themselves. Alemany would land a big pay rise by moving to the Midlands.

When Unai Emery was hired to replace Steven Gerrard last November, co-owner Nassef Sawiris gave the Spaniard a blank canvas to shape first-team affairs as he saw fit.