Aston Villa have lofty ambitions for next season, despite missing out on the Champions League.
Unai Emery’s project is still very much ongoing, and the next step is for him to lead the club to their first major trophy in nearly 30 years.
The Europa League might be their best shot, especially as winning it will secure a spot in the 2026/27 Champions League.
In order to do this, he will have to sign a few high-profile players while also complying with PSR regulations in the process.
With this in mind, it looks as though the club are chasing a move for a current Barcelona player.
Aston Villa chasing swoop for Barcelona sensation
While it might be slightly more difficult to lure the type of players Emery wants at the club this summer, it isn’t stopping the Spaniard from trying.
Reports in Spain (as per Sport Witness) claim that Villa are battling it out with Chelsea and PSG to sign Barcelona starlet Fermin Lopez.
The report goes on to state that Villa and the French giants have made contact with Lopez and are showing the most interest.
Chelsea could be set to make an offer worth €75m (£63m) in the near future to secure his signature, meaning Emery will have to act swiftly to get his man.
Why Aston Villa must sign Lopez
There are so many talented players at the La Liga side now. Lopez joins a list which includes Pedri, Gavi, Pau Cubarsí and, of course, Lamine Yamal.
Well, of those players, it is Yamal he is most similar to. When compared with positionally similar players in LaLiga this term, FBref suggest that the generational wonderkid and Ballon d’Or contender is the fourth most similar player to Lopez.
While the latter might play a more central role compared to Yamal, who operates on the right wing, the duo have shared similar statistics in La Liga last season.
According to FBref, the duo recorded similar metrics, including shot-creating actions (4.10 vs 5.92) per 90, goal-creating actions (0.50 vs 0.91), successful take-on percentage (45.5% vs 50.9%) and shots on target percentage (36.6% vs 31.9%) per 90 in La Liga for Barcelona.
On that evidence, they are both creative players who love to get at their marker/
|
Fermin Lopez’s statistics last season for Barcelona |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Metric |
La Liga |
Champions League |
|
Goals |
6 |
1 |
|
Assists |
5 |
3 |
|
Big chances created |
8 |
3 |
|
Shots per game |
1.5 |
1.5 |
|
Key passes per game |
1 |
0.5 |
His former manager at the Catalan club described Lopez as having the “whole package” and judging by his statistics and performances last term, this assessment is bang on the money.
Alongside his 11 goal contributions, Lopez also created eight big chances in the top flight, along with averaging one key pass per game.
Considering he started just 12 league games, averaging only 45 minutes per match, these are impressive statistics indeed.
Should he make the move to Villa, he would certainly secure more gametime in the starting XI than he was afforded under Hansi Flick last season.
Will he want to drop and play in the Europa League, however? Or is the long-term project at Villa enough to entice the youngster?
The next few weeks could be interesting indeed, and given he offered similar statistics to those of Yamal last season, he would make for an excellent signing.
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