Aston Villa's £9 million signing of Idrissa Gueye from Lille is the highest paid by the club since 2011. After years of the club shopping for bargains, his arrival suggests a welcome change in transfer policy -- not since Charles N'Zogbia joined from Wigan four summers ago has such an amount been spent on a single player.
In the world of Premier League football, £9m is not a huge sum. Not so long ago, Villa were routinely spending that kind of money -- not just £12m on the likes of James Milner and Stewart Downing, both of whom made a significant impact during their time at the club before being sold for healthy profits, but on players such as Curtis Davies (£8m), Stephen Warnock (£8m), Nigel Reo-Coker (£8.5m) and Carlos Cuellar (£7.8m) who all eventually left for virtually nothing. N'Zogbia cost £9.5m and has largely been a disappointment.
In the days of Martin O'Neill, when Villa were pushing for Champions League qualification and residing in the top six of the league, the club were happy to splurge fortunes on players who filled out the squad. That all came to an abrupt halt, of course.
N'Zogbia was Alex McLeish's one major signing. Paul Lambert didn't spend more than £7m on an individual (though it was well spent, on Christian Benteke) and certainly, in the last couple of summers, £9m was more akin to Lambert's entire budget. In fact, last preseason the Scot spent a combined £6.5m on Carlos Sanchez and Aly Cissokho, plus a nominal fee -- believed to be around £750,000 -- for Kieran Richardson.
Clearly, there is now money to spend. How it's being financed isn't quite so clear. It might be from the looming takeover, with current owner Randy Lerner happy to make the funds available now, to secure the targets Tim Sherwood wants while they are gettable, in the knowledge that he'll recoup the outlay when the sale goes through.
It might also be Villa spending the money they expect to receive from the possible sales of Benteke and Fabian Delph, and although their departures would be disappointing, there is some consolation in bringing in quality replacements before the departures.
The encouraging aspect is that it's great to see Villa finally back in the game for top class players and with reported interest also in Anderlecht's gifted playmaker Dennis Praet -- valued at around £10m -- Sherwood is able to be more ambitious in his targets than his predecessors. Villa were not the only club in for Gueye, with Southampton and Marseille also keen, so it's pleasing that the Midlanders seem able to compete with rivals.
That's really all claret and blue supporters have wanted in recent seasons; not to go toe-to-toe in the transfer market with Chelsea and Manchester United, but to be able to genuinely go for the calibre of players suitable for those clubs who sit between sixth and 10th in the Premier League. To show some ambition and sign players who can make a difference and not just make up the numbers.
Gueye is not well-known to many Villa fans but he has made excellent progress at Lille in recent seasons, to the point that he was arguably the French club's best player in 2014-15.
Recognised as a defensive midfield player in his early years, the Senegalese has developed the attacking side of his game and is now more of a box-to-box type; athletic and strong and composed on the ball. At 25, he's more an established star than a promising youngster. Yes, his style draws comparisons with Delph, but he should also give Villa that industry in midfield that Tom Cleverley provided last season.
Sherwood is expected to be a busy manager in the transfer market over the next couple of months, and if Gueye is an indication of the kind of player he is going for it could be Villa's most successful window for some time.