As Aston Villa look to bridge the hole between themselves and the Premier League‘s prime 4 as soon as once more, they’ve reportedly set their sights on signing one other attacking reinforcement for Unai Emery.
Aston Villa switch information
The Villans discover themselves sat as little as ninth within the Premier League table after struggling for consistency within the first half of the season, as summed up by following their latest victory over Manchester Metropolis with a 3-0 defeat by the hands of Newcastle United.
It wasn’t a sport centred round Villa’s struggles, nonetheless. As an alternative, Jhon Duran’s controversial crimson card stole the headlines and ignited Emery’s outrage.
Now set to be with out Duran for the following three video games after their enchantment proved to be unsuccessful, Villa should hope that Ollie Watkins is again to full health and firing on all cylinders as they welcome Brighton & Hove Albion within the coming days.
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In the meantime, Duran’s dismissal has seemingly sparked some attention-grabbing switch rumours as 2025 arrives. In accordance with CaughtOffside, Aston Villa are now plotting a move to sign Mateo Retegui from Atalanta subsequent yr in a transfer that must meet the Italian membership’s valuation of not less than €55m (£46m) subsequent yr.
The ahead is having fun with a wonderful season and has already been watched by Aston Villa’s scouts because of this. Taking Atalanta to the highest of Serie A, Retegui might but discover himself on his technique to the Premier League if he is ready to steer the Bergamo outfit to a historic title triumph.
With Retegui, Watkins and Duran to name on, it would not be absurd to counsel that Aston Villa would have one of many strongest teams of strikers within the Premier League.
“Aggressive” Retegui might full Aston Villa frontline
While Duran and Watkins are already giving Emery fairly the headache, the arrival of one other star striker might go away the Spaniard with no alternative however to vary to a formation which accommodates a strike partnership.
Selecting between Watkins and Duran has already been inconceivable sufficient, however with Villa trying like getting into the brand new yr in mid-table, now’s the time for Emery to experiment and match each gamers into his strongest aspect.
In the meantime, if the previous Arsenal supervisor does make that change, signing Retegui would even be a smart transfer. Having three strikers able to reaching double figures for targets and forming a strike partnership between these choices would undoubtedly go a good distance in direction of bridging the hole on the Champions League locations.
League stats 24/25 (through FBref) |
Mateo Retegui |
Jhon Duran |
Ollie Watkins |
---|---|---|---|
Minutes |
959 |
602 |
1,182 |
Targets |
12 |
7 |
7 |
Assists |
3 |
0 |
3 |
Anticipated targets |
8.7 |
4.8 |
8.8 |
Described as “aggressive” by analyst Ben Mattinson, Retegui has had no bother in maintaining and even outscoring each Duran and Watkins up to now this season in what may very well be a preview of what’s to come back at Villa Park in 2025.