If you follow the line pushed by Aston Villa’s recruitment team, the club’s transfer policy is a thorough process that leaves little to chance.

An evolving list of about 500 players, which is reduced carefully to shortlists of eight or 10 for every position. That narrative bears little relation to Villa’s activity in January.

As Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio prepare to join on loan on Sunday for combined salaries at the thick end of £500,000 a week, it feels a little like Villa are making it up as they go along.

Has he presented the profiles of Rashford and Asensio to Emery after weeks of exhaustive research? Or does Emery say simply ‘Get me these guys’ and off Monchi goes to do his bidding? Work that one out for yourselves.

There is a chance Rashford and Asensio score and create the goals that help Villa qualify for the Champions League. They are experienced internationals and, at their best, very effective players.

Aston Villa’s recruitment looks improvised – are Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio the best they can do?

Asensio (pictured) and Rashford are out of favour and will cost around £500,000 a week 

It will be difficult for Unai Emery and Monchi (right) to replace the impact of Jhon Duran

The list of forwards Emery has worked with successfully is impressive: Kylian Mbappe, Edinson Cavani, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Gerard Moreno, Ollie Watkins. You question Emery’s coaching skill at your peril.

Unfortunately, it is two years since Rashford played well consistently and the 27-year-old arrives with more baggage than your average flight from London to Sydney. Villa need Rashford to hit the ground running but he has not played since December 12.

Asensio, despite enormous potential as a teenager, has never been a key man for a major club. That is why he started barely 100 league games in seven seasons for Real Madrid and has made little impact at Paris Saint-Germain. For context, Jude Bellingham has already started 45 times and is only halfway through his second season.

Where do they all fit in? When he has competition for his spot, Watkins goes into his shell – as he did when Jhon Duran, now sold to Al-Nassr, was snapping at his heels. Watkins, Rashford, Asensio, Morgan Rogers, Donyell Malen. At least two of them will not play regularly.

A well-organised recruitment division would not need Asensio on a short-term loan because they would have secured a younger, better version long ago.

If Villa approach the market so carefully, why did they not try to secure a player like Desire Doue when he was breaking through at Rennes? The 19-year-old is now at PSG and is one of the reasons Asensio, who turns 30 next January, is available.

After Sunday’s 2-0 defeat at Wolves, Emery admitted that in an age of tighter spending regulations, it was difficult for Villa to keep up with revenue-generating monsters like Liverpool, Arsenal and the Manchester clubs.

If they are so vaunted for their careful business, why did they not go for Desire Doue? 

They’ve allowed Emi Buendia and Diego Carlos to leave before their replacements are signed 

The noise around Matheus Cunha from Wolves has died down after he penned a new deal

To have any chance of achieving that regularly, Emery needs a solid recruitment strategy to match his coaching brilliance. Yet Villa move at random, jumping this way and that and swooping on opportunities as they arise.

That leads to unforced errors, like allowing defender Diego Carlos and attacking midfielder Emi Buendia to leave before their replacements were through the door. 

With only one fit centre-back and an attack deprived of creativity, Carlos and Buendia would have been handy at Molineux. Wolves have been one of the poorest teams in the league this season yet there are reasons to be cheerful for Vitor Pereira now.

The noise around Matheus Cunha has died down as the Brazilian has signed a new deal with a £62.5million release clause, keeping him at Wolves at least until the summer. 

Pereira’s squad is the best in the bottom four and now have a chance to make it safely to May and rebuild. For both these clubs, though, the stakes are extremely high.