Aston Villa are on the road to big things under Unai Emery, with the Spaniard transforming the morale and progression of the club since his arrival in October 2022.
The former Arsenal manager took charge following the dismissal of Steven Gerrard, at a time when the Midlands side were sat in 16th place and short of inspiration and direction.
A strong summer transfer window has maintained the high expectations going into the 2023/24 campaign ahead, with the club transfer record broken in the £51.9m signing of Moussa Diaby.
While the Villans have pulled off some impressive business deals of late, other transfers have proved to be of far less success.
How much did Aston Villa sign Diego Carlos for?
Captured from Sevilla for a reported fee of £26m last summer, Diego Carlos' arrival was highly anticipated due to his performances in Spain.
The move was a positive one for the player, who sealed his move to the Premier League and almost doubled his weekly wages, going from earning £54.5k-per-week to £100k-per-week in the Midlands.
Aston Villa's top ten earners
Rank
Player
Weekly wage
1
Clement Lenglet
£150,000
2
Youri Tielemans
£150,000
3
Boubacar Traore
£150,000
4
Philippe Coutinho
£125,000
5
Lucas Digne
£120,000
6
Emiliano Martinez
£120,000
7
John McGinn
£120,000
8
Diego Carlos
£100,000
9
Tyrone Mings
£100,000
10
Leon Bailey
£100,000
Figures via Capology
This summer the club recruited two further centre-backs in the loan deal for Clement Lenglet and the £31.5m capture of Pau Torres, but why did Villa feel the need to sign two more central defenders the summer after acquiring Carlos?
What has Diego Carlos contributed to Villa?
After spending a total of around £31m on the player since his arrival, taking into consideration his transfer fee plus salary, the Brazilian’s contribution has been significantly lower than anticipated at the time of his arrival.
Sadly for the 30-year-old, his lack of impact has come mainly due to no fault of his own, as he’s missed the majority of his time at the club so far down to injury.
On his second Premier League appearance for his new team last campaign, the defender suffered an Achilles tendon rupture, leaving him needing surgery and not making a return to the side until May.
Following the ACL injury to Tyrone Mings on the opening day this season, Carlos has had more of a role to play, however was forced to withdraw after just 19 minutes last time out, due to a slight injury.
Journalist Jacob Tanswell branded his exit from play as “terrible misfortune” with reference to his injury-stained journey so far at Villa Park, in which he has made just nine appearances in all competitions in just over a year.
At the time of his arrival, former football agent Jimmy McCann slammed his signing as “shocking”, which in hindsight is a fair description of how things have gone so far for the Brazilian in England.
While it being little fault of his, Carlos’ nine appearances have cost Villa a figure of around £577k per game, dividing his yearly earnings of £5.2m by his number of games played.
With three years remaining on his contract, there’s plenty of time for the experienced asset to fight for redemption on the pitch following his dreary opening year at Villa Park, however, the club will hope for better days considering the finances spent to fund his services.