Guardian writers’ predicted position: 15th (NB: this is not necessarily Ben Fisher’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 5th in the Championship

Odds to win the league (via Oddschecker): 1,000-1

It was a conversation that apparently lasted fewer than 10 seconds but was an early indicator that Aston Villa have zero appetite to make up the numbers on their Premier League return. Days before securing promotion at Wembley in May, Dean Smith and the chief executive, Christian Purslow, deemed that a victory parade would be overindulgent, a decision that spooked Birmingham city council, which feared a backlash from fans who assumed they were the party-poopers. “We had an identical reaction, which was: ‘We’re Aston Villa, we have parades when we win cups, when we win leagues, not when we get promoted effectively in third,’” Purslow said.

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What has followed that soundbite has affirmed that whiff of ambition, with more than £100m of players signed and an overdue clearance of dead wood; Micah Richards and Ross McCormack, who had not played for Villa for five years between them, are off the wage bill. More influential servants, such as Albert Adomah, Alan Hutton and Glenn Whelan, have also departed, albeit arguably 12 months too late. Given that Villa plan to build on the dynamism that rocketed them up the Championship in spring, when a boisterous midfield axis of Jack Grealish, the bustling John McGinn and Conor Hourihane propelled them into the play-off picture on the back of a 10-game winning streak, the last thing Smith needed looking back at him at Bodymoor Heath this summer was a greying squad.

The scale of Villa’s summer business has whipped up no end of optimism among fans – almost 5,000 travelled to Shrewsbury for a pre-season friendly – but while there is intrigue, there is also scepticism beyond B6 at how Villa have spent big on players with little top-flight experience; of the 11 signings, only Tyrone Mings and Matt Targett, who combined cost more than £35m, have played in the Premier League, with 46 starts between them. Mings made himself a cult hero in half a season at Villa Park, which allowed Bournemouth to hike the asking price to £26.5m, including clauses, such as whether the defender plays for England or Villa qualify for Europe. But given how strongly Villa finished last season – losing twice since mid-February – a move for Mings was seen as a no-brainer.

It was important for Smith to strengthen a backline that had a tendency to self-destruct but five new defenders should reinforce a rearguard that conceded more goals last season than Stoke and Birmingham, who finished 16th and 17th respectively. Targett, who played second fiddle at Southampton, can be bullied by more wily wingers but Ezri Konsa is perhaps the pick of the bunch, with Smith describing the centre-back, who joined Villa for £12m after a season at Brentford, as having “unlimited potential”. Konsa, previously trailed by Arsenal, was one of two England players at the European Under-21 Championship not contracted to a Premier League club and Smith believes senior international recognition will, one day, be within his grasp.

Then there is Mahmoud Hassan – best known as Trezeguet – and the £22m club-record signing, Wesley, who will need to fill the goalscoring void left by Tammy Abraham. Jota, the silky winger who arrived from Birmingham the week after promotion, has helped the Spanish-speaking striker settle. Villa have been bold because, as Purslow put it, they have “no interest in flirting with the catastrophe of relegation”. In Smith, they have a manager who has earned the chance to coach at the highest level, having made people sit up and take notice at Walsall, Brentford and now Villa. That the club is ingrained in Smith – stories of him sweeping terraces in the Holte End while his father, Ron, worked as a steward in the Trinity Road Stand have been well documented – adds to the gusto with which Villa return to the top table.

Despite all the fresh blood, a more familiar face is most likely to provide a touch of class: the boy who used to run into the bushes of the back garden as a kid pretending to embrace the Holte End and conducted the impromptu singalong to toast promotion from the balcony of the team hotel in May. When Grealish plays well, so do Villa. The numbers suggest his influence is even stronger; of the 15 league games he did not start last season, Villa won three, compared with the 19 they won from 31 with him. The 23-year-old appears to have matured and, although still overburdened, the player who was fouled 158 times last season, more than anyone else in the Championship, is a slicker, sleeker and stronger force.

Grealish has spent three years looking in at the Premier League from the outside, including at his friends Dele Alli and Harry Winks at Tottenham, where Villa play on the opening day, and has another chance to share that stage and address a sense of unfinished business. “The day we got relegated [in 2016], it was always in my mind to get Villa back,” said Grealish, who made his top-flight debut in 2014. “When I was 19, 20, maybe I took it for granted a little bit – I didn’t realise how lucky I was to be playing with Villa in the Premier League and now I’m back there I need to grab it with both hands. Hopefully I can push this club as high as possible in the league and get goals, get assists and, for me, what I want to do this season is get into the England team.”

Villa’s aggressive recruitment drive has drawn comparisons to Fulham, who splurged £120m last summer before things quickly went south, doomed, in effect, by the end of November. Purslow disagrees. “There will be people who don’t follow these things closely, who think we are just another promoted team, who will struggle and likely go straight back down,” he said. “No one, not least me and Dean Smith, believes that is the case. I could not be more confident in the team. I think we are going to have a fantastic season.”

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Equally confident Villa supporters may point to Wolves’ upward trajectory since promotion as an alternative example of where ambition can lead but, while Villa’s approach appears rational, the challenge for Smith will be integrating a minibus of signings into his well-oiled Villa machine, backed by billionaire owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens. Of the team that started the play-off final two months ago, only a handful of players – Grealish, McGinn, Mingsand possibly Hourihane – are likely to begin the new season at Spurs. It remains to be seen whether that is a good or a bad thing.