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Aston Villa were right to cash in on Morgan Rogers and Youri Tielemans, says former star

Unai Emerys Premier League giants are preparing for a Champions League return but have lost some key players.

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Youri Tielemans(Image: Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images)

Aston Villa were right to cash in on Morgan Rogers and Youri Tielemans.

Thats according to former Villa Park goalkeeper Brad Friedel, who has backed manager Unai Emery to replace the departed stars.

Villa banked 138million from Chelsea for Rogers and 41m from Manchester United for Belgiums World Cup star Tielemans.

Friedel believes they did not have a choice when it came to selling the pair.

Speaking with the Irish Mirror via Casino.org casino bonuses, he said: Villa and a club like Newcastle are in a similar boat, where they have ownership groups that have the wealth, but they are under the PSR, so they can only spend so much.

For the last couple of years, Aston Villa were flirting with even larger fines, so I fully understand why they would cash in the way they did with Rogers.

There wasnt a lot, I believe, that they could have done with Tielemans, because there was a release clause, so it would have been down to the player.

But thats a lot of money that will release a lot of financial pressure for the club.

Former Blackburn, Liverpool and Tottenham goalkeeper Friedel played 131 times for Villa.

He says Emery is the man to lead Villa into their Champions League campaign in the wake of those two key departures.

If you look at the history of Unai Emery and the sporting department at Aston Villa recently, Im sure they will be able to replace (Rogers and Tielemans) in an efficient manner, to be able to build again, he said.

I think whether they can lose those types of players and get up into the Champions League and be able to compete in all the cup competitions, that is yet to be seen. But I dont think they are going to become a struggling club by any stretch of the imagination.

I think they have all done an incredible job. Every now and again, even the biggest clubs have to recalibrate their finances. This is the time that Aston Villa is doing it for their club.

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