Unai Emery in attendance at Aston Villa's Europa League match against Go Ahead Eagles | Christof Koepsel/Getty Imagesplaceholder image
Unai Emery in attendance at Aston Villa's Europa League match against Go Ahead Eagles | Christof Koepsel/Getty Images | Getty Images
Unai Emery must upgrade Aston Villa’s attack in the January transfer window to help them climb up the Premier League
Unai Emery has done it again. After quite literally giving away £9.5 million this summer, he’s turned Aston Villa into one of the best sides in the Premier League, one who are capable of turning over anyone including Pep Guardiola’s vaunted Manchester City. Again.
Even then, Emery bounced back in style by once again outsmarting Pep Guardiola to fire his side back into the top half of the Premier League for the first time this season, a spell so successful that many have completely forgotten Villa’s impotence in the transfer market.
Of Emery’s 11 most frequently used players this season, Emi Martinez, Ezri Konsa, Ollie Watkins, John McGinn, Pau Torres, Matty Cash and Lucas Digne have all in that same list for Emery’s two other full seasons at Villa Park while Morgan Rogers and Boubacar Kamara have also been ever-present since the start of 2024/25.
It’s a remarkable - for context Newcastle United have had four players in the same 11 most heavily used in each of the last three seasons and Everton three, illustrating the fantastic job Emery has done, but as the start of this season threatened to expose, there are only so many times you can run it back with the same group of players.
So Emery has only kicked the need to reinforce down the road, and Villa’s attack in particular could do with fresh faces in the January transfer window. And rather than signing Manchester United rejects, bringing Leicester City’s Abdul Fatawu across the Midlands could supercharge the team.
Fatawu possesses Grealish’s gamebreaking ability
A wizard with the ball at his feet, Fatawu has the same ability to get the Villa Park faithful off their feet as Jack Grealish and would slot perfectly into Emery’s attack. A lightning threat on the counter attack, Fatawu is more than adept at also unlocking a dug-in defence and recorded a mind-boggling 4.51 successful take-ons per 90 minutes in the Premier League last season according to Opta via FBref.com.
That’s more than any top-flight player this season who’s racked up over 180 minutes - Estevao, Jeremy Doku, Mohammed Kudus, Bukayo Saka, Grealish himself, while Fatawu also ranked amongst the league’s best attackers for progressive carries and carries into the final third.
Only three players (again that played over two full games) drew more fouls than Fatawu per game, all gamebreaking traits that Grealish also displayed when he burst onto the scene, like another Villa icon Micah Richards.
While detailed data doesn’t go back as far as that, in Aston Villa’s return to the Premier League in 2019/20 Grealish ranked similarly highly for fouls drawn and dangerous carries, and would of course go on to become the most expensive British footballer of all time. Fatawu isn’t there yet, but he’s in the same mould.
Fatawu has proven he’s worth the gamble
Leicester City’s true valuation of Fatawu is unconfirmed as a figure of €45m (£40m) was floated in the summer but not from any reputable outlets, but it is known that free-spending Sunderland had a €32m (£28m) bid for the Ghanaian rejected and baulked at meeting The Foxes’ price tag.
It was a particularly risky venture at the time given Fatawu’s 2024/25 season was ended in November when he suffered an ACL injury on international duty and he didn’t exactly start Leicester’s return to the Championship on fire.
However, after drawing a blank in his first two games of the season including a defeat to Preston North End, Fatawu turned on the style notching three goals and two assists in the next two months and if The Foxes are promoted back to the Premier League, Fatawu will surely have made a major contribution to that.
While Aston Villa have made strides in attack and Evann Guessand looked threatening against Manchester City, the fact remains their attack has had more subtracted than added to it since Emery took over in B6, and at 21 years of age Fatawu is just the breath of fresh air it requires.
Fatawu’s versatility is also an asset that would give Emery plenty of options in a more future-proofed attack alongside Rogers, McGinn, Guessand and Malen, and while £40m would still be hefty sum to shell out on such an inexperienced, the Ghanaian has already proven he turn in match-winning performances in the top flight of English football.
The simple truth is that if Emery doesn’t move for Fatawu then someone else will, and Aston Villa could be watching a second Grealish-level talent starring for a Premier League rival in the coming years.
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