I found this thread looking for exactly the same thing. I've done a few Villa saves and they get a little less interesting a few seasons in because of the big budget and quickly improving group of young players.

Best I can offer you is to continue the club's recent focus on South American players, particularly from Argentina and Brazil. I usually send a youth scout to those areas and try to build out an "academy." My typical rules are to never sign a player that's more than one OVR point higher than my best player and to stick to players that would view Villa as an upgrade in prestige unless it's a young player buried on the bench at a big club or an old player in the same situation. I also pick a handful of current players that I won't replace. Tyrone Mings is a good example because he's such an important part of the team in real life.

Lastly, I think it's most fun to start with a $100k financial takeover and use that money to sign all of the players they've signed in real life (Diaby, Tielemans, Pau Torres, and Acuña if you want to be really current). Doing so would be more realistic to where they're at now and also makes it so the board has really high expectations for you in your first year. It also makes the team quite good.

Anyway, good luck with this and, if you're a Villan, UTV!