Dean Smith has eased fears over Aston Villa’s £130million spending spree.
Villa have signed 12 players – including £22million club-record buy Wesley from Club Brugge – to prepare for the Premier League.
Marvelous Nakamba, Tom Heaton, Matt Targett, Douglas Luiz, Jota, Ezri Konsa, Bjorn Engels and Trezeguet have also joined while Kortney Hause, Anwar El Ghazi and Tyrone Mings made their loans permanent.
Comparisons have been made to Fulham’s outlay of around £100million last summer before the Cottagers were relegated but Smith dismissed concerns Villa will suffer the same fate.
“What other teams do is their business,” he said, ahead of Saturday’s opening-day trip to Tottenham.
“We know what we have to do at Aston Villa and I am very happy with what we have done.
“We believe we have done a really good job this season. The fact is we lost 15 players we had to replace.
“What was important was we kept the core of the squad and the heart of the dressing room is still here.
“We want people coming into the club to realise there is a culture of winning, improvement and development.
“We are happy with the signings we have brought in and the recruitment policy we adopted.
“We had a Plan A and Plan B going into Wembley (the play-off final).
“Fortunately we have been able to go along with Plan A which was being a Premier League team.
“Nine players got released and six loans were going back to their parent clubs.
“We have done very well with the recruitment and I am very happy with the squad we have assembled.”
Smith also believes keeping the nucleus of the squad together – John McGinn signed a new five-year contract on Thursday – was vital to Villa.
“I think the important thing is we have kept the core of the team,” he said.
“The heartbeat is still in that dressing room. People who know how the owners want Aston Villa to be seen.
“I always believe when somebody comes into this football club and I say this to the players when they come into this football club they should feel it and hear it and see it.
“I want that to be the case so when they leave they go: ‘that is on the up’.
“The culture of that place is a winning culture of improvement and development.”
