Aston Villa enter the final few days of the transfer window hoping they can entice another big name to join the club.
Qualification for the Champions League has allowed Unai Emery to lure the likes of Amadou Onana and Ian Maatsen to Villa Park. Will there be one final signing before the deadline on Friday?
It appears the club have a current Premier League player on their shortlist as they look to bolster their attacking options.
Aston Villa eye late move for Chelsea striker
According to Caught Offside, the Midlands side are open to the idea of adding another striker to their squad before Friday. There are a few different names on the shortlist, but it looks as though Chelsea centre-forward Nicolas Jackson is the preferred option.
The report states Emery has monitored him for over a year as the manager is evaluating whether there is room to make a concrete offer for him in the coming days.
The £65k-per-week hitman would add something different to the Villa attack and, with a single season of Premier League experience behind him, could be a solid purchase this summer.
Nicolas Jackson’s season in numbers
Football talent scout Jacek Kulig hailed Jackson as “superb” towards the end of the 2022/23 campaign after he scored in four successive La Liga matches, claiming the striker was “one of the best La Liga players in recent weeks” due to his displays.
It didn’t take long for the Blues to make their move, signing him that summer from Villarreal. His debut season in England yielded 17 goals and six assists across 44 matches for the Blues, a decent, if unspectacular, return in front of goal.
Goals
14
Assists
5
Shots on target per game
1.2
Big chances created
8
Successful dribbles per game
1.5
Total duels won per game
4.2
Among his teammates, he ranked second for goals and assists (19) in the top flight, along with ranking second for shots on target per game (1.2) and for successful dribbles each match (1.5), underling how important he was.
Ollie Watkins may have scored 27 goals last season, but the next highest goalscorer at the club was winger Leon Bailey with 14 goals, suggesting the need for another striker.
Jackson, according to FBref, is the sixth-most comparable player to Watkins. Considering how good the Englishman was last season, signing a player who plays like him would be advantageous for Emery, even if Jackson is something of a "rough diamond" according to pundit Paul Merson.
Indeed, the duo registered similar statistics in the Premier League last season with regard to shots on target per 90 (1.22 vs 1.31), shot-creating actions per 90 (3.05 vs 2.8), successful take-on percentage (51.4% vs 41.3%) and aerial duels won (35 vs 49).
Much will depend on Jackson’s price tag, but if there is any realistic chance of signing the Senegal international, then a concrete move should be made.
He and Watkins could combine to devastating effect this season for Villa, especially given their likeness, and it could fire the club back into the top four of the table.
The next few days will be interesting, to say the least.
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1 ByJoe NuttallAug 28, 2024