Aston Villa need to strengthen in defence and in the attacking midfield positions but have been rumoured consistently to be interested in strikers in the summer transfer window.
Villa have been linked with various names. Reports have been served up throughout July and August with varying degrees of veracity but there seems to be a genuine desire to bring in a centre-forward. Speculation persists even after the signing of Evann Guessand.
Right at the start of the transfer window Villa were linked with Alexander Sørloth, Atlético Madrid’s prolific frontman who scores like it’s going out of fashion but hasn’t been able to truly pin down a starting spot in the Spanish capital.
It’s clear that Chelsea forward Nicolas Jackson is wanted by Monchi and in particular by manager Unai Emery, and while Jackson’s previous peak under the Villa boss at Villarreal saw him playing further wide, the club’s subsequent interest in Milan-bound teammate Christopher Nkunku suggests that a number nine could still be on the agenda. He too has played lots of his football out wide.
There have been others. So, if Villa need to replace Jacob Ramsey and Leon Bailey, if they need to tighten up the right side of their defence, why is it that the striker radar has been beeping away all summer?
Replacing Ollie Watkins
The bud of Villa’s links with strikers is actually in the transfer plans of other clubs. Arsenal and Manchester United have been recruiting for strikers. Newcastle United have been doing the same, albeit they’ve been unable to actively go after one before Alexander Isak is sold.
All three have been credited with a serious interest in Ollie Watkins and Villa’s financial reality means that the idea of a sale isn’t as absurd as it would have been in a sane sport.
It turned out in Villa’s favour. They want to hold on to Emery’s key players and a lack of genuine intent from clubs who’ve since signed Viktor Gyökeres and Benjamin Šeško has allowed them to do so in this case without much real threat from outside.
Nevertheless, that’s why a club that already has Watkins can be credibly linked with strikers who absolutely would not consider themselves back-up or squad options.
The fleetingly reported interest in Sørloth earlier in the summer was one of the most intriguing Villa rumours of the transfer window.
Unlike lots of the strikers Villa have been tracking and indeed have signed, the Norwegian is a one-job centre-forward and is two weeks older than Watkins. Villa need to find Watkins’ long-term successor – that’s another reason the striker search is on – but Sørloth isn’t it.
Strength in depth
In an ideal world, Watkins’ replacement would start life at Villa as his understudy. That’s a role that needs to be filled this summer and a failure to do so would leave a pretty ugly black mark against Monchi’s name in the eyes of a fanbase already beginning to ask a few questions.
Jhon Durán wasn’t Plan A until he was. He pushed Watkins hard in his final months as a Villa player and was in many regards the perfect player for this purpose: a young number nine breathing down the neck of the senior striker and taking every opportunity to make himself impossible to ignore.
Durán was also both as mad as a box of pissed frogs and in the transfer crosshairs of the Saudi Pro League, giving Villa a convenient parting of the ways but leaving them, ultimately, with wafer-thin striker depth.
If Watkins is unavailable, Emery’s current options are Guessand and Donyell Malen. Villa may see one or both of those as a centre-forward. I don’t. Not really.
I like that there are different configurations available that involve Guessand and Malen sharing the centre-forward and right-sided roles in Watkins’ temporary absence but that absence isn’t all that far away from being the norm.
Villa simply do not have the answer to that and this is the transfer window to address it. It looks increasingly unlikely they’ll be able to do so.
Identifying the profile
It’s not an easy brief for Monchi. In Malen and Guessand, Villa do have alternatives. What they need is the player who seldom if ever appears on the pitch with Watkins because he’s too close an approximation of Villa’s record Premier League goalscorer.
What they need is their new Watkins, not necessarily identical in a physical or stylistic sense but a viable succession plan. Watkins isn’t going to be around forever and it’s unlikely that Villa will be in full control of when this beautiful partnership ends.
A true, pure number nine must be on the shopping list – a striker who’s young and has enough promise to be considered a long-term pick, who can be identified through smart scouting and acquired relatively cheaply, who offers the kind of sell-on value Villa now have to accept as part of the puzzle.
The transfer window closes at 7pm on Monday. I think Villa will be able to pull off some business before then but, in truth, I have no confidence at all that this will be part of it. For now, with short-term needs in play, a low-cost back-up or a punchy loan for a centre-forward wouldn’t be the worst move.
Nkunku is all but off the table and there’s little recent evidence that Villa’s liking for Sørloth is tangible but Jackson could be a logical choice. Emery would look to deploy him on the left initially but he’s got the much-lauded versatility so key to the manager’s philosophy.
The longer Jackson’s at Chelsea this week, the likelier a loan becomes possible. I’m not convinced it could happen. If I were a betting man, I’d be lumping on a loan deal for a target we haven’t heard about yet.