2026-08-12 08:45:05

John McGinn expects Aston Villa to continue challenging for honours in the Premier League and Europe despite losing key players during the transfer window.

Villa have seen Morgan Rogers, Youri Tielemans and Lucas Digne depart this summer but the captain says the team has the “hunger and desire” required for more success following their Europa League triumph last season.

Speaking ahead of the UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday (12.08.26) – where Villa will take on Champions League winners PSG in Salzburg – McGinn said: “A lot has changed, yeah, but a lot has changed in the eight years that I’ve been here.

“When we got promoted to the Premier League, there was a lot of change in the summer.

“When you’re signing the best young English talent, there’s only going to be interest in them. When your players are performing at the highest level, there’s going to be interest.

“So we’ve got a structure in place, we’ve got standards and rules which have made us successful over the past few seasons, and our job is just to integrate the new players and try and make them believe the same way the players in the last few seasons have believed.

“The expectations? Similar to where it’s been in the past few seasons. I think we’ve consistently competed with the best in England, I think we’ve consistently competed with the best in Europe no matter what the competition is.”

McGinn pointed out that managerial changes at other Premier League sides could benefit Villa, who have been coached by Unai Emery for nearly four years.

The Scotland international said: “We will have our challenges, there’s a lot of change, but when you look at other clubs around England there’s a lot of changes there as well.

“A lot of coaches are changing, a lot of players are changing, but what we have still is our main core; the same manager, the same methods, the same desire to achieve more.

“A lot of people thought we’d reached our ceiling a couple of seasons ago and we proved them wrong.

“We’ve still got the same hunger and desire to go and achieve more, and as long as we’ve got the hunger and desire to do that you can expect as much as possible.”

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