By Steve Wollaston

Copyright birminghammail

The news that has taken over the Aston Villa landscape is that Monchi is set to leave the club, with official confirmation expected soon. The bombshell news took fans by surprise with the popular President of Football Operations serving just over two years since his appointment in the summer of 2023. A seemingly vital cog in the claret and blue machine, and a trusted friend and ally of manager Unai Emery – it’s a departure that will raise many questions and concerns. Here’s everything we know about the situation so far, what it could mean, what happens next, and the reaction from different sources. The Spaniard joined in June 2023 and has overseen five transfer windows during his tenure. During his time at Villa , the club has faced significant challenges due to financial regulations imposed by both the Premier League and UEFA. Since the summer of 2024, Villa have sold around £285 million worth of talent to comply with rules that limit the club’s spending power. In June 2024, Villa sold Douglas Luiz, Tim Iroegbunam, and Omari Kellyman due to pressure from the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), and last summer, they also sold their women’s team. UEFA’s squad cost regulations have further restricted spending, particularly in relation to the club’s wage bill, making it difficult for Villa to build on the success achieved under Unai Emery. UEFA’s rules are two-fold: the squad cost ratio (wages to revenue), and football earnings regulations. These are stricter than the Premier League’s PSR, allowing losses of up to €60 million over a three-year period. During Monchi’s first summer transfer window with Villa, he signed Moussa Diaby, Pau Torres, Youri Tielemans, Clement Lenglet (loan) and Nicolò Zaniolo (loan), before securing a deal for Morgan Rogers in the winter window. Joe Gauci and Kosta Nedeljkovic also arrived in January 2024. Last year, Amadou Onana, Ian Maatsen, and Ross Barkley joined the club, while Enzo Barrenechea and Samuel Iling-Junior were signed as part of the deal that saw Douglas Luiz move to Juventus. Donyell Malen and Andres Garcia then joined on permanent deals at the start of this year, followed by loan signings of Marcus Rashford, Marco Asensio, and Axel Disasi. In this summer’s window, Villa added Evann Guessand, Marco Bizot, and Victor Lindelöf, while also bringing in Harvey Elliott (on loan with an obligation to buy) and Jadon Sancho (on loan). Monchi looks set to exit Villa Park after just over two years as the club’s president of football operations. That’s the million-dollar question that unfortunately still requires an answer. Had he taken Villa as far as he felt he could? Or was there more to the situation? The answers will appear over time. Reports in Spain suggest that Monchi’s next move will be to focus on a project in his homeland. Earlier this summer, he stepped in to help his hometown football club in San Fernando, becoming president of the newly formed San Fernando 1940, alongside his son Alejandro Rodríguez, Sergio Ramos, and Ramos’ brother René. The group initially attempted to rescue San Fernando CD from its current ownership but ultimately had to found a new club and launch a fresh project – one that Monchi will now lead. According to ABC de Sevilla, Monchi plans to take a break from top-level football and concentrate on the San Fernando 1940 project. News of Monchi’s departure, which emerged on Monday evening, quickly sparked speculation about Emery’s future at the club. However, BirminghamLive understands that Emery is not affected by Monchi’s exit. Villa are hopeful of appointing Roberto Olabe as the replacement for Monchi. The 57-year-old left Real Sociedad in June and has been in talks with Villa about leading the club’s football department. News of Monchi’s exit emerged on Monday night, with official confirmation expected shortly. Villa have been preparing for his departure, with Olabe identified as their primary target. Olabe is regarded as one of the top football executives in Europe and previously worked with Unai Emery at Almeria. Alberto Benito, who has been part of Villa’s recruitment setup since May 2023, succeeded Olabe as sporting director at Almeria in 2007. Olabe held the role of sporting director at Real Sociedad for seven years, playing a key role in the club’s progress during that time. Under his leadership, Sociedad won the Copa del Rey in 2021, became regular top-six finishers in La Liga, and returned to the Champions League in 2023/24, reaching the last 16. His expertise has been especially evident in the transfer market, where Sociedad have earned a reputation for smart trading – selling Mikel Merino, Martín Zubimendi, and Alexander Isak for substantial fees, while developing talent like Martin Ødegaard (on loan from Real Madrid) and bringing through youth. Monchi’s expected departure from Villa raises questions over Unai Emery. That’s the view of former Villa striker Stan Collymore, who believes the next 48 hours at Villa Park “will tell everything” about Emery’s future. Posting on social media platform X, Collymore, who has questioned the quality of signings under Monchi, said: “Emery wanted him and this now raises the question as to whether Unai’s tenure will now grind to an end of season halt ( *fires starting pistol on speculation every week about United, etc etc etc) or whether Unai has agreed with my analysis, biffed off a great friend but “business is business” and a new shiny recruitment guy comes in with a better strike rate.” “I hope Emery strikes up a rapport with someone new and gets his mojo back, doubles down and commits to the long haul,” he added. “He’s not of our neck of the woods though, he’ll have suitors in Spain, probably one or two big Italian clubs and should United be serious about change then they’ll have a sniff too, why wouldn’t they, they can offer almost unlimited resources to back up what Villa did last season with multiple seasons of serious cash support. “The next 48 hours will tell everything. If he’s bullish and wants to stay, you’ll see it as he’s a straight talker. “If he doesn’t look at the camera, fidgits (sic) with his ear and doesn’t answer ” do you see your long term at Villa?” then the owners and new recruitment guy need to get a list together quickly in case he exits sooner or end of season. “Hope for the best, plan for the worst.” Monchi’s transfer record at Villa has been labelled “average at best” as the Spaniard looks set to exit the club. Monchi has overseen five transfer windows at Villa Park during just over two years as president of football operations. And former Villa striker Stan Collymore believes only three players have been “resounding successes”, pointing to Pau Torres, Youri Tielemans and Morgan Rogers. Posting on social media platform X, Collymore said: “I make it 3 resounding successes in the market ( players who play for the first team, not jiggery pokery for PSR) in Tielemans, Rogers and Pau out of a 20+ incoming of players. That’s average recruitment at best.” “Said on here a few weeks back that recruitment at a club like Villa has to be at 80+% success rate in order to compete so that’s the task for the new person,” he added. We took a look on popular Facebook forums to see how the news was bedding in with the club’s fanbase. Here’s a selection of what they are saying. Eddie Parkes : Monchi’s recruitment has been average at best and we do only have 3 of his signings as regular starters. Time for a change. Robbie Jack: Unai next. We’re about to enter the Alex MacLeish part of the cycle again Anthony Green : Something had to give eventually. Villa’s problems started the end of last season with loan player’s on extortionate wages hoping to qualify for champions league which of course back fired and was a big risks for all involved at the club with monchi paying the ultimate price unfortunately. Whether he was pushed or the strain got the better of him is up for debate but it does leave the club in a difficult situation moving forward and how this will effect Emery is unknown. Graham Joinson: The beginning of the end, I fear for the current management Andrew Williams : His record has been poor so it’s no big loss Ian Ward : He leads the clubs transfer policy and is probably the best buyer of players in the market. By stepping down he save the clubs money but the next few windows will be critical without his expertise. Chosen in 1957: Well NSWE must have someone lined up to take Monchies place. That new executive MUST have previous experience of working effectively within the Premier league. We need a person who knows exactly how the system works and how the financial restrictions that apply can be overcome especially in the transfer market. As we also saw with demise of Chris Heck the Premier league is a different ball game to anything else in the world of football and that lack of knowledge is a major factor that simply has to be addressed by our owners VillainGeorge82: It is easy to blame PSR or say that’s why we have lesser players. So is the argument it’s better to buy four or five mediocre players who Emery will leave on the bench Id completely forgot about the success of Lenglet and Zaniola or buy two players who will bring improvement to the group mj61: Monchi has failed overall . Villas best starting 11 does not have many of the players he has signed in it . To improve we needed players to come in and make a difference . Jim Shimmon : i thought his signings were poor , it might well be a good thing , still playing with 9 players who were from past Rufus Fish: What a mess Ian Hudspith: If Evann Guessand is the best he could come up with in the summer it’s no wonder he’s gone @Paul11235237724: This is awful. It’s the players that are at fault. They are expressing views on the Ramsey departure through social media and have performed poor. Entitled players comes to mind. Just put the shirt on and give 100%. The staff are fine, no-one needs to leave! @Truevillai62813: Needs a refresh tbh @Brit_Trooper82: Recruitment has been terrible