With a narrow victory over relegation-threatened Burnley on Saturday afternoon, Aston Villa have continued their unlikely Premier League title pursuit. However, four points from the last available nine show that head coach Unai Emery still has a lot of work to do.
It seems as though the Villans are limping into 2024 but Emery will be glad to know that the January transfer window is less than 24 hours away which offers him the chance to strengthen his squad ahead of the second half of the campaign.
The Spanish coach is already reportedly eyeing up some targets and is said to be keen on bringing one player to the club to bolster his attacking department.
Aston Villa transfer news – Cyril Ngonge
According to a report from Tuttomercatoweb last week, Aston Villa have been keeping tabs on Hellas Verona frontman Cyril Ngonge ahead of the winter window. The outlet are claiming that the 23-year-old is currently priced at £13m by the Italian club and that Villa have scouted the player numerous times already this season.
Ngonge moved to Verona last January and despite joining the club halfway through the campaign, ended the season as the top goalscorer with five goals, scoring two in the relegation playoff against Spezia back in June to keep I Gialloblu in Serie A for another season.
Having played as both a second striker and a winger, the Belgian is the Italian outfit's top scorer once more this term, bagging five goals to complement his two assists as Marco Baroni's side sit merely one place above the relegation zone on goal difference.
In fact, Ngonge has scored 33.3% of Verona's total league goals this campaign but the Serie A strugglers could lose him in January, with Villa interested in securing his services.
Cyril Ngonge's stats this season
Injuries and suspensions aside, Emery's starting lineup has been quite consistent this season. However, the one area that has been tweaked quite a few times by the manager has been the position beside centre-forward Ollie Watkins.
Sometimes, Emery has deployed a two-man frontline, with Moussa Diaby, Jhon Duran or Leon Bailey partnering with Villa's talisman. Other times, Youri Tielemans or Nicolo Zaniolo have sat as a number '10' in the hole behind the striker.
Bailey has undoubtedly been the most successful alternative attacker to Watkins, having scored nine goals and recorded eight assists in all competitions. However, his best position has been off the right, having bagged six goals and two assists on the wing.
Diaby has been Emery's third-most prolific forward this term, with five goals and four assists but the Frenchman has managed to find the net only twice in his last 13 appearances. Meanwhile, rotation options Tielemans and Zaniolo have three goals between them in a combined total of 44 matches.
As Bailey has to regularly fill the void alongside Watkins, as a result of Diaby's inconsistency, Matty Cash has often been used as a right-winger but has looked uncomfortable doing so. The Poland international last played in that position during Villa's late 2-1 win over Brentford two weeks ago but was whipped off after 65 minutes, having been handed a 5/10 match rating by the Birmingham World for his display.
Bailey should continue to play off the right in his best position and the spot beside Watkins could easily be filled by Ngonge. The only other alternative is to hand Duran a run of games in the team but Ngonge has been outperforming the 20-year-old Colombian this season in several key attacking metrics – as can be seen in the table below.
Goals
5
2
Expected Goals
4
0.8
Assists Per 90
0.14
0
Expected Assists Per 90
0.11
0.06
Progressive Passes Per 90
2.43
1.67
Progressive Passes Received Per 90
7.07
6.11
Shots Per 90
2.71
4.44
Shots On Target Per 90
0.93
1.71
Key Passes Per 90
1.43
1.11
Stats via FBref
As a result, Ngonge could be just what Watkins needs alongside him, having contributed to 40% of Villa's Premier League goals this season and given he is available for so cheap, this is a deal that Emery won't want to pass up in January.
