As Unai Emery and Aston Villa head into an important second half of the season, competing in both the Premier League (currently eighth and four points off of the top four) and the UEFA Champions League (currently fifth in the league standings), the business they manage to do this month could be incredibly important to the success of their season.
The Villans are currently showing interest in multiple deals for the January window, with Borussia Dortmund forward Donyell Malen subject to plenty of interest so far, having two bids already rejected for the 25-year-old Bundesliga forward.
But Aston Villa will be hunting for any new opportunities in the window, in order to strengthen Emery’s squad, hoping to enable an excellent second half of the season, challenging for the top four yet again, and aiming to reach the next stages of the Champions League.
Aston Villa transfer news
According to reports from RMC Sport, Aston Villa are considering a move for out-of-favour Paris Saint-Germain forward, Marco Asensio. The French giants are said to be open to letting the 28-year-old Spaniard leave the club this month, having only played a bit-part role so far this season.
Asensio has made 15 appearances for PSG so far this season, scoring two goals and providing four assists in 748 minutes. Many of these minutes have come in an unfamiliar centre-forward role, playing as more of a false-nine, compared to his more natural attacking midfield/wide roles.
This could present a good opportunity for Aston Villa, reminiscent of Philippe Coutinho back in 2021/22, when they signed him on loan during the January transfer window, before making the move permanent in the 2022 summer transfer window, pouncing on the opportunity to sign a high-level technician.
Aston Villa's next Coutinho
Coutinho joined Villa from Barcelona, costing around £17m after his initial six-month loan deal. In his time for the Villans, Coutinho made 43 appearances, scoring six goals, providing three assists and totalling 2,296 minutes played.
Stats (per 90 mins)
Asensio
Coutinho
Goals
0.24
0.32
Assists
0.48
0.14
xG
0.67
0.32
xAG
0.34
0.15
Progressive Carries
2.53
3.70
Progressive Passes
4.46
6.11
Shots Total
3.49
3.24
Key Passes
1.93
1.25
Shot-Creating Actions
4.34
3.66
When comparing the season Coutinho joined Villa with Asensio’s current numbers at PSG this season, you can see how the Spaniard would offer good attacking quality for Emery’s side. Whilst Coutinho had a better goal-scoring record that term, Asensio has actually generated more xG and xAG (expected goals and expected assisted goals) so far in 2024/25 in comparison.
Expected Goals (xG) is a metric designed to measure the probability of a shot resulting in a goal.
Coutinho offered slightly more in terms of progressive metrics, but Asensio, whilst still ranking well in these metrics, also offers more final third production at this point, with better output, a higher shot volume and more key passes/shot-creating actions per 90.
At just 28 years old, Asensio – who Vicente del Bosque claimed is a “world-class player” – still clearly has the quality to play at the top level and could provide Aston Villa with another versatile attacking option, who has Champions League experience, which could turn out to be invaluable to their campaign.
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