Aston Villa plan to act fast in transfer for rapidly rising Man Utd target as Emery makes plans clear

Ciaran McCarthy 18 Apr 2024 9:07 PM

Aston Villa could bid for Raoul Bellanova after scouting him recently

An Aston Villa offer for Manchester United target Raoul Bellanova is reportedly ‘not ruled out’ after both sides scouted him recently, and this summer is an important time in the future of the Torino star.

Unai Emery has flipped Villa’s fortunes on their head, taking them from a relegation battle when he took over in the first-half of last season to fourth place at the moment and a great chance of Champions League football for next term.

As such, every transfer he plans to make looks like Villa are going to strike gold.

He brought in Pau Torres, who’s cemented a place in the defence, Youri Tielemans, who currently walks into the midfield after struggling in the early season, and Moussa Diaby, who has eight goals and seven assists in all competitions this season.

Emery has earned the right not to be questioned on any of the moves he makes.

As such, his next one already looks to be a slam dunk.

It’s clear the right-back area is one of the positions the Spaniard is most eager to improve upon.

Reports have suggested Villa want to sign Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo, and another Serie A right-back, Bellanova, remains on the radar after the Midlanders were stopped from getting him in January.

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Offer for Bellanova on the cards

According to Torino Granata, the Torino man has remained on Villa’s radar after attempts to sign him in the winter were blocked by the Italian side’s chairman.

But both the Villans and Man Utd have watched the defender in ‘recent weeks’. His sixth assist of the season – he also has one goal – came two games ago, so Bellanova is continually impressing.

As such, it’s said bids from Villa and United ‘can’t be ruled out’, though Torino ‘aren’t in favour’ of selling the defender in the coming window.

That’s as they believe his price is going to continue to rise – not unlikely given he’s having the best season of his career by far – and cementing a place in the Italy side will help with that.

Despite that, it’s believed he’s valued at just over £21million at the most by Torino at the moment.

Emery wants right-back talent

Emery has played Ezri Konsa at right-back often this season, with the likes of Torres and Diego Carlos impressing in the centre. That has meant Matty Cash has not always had a place in the side.

When he is there, though, he offers another attacking outlet – Cash has five goals and two assists this season, and that he used to play in an advanced role means he has better attacking instincts than Konsa when deployed out wide.

Both right-backs Villa are targeting – Di Lorenzo and Bellanova – have at least seven goal contributions this season, and can play as wing-backs as well as full-backs.

It seems Emery is eager to add more attacking options to his backline, and that will be the case whichever, if any, of the Italians he ends up snaring.

Aston Villa