5 Things Aston Villa Must Do to Break Back into the European Picture

It’s easy to forget that just three years ago, at the dawn of the 2010-11 season, Aston Villa had finished sixth in the Premier League for three consecutive campaigns under manager Martin O’Neil, securing a third straight season playing in the Europa League.

After three managerial changes and the three tumultuous seasons that followed this period of success, Villa fans are finally smiling again at the prospect of the young and exciting team that manager Paul Lambert has constructed in his second season at Villa Park.

Lambert’s work is far from finished. Villa are one of the historically great clubs in England and a return to the top of the Premier League and into contention for continental football must remain the ultimate goal for the manager’s rebuilding project.

With a strong nucleus of talent and the fans behind the manager, Aston Villa must take the following five steps to return to the European picture.

Patiently Develop Young Talent

During his first 14 months as manager of Aston Villa, Lambert has reversed the culture at the Birmingham club.

Left with a squad full of high wage-earners who had failed to perform on the pitch, the Scotsman has systematically pruned the squad of most of its underachievers.

In their stead, Lambert has actively and aggressively sought out young talent across both England and Europe to find hungry players with the desire and skill to succeed.

Having unearthed jewels such as Matthew Lowton, Ashley Westwood and Christian Benteke in his debut season, Lambert hasn’t let up and has added six more touted youngsters during the 2013 summer transfer window, headlined by Danish defender Jores Okore.

But Aston Villa’s future stars aren’t limited to Lambert’s discoveries. The club’s youth academy, with proven success at continental level, has produced a number of impressive first team players such as Andreas Weimann, Nathan Baker and Gary Gardner.

For European football to become more than a pipe dream, it is imperative Lambert continues to have faith in the young core that he has constructed.

With many of these youngsters becoming increasingly integrated into their respective national teams, Villa have a bevy of raw talent that is unmatched among clubs not already standing at the summit of world football.

Continuing to develop these players steadily will help the most talented bloom into internationals capable of competing against Europe’s best.

Hold on to Critical Players

Developing so much young talent will do Aston Villa little good if they allow them to walk out the door.

During Villa’s previous run of European football, English internationals such as Ashley Young, James Milner, Gareth Barry and Stewart Downing were largely responsible for the club's sustained success.

By the start of the 2011/12 season, however, none of those players were still with the club. Despite the larger transfer sums received, a team cannot succeed when critical components are routinely sold off.

Earlier this summer, it appeared that Villa were in for more of the same when Christian Benteke requested a transfer after his highly-successful debut season. Much to the surprise and relief of the fans, Benteke reversed his decision just 11 days later, committing to a new four-year deal.

Benteke was not alone in receiving a new deal at the club; Lowton, Weimann, Westwood, Baker and Ciaran Clark recently signed new contracts to stay at Villa. This commitment by both the players and the club is a sign of changing times in Aston Villa’s transfer policies.

Lowton, upon signing his new contract, summed up the faith within the team for Lambert, as reported by Dan Ripley in the Daily Mail.

"

With the new signings this season as well as some players signing new contracts, the likes of me and Ashley [Westwood], Andi [Weimann], Brad [Guzan], Ciaran [Clark] and Nathan [Baker], it shows the club is moving forward and it's really exciting to be a part of that.

"

A return to European football relies on players committing to being a part of a carefully constructed team whose experience growing and playing together makes them an even greater force collectively than individually.

Additionally, it falls on Villa’s management and owner Randy Lerner to resist the allure of short-term gains by selling in-form players.

The American should continue to commit to a vision of a team capable of evolving into a force at the top of the table.

Consistency in Management

It has become common in the Premier League to view the job of a manager as a revolving door. A run of bad games, and sometimes less, is enough for a previously successful and popular manager to lose his place.

From the shock sackings of Chris Hughton and Nigel Adkins to the cruel dismissal of Roberto Di Matteo, it is increasingly rare to see a manager given enough time at a club to establish a true identity or culture for his team.

Lerner must buck this trend at all costs. Having already observed the failures of his club after sudden managerial changes, Lerner should continue to place his faith in Paul Lambert and commit to the Scotsman through thick and thin.

During a horrid run of form at the start of 2013 that included league drubbings and embarrassing exits from both cups, the rumor mill was rife with whispers that Lambert would be the third successive manager to fail at Villa Park.

Nevertheless, Lerner showed composure where other owners had not and stuck by his manager.

Lambert made the most of the opportunity, and after a successful conclusion to the season discussions in Birmingham now revolve around how high Villa can climb rather than how far they have fallen.

If Lerner continues to learn from his past mistakes and allows Lambert time to mold a cohesive, balanced and talented squad, then Villa will be in better shape to shoot back up the table and reward the American billionaire for his patience.

Combine Ability with Experience

Despite a general acceptance of Lambert’s commitment to trusting his young players, many pundits have suggested that an injection of experience would greatly strengthen the team.

In a piece from January, BBC's Phil McNulty noted that "It must be Lambert and Lerner's priority to ensure some streetwise talent turns up at Villa Park."

McNulty’s criticism haunted Lambert throughout the 2012/13 campaign, until the final days of the season when survival was finally guaranteed.

It is unfair to suggest that Lambert has entirely ignored the inclusion of veteran players into his team; Villa’s longest tenured player, Gabriel Agbonlahor, has flourished under Lambert.

He also recruited Karim El Ahmadi and Ron Vlaar from Feyenoord and has shown a commitment to both players, regardless of their age.

But none of Villa’s current players, save for Okore, has Champions League experience. If Villa are serious about returning to European football then they must supplement youth with seasoned players.

While Villa’s current squad may be best served without expensive veterans taking up playing time of the youngsters, in a few years it will be prudent for Lambert to strengthen his squad with established players experienced at the highest level.  

Offload the Dead Weight

It might appear that Aston Villa have been successful in the transfer market in recent years since they have sold many players for large sums and their most recent acquisitions have been fairly cheap.

In March, Talksport Magazine released a list of the net transfer spending for Premier League teams since 2006. Aston Villa had the fourth highest net spending at £92 million, ahead of Manchester United, Arsenal and Spurs

This demonstrates Lerner’s past failures to efficiently manage his spending, failures that have led the American to reduce the transfer budget for the club in recent years, a change reflected in Lambert’s transfer dealings.

With the exception of Benteke, whose value has more than tripled since his £7 million purchase, Lambert has spent very little on individual players. This has been effective for Lambert so far, but there are still improvements to be made.

There are a number of players on high wages who are out of the first team picture and must be sold. Darren Bent, Alan Hutton, Stephen Ireland, Shay Given and even Charles N'Zogbia are all unlikely to factor into Lambert’s plans.

Despite rumblings of interest in Bent, Hutton and Ireland, none has yet been sold.

Finding new clubs to take on their contracts is vital to give Villa the freedom to sign new players or increase the wages of their improving players in order to retain them.

With plenty of options in nearly every position, there is very little reason to retain these players and even cut-price transfers would be favorable.

This is especially important for Villa seek to compete with clubs with much deeper pockets.