Aston Villa completed their first signing of the January transfer window on Tuesday, bringing Danny Drinkwater in on loan for the rest of the season.
The midfielder, brought in from Chelsea, managed just one league start for Burnley during the first half of the season, adding another one in the Carabao Cup.
However, he does have 100 Premier League appearances to his name from the entirety of his career, indicating a change of transfer policy from Chief Executive Christian Purslow.
During last summer, Villa had not paid much attention to Premier League experience, as signified by the fact that nine of the 12 recruited had never played a single minute of football in England’s top tier, before moving to Villa Park.
Before all that began, Purslow noted: “On the recruitment side in particular, things have not been handled as I think they should be in the way our fans expect, which is for us to be a young exciting team and a team that over time establishes itself back in the Premier League.”
However, it now seems as though the club may have reverted to bringing in an experienced head in midfield, who knows the league and what playing in it can entail.
His past – which includes the league title win with Leicester City – will surely have played a part in this decision, considering the 29-year-old has managed a combined six starts and seven appearances off the bench in the league since the 2017/18 season’s start.
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This need for experience in England’s top-flight can also be indicated by links with Pepe Reina, as reported by Calciomercato.
The Spaniard may currently be playing in Serie A, but he has amassed 285 Premier League appearances throughout his career.
Changing the strategy to focus on those who have played in the league already, will likely be seen as providing an added layer of safety when the season comes to its culmination and crunchtime approaches.
Villa currently find themselves just one place and one point above the relegation zone, having temporarily fallen into it during December.
With the benefits to clubs’ finances and status being so greatly helped by a place in the Premier League being, it is seen as vital for teams that they are able to beat the drop.
Villa may be changing their transfer strategy from the summer to ensure that happens.
Meanwhile, Villa fans were impressed by a former fringe player’s performance against Leicester.
