It is usually managers who pay the price for poor starts to a season, but in Aston Villa's case, their sporting director, Monchi, is on the way out.
Villa were a fascinating team to watch last season when they had Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio on loan. However, neither player joined the club permanently.
Unai Emery's side had a difficult transfer window over the summer as the club needed to abide by both the Premier League's and UEFA's financial regulations.
Jacob Ramsey was sold, but Villa did sign Evann Guessand from Nice. Harvey Elliot and Jadon Sancho arrived at the club on loan deals, whilst Victor Lindelof joined on a free transfer.
Despite this influx of players, they only managed to score their first Premier League goal of the season last weekend, in their fifth match.
Matty Cash scored against Sunderland, but Villa still went on to draw 1-1 against the Black Cats, who were down to 10 men.
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Emery is one of Villa's best managers of the modern era, so it is not he but Monchi who is to leave the club.
Fabrizio Romano revealed on X that Monchi will "leave the club with immediate effect" and that "former Real Sociedad director Roberto Olabe will sign for Aston Villa."
Who is Aston Villa's new sporting director, Roberto Olabe?
Olabe is a former teammate of Emery at Sociedad, but they played just one game together.
Following his playing career, Olabe coached Sociedad's U19s before taking charge of the first team.
He then became their sporting director before having various roles at other Spanish sides.
Olabe managed Eibar, Almeria, and Real Union, but also worked as a sporting director for Almeria and Real Valladolid.
Since his last managerial role at ASPIRE Academy, Olabe has had two more stints as Sociedad's sporting director. However, he left them last summer following a mid-table finish in La Liga.
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