Aston Villa were the busiest team in the Premier League in January, bringing in more new faces (four) than anybody else. Middlesbrough forward Morgan Rogers was the headline addition, but Villa also recruited goalkeeper Joe Gauci from Adelaide United and young full-back Lino Sousa from Arsenal, before loaning him to Plymouth Argyle. Right-back Kosta Nedeljkovic will join from Red Star Belgrade at the end of the season after being loaned back to the Serbian club.
Only Crystal Palace (£25m) and Spurs (£21m) spent more than Villa overall, but even though Unai Emery's side are now sailing close to the wind when it comes to the league's Profit and Sustainability Rules, they're still hard at work on planning their summer moves.
Soule emerges as new Villa target
According to Italian outlet Calciomercato, Villa are showing interest in Matias Soule of Juventus, who's currently on loan at Frosinone. The attacker rejected an offer from Saudi Pro League side Al-Ittihad in the January transfer window and is now set to sign a "tactical" contract extension at Juve with a view to a lucrative summer sale.
Unai Emery now eyeing move to sign “ideal” star
Emery may still want more despite addressing a position in January.
ByDavid Comerford
Soule, valued at £34m, is also admired by fellow top-flight sides Crystal Palace and Newcastle United, while Southampton have already been putting in some groundwork – but will need to get promoted from the Championship to make a deal realistic.
The report states that suitors have dispatched "plenty of observers" to scout the 20-year-old, and that tallies with recent remarks from director Guido Angelozzi, who said: "Clubs from England, France and Spain are in attendance on [a] regular basis to keep [a] close eye on Matias Soulé."
Juve about to make a mistake with "revelation" Soule
A left-footed right winger, Soule joined Juventus from Argentinian club Velez Sarsfield in 2020 and has been making waves during his temporary stint at Frosinone. He's become the first player in the club's history to score 10 Serie A goals in a single season, and that haul ranks him fourth in the league's goalscoring charts.
What's more, as of 7th February, among all under-21 players in Europe's top leagues, only Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham (17), Chelsea's Cole Palmer (14) and Bayer Leverkusen's Florian Wirtz (13) have posted more goal involvements than Soule (12). No wonder, then, that The Athletic's James Horncastle has described the youngster as a "revelation".
Four of Soule's goals have come from the penalty spot, and while you could argue that this has inflated his tally a little artificially, he really ought to have more assists, too. He leads the league for shot-creating actions (107) and ranks second for key passes (51) and third for passes into the box (46), but his teammates have let him down too often. Indeed, his expected assisted goals figure of 4.0 is double his actual number of assists.
Lautaro Martinez
Inter
19
Dusan Vlahovic
Juventus
12
Olivier Giroud
Milan
11
Matias Soule
Frosinone
10
With a league-high 70 take-ons completed too, Soule genuinely looks like he has everything you'd want from a modern winger, so it would be a mistake for Juventus to sell him. If the Bianconeri are determined to do so, though, then Villa should make sure they're in position to capitalise.
