Aston Villa transfer values rocket by £94m because Dean Smith followed key strategy

Dean Smith has been gone from Aston Villa for nearly five months now but the impact of his time at the club will be felt for years to come.

Smith, of course, guided Villa to promotion from the Premier League and an 11th placed finish last season before he was sacked after a poor start to the current campaign and replaced by Steven Gerrard.

As well as overseeing a massive improvement in results, as Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens' first hire Smith was tasked with developing young players into quality Premier League talent and, crucially, increasing the value of the squad.

Smith did this in tandem with sporting directors Suso and Johan Lange and now Villa have a squad mostly made up of players who have high ceilings and plenty of time to develop.

There are only two players over 30 in Villa's current first-team squad, Ashley Young and Robin Olsen with the former a squad player and the latter a back-up goalkeeper.

Smith brought in players like Ezri Konsa, valued at around £22.5 million by website Transfermarkt having signed the player from Brentford in 201 for £12m.

In truth, if Konsa were to be sold tomorrow that fee would probably be double his value on Transfermarkt taking into account his performances and contract.

The same can be said for Jacob Ramsey, a youth product who blossomed under Smith's tutelage and is now valued at £13.5m.

Douglas Luiz is worth around £31.5m with his value doubling since signing from Manchester City three-and-a-half years ago.

And perhaps the poster boy for Smith's development of players during his stint in B6 is John McGinn, actually signed by Steve Bruce in 2018 for £3.5m but now valued at a whopping £27m.

"The club’s long-term strategic plan developed since our owners Wes