Aston Villa's new hire to open door to repeat £20m deals - Keith Wyness
Aston Villa's move to appoint a new scout to cover South America is something that they should have put in place years ago.
That is according to former Villa chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, who believes that his former club should have been in that market for several years now.
This comes amid the news that Unai Emery's side are advertising for a new South American scouting role, as they look to expand their knowledge of the market once again.
Wyness believes that young South American talents will provide the perfect way for Villa to land high-potential players at a relatively low price, something which suits their tight SCR constraints perfectly.
They recently secured the signing of Alysson from Gremio back in January, with the 20-year-old already a fully fledged member of the first-team squad.
Wyness is in no doubt that there are major bargains to be had in South America at the moment, and he is pleased to see that Villa have improved their chances of landing them.
Aston Villa in line for repeat £20m deals
Villa's former chief Wyness - who served as CEO at Villa Park between 2016 and 2018 and now runs a consultancy business advising elite clubs - believes that the South American market will see Villa in line to land players at an "entry level" price of £5million to £20million.
That is significantly cheaper than the market for elite European youngsters, and could potentially be exploited again and again if Villa are smart with their business.
Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider's Inside Track podcast, Wyness explained why it is simply a no-brainer for Villa to take on the new scout.
"Well, my question is, why does it take them so long? I don't know why it hasn't been an area that's been scouted before," he said.
"I know that when I was at Villa, we put out quite a number of different feelers and different connections to get scouting information out of South America.
"Because, as we've discussed, Villa's financial situation many times on the SCR side, they're getting players at an entry level of £5m to £20m, which is where they need to be.
"South America is still one of those markets where you can get that quality. The risk is always about whether they adapt quickly and reach top quality quickly enough for you. Hopefully we're going to see a couple of those that do that for them."
Aston Villa forced into 'ridiculous' decision
Former Manchester City financial advisor Stefan Borson told Football Insider earlier this week that Villa had "no choice" but to increase their ticket prices for this season.
Tickets for the upcoming Champions League clashes against Fenerbahce and Viking come in at over £99 per game for fans without season tickets.
Borson labelled that pricing as "ridiculous," but also acknowledged that the club have been forced into the move by the closure of the North Stand at Villa Park.
The Villans will be without that end of the ground for the entire campaign due to redevelopment work, and have had to find a way to bridge the gap of lost revenue in order to compete.