Unai Emery looks on from the Aston Villa touchlineplaceholder image
Unai Emery looks on from the Aston Villa touchline | AFP via Getty Images
Aston Villa have a glaring need for attacking reinforcements this summer - can a long-standing transfer target provide the solution?
By any reasonable standards, Aston Villa’s season has been a runaway success so far. They stand on the brink of a second Champions League qualification in three years despite a rough run of recent form, and seem to have firmly established themselves as a side that can consistently compete for the top four – but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t areas in which Unai Emery’s side can improve.
Goalscoring has been something of a problem this season, in particular. Everton are the only top-half team who have scored fewer since the summer and while their defensive solidity has made up for their inefficiency in the opposing penalty area, it’s clear something which needs to be remedied if Villa want to take another step forward.
The summer transfer window will provide a fresh opportunity to find the players required – but one long-standing target seems to provide a particularly good fit. This is why Aston Villa should finally get a deal for Baris Alper Yilmaz over the line.
Why Aston Villa need a player like Baris Alper Yilmaz
Some of the blame for Aston Villa’s bluntness up front can be attributed to Ollie Watkins, who has struggled to find his best form either side of his 30th birthday. Villa’s primary goalscoring outlet for years, Watkins has managed just nine goals in the Premier League this season and there will be thoughts of finding a successor when the window opens.
The blame can’t be laid solely at Watkins’ feet, however. While he has been short of his best, the service he has received has also been below par. For each of the last three full Premier League campaigns, Watkins has been provided with over 15xG. With seven games left to play this season, he’s had just 10.33xG’s worth of chances.
Overall, Villa have gone from averaging 1.75xG per game last season to 1.38xG per game as a team this term – a drop of over 21%. The number of shots on goal Villa are having hasn’t gone down, but there has been an evident decline in the quality of the final ball into the box. Watkins’ form is a worry, but he has been feeding off of scraps.
Villa need more dynamism behind Watkins to thrive, and that will become doubly true if Morgan Rogers leaves this summer, with several sides said to be considering bids of £100m or more for the England international. Take him out of the equation, and Aston Villa will be desperately short of creativity in the final third – and it doesn’t matter who’s playing up front if they aren’t given any chances.
What they need, in short, is a player much like Galatasaray and Turkey winger Yilmaz, a player who has been linked with Aston Villa on a number of occasions over the past two years.
Last summer, it was widely reported that Villa bid around £17m to sign the 25-year-old, an offer which was summarily rejected. Galatasaray’s valuation has been variously reported at anything from £25m to £43m (according to a recent story linking him with Newcastle, Crystal Palace and Brighton) – whatever the actual figure they have in mind, Villa clearly decided against raising their offer far enough. That may have been a mistake.
Yilmaz somewhat surprisingly remains at Galatasaray and continues to produce – six goals and 10 assists already in the Süper Lig this season, with his work in the Champions League and for his country suggesting that he wouldn’t struggle to adapt to a higher level.
Yilmaz offers many of the attributes Aston Villa look for in their attacking players (not least a very high work rate which makes him effective in an aggressive pressing unit), is versatile enough to play on either flank, and can score goals as well as create them – and is a genuine creative force, at least at the level he has played at so far. Crucially, he also appears to be improving.
Villa remain linked with Yilmaz, with stories suggesting continued interest cropping up in the Turkish media since the end of the January transfer window. But will Villa be willing to take the gamble that they backed out of nearly a year ago?
Could Villa finally make a move for Yilmaz this summer?
Yilmaz’s name has been a staple of the gossip columns for over a year now, and Aston Villa have been linked with him since the summer of 2024. The likely conclusion that can be drawn from that is that sides like Villa have yet to be fully convinced that he’s worth the kind of money that Galatasaray are demanding.
Given his improved performances this season, however, the scales may finally be tipping towards a side taking a chance on the likelihood that he can replicate his production in the Turkish league in England – and his contract situation may encourage Galatasaray to accept reasonable offers.
This summer, Yilmaz will enter the final two years of his current deal, typically the point at which selling sides cash in before they lose all of their leverage. They’re no more likely to accept a £17m offer than they were last year, but the stories pushing the price tag up over £40m are likely exaggerated. The price tag will probably fall somewhere in the middle unless Galatasaray have Yilmaz earmarked as indispensable enough to hold on in the hopes of persuading him to extend his stay. They might.
The question, then, is whether Villa finally decide that the time is right to up their offer sufficiently to get a deal over the line – or whether another team gets there first. As well as the teams mentioned above, Chelsea, West Ham and Everton have all been linked. No doubts some of the media links with Premier League sides are tenuous, but there will surely be some degree of competition.
Yilmaz continues to prove himself to be a tenacious and genuinely creative wideman who is productive enough in the final third to be worth taking a chance on – especially when Aston Villa sorely need someone with the quality of final ball the Turk can provide.
Continue Reading