While few would dispute that Aston Villa are feeling the weight of a protracted, high-stakes season, fighting on home soil and on the continent, Unai Emery must feel pretty contented with the way things are going at Villa Park.
The past few fixtures have left a bit to be desired but Villa are fourth in the Premier League standings with a comfortable seven-point cushion over fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, who hold a game in hand but have lost four top-flight games in succession.
It has been a meteoric rise and it may yet end in silverware, with Emery’s side heading to Greece for their Conference League semi-final second leg against Olympiakos bearing a 4-2 deficit. Stranger things have happened…
Regardless, Emery is not one to rest on his laurels and the go-getter will work furiously throughout the off-season to bolster his team.
But who might he sign? Well, it looks like Aston Villa are confident of securing quite the silvery signature.
Aston Villa's summer transfer plans
With Nicolo Zaniolo keen on a return to Italy this summer and Emi Buendia still yet to play this season as he recovers from an ACL injury, it makes perfect sense that Aston Villa are eager to secure a high-level new wide forward.
This will not be the sole area of concern but if the right player bobs into the club’s radar, Monchi – President of Football Operations – will pounce. It’s for this reason that Villa are working on a deal to bring Crystal Palace star Michael Olise to the Midlands.
Olise has been one of the Premier League’s most exciting right-wingers this season and last, with his feats attracting interest from heavyweights like Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United.
However, according to Football Transfers, Villa believe they can outmanoeuvre closest contenders Arsenal and United in the race given that the 22-year-old would prioritise a starting role and Champions League football were he to leave Selhurst Park.
He might be rated at £60m owing to a release clause but Emery’s team offer perfect conditions for such a fast-rising player and must now advance their interest.
Michael Olise's season in numbers
Following Olise’s exploits last season, football talent scout Jacek Kulig declared him to be “one of the best wide playmakers in Europe”, having overcome past injury issues to rack up 11 assists from 37 Premier League matches.
This season, the London-born France U21 international has suffered a regression on the fitness front while leaping to new, prodigious heights when gracing Crystal Palace on the pitch.
Matches played
17
Matches started
12
Goals
9
Assists
4
Pass completion
83%
Shots per game
2.9
Key passes per game
1.9
Recoveries per game
3.5
Tackles per game
1.0
Dribbles per game
2.2 (61%)
Duels won per game
5.8 (51%)
The table above, arrayed as it is with Olise’s metrics in the Premier League this season, does not tell the tale of this star’s season by half, with line-breaking brilliance, deadly two-footedness and sparkling creative spirit shaping a skill set that is both diverse and destructive.
A lot is said about a forward’s acceleration and the effect that can have on a frontline’s fluency but Olise’s deceleration is one of the most underrated aspects of his game, capable of halting his surge like a roadrunner and expertly dispatching the ball, surgically placing it to a well-placed striker or indeed firing home himself with ferocious power, startling precision.
He’s robust and tenacious, highlighted by his high output in the duel, and he’s found feathered balance in his attacking approach, varying his goals and assists to enhance Oliver Glasner’s thriving Crystal Palace project.
It’s quite clear that the £100k-per-week ace is destined for greatness, but conditions matter and he must choose wisely if he is to leave the Eagles for a divisional rival.
He must choose Aston Villa.
How Michael Olise would fit in at Villa
It’s difficult to quantify how rich a career Olise could forge for himself but there’s little doubt that the 5 foot 10 wide forward’s demonstrable success in England’s top flight marks him as one of Europe’s highest-quality talents.
And indeed, Kulig’s vocal support of the player is felt through his more recent remark that Olise has been “one of the EPL’s best players” this season – and that’s despite finding a starting berth on just 12 occasions.
If he can do it at Palace, he can do it at Villa Park. Leon Bailey has been Aston Villa’s principal right-winger this season and given that the Jamaican has posted 14 goals and 14 assists apiece in all competitions it’s hard to argue that he isn’t deserving of a prominent place in Emery’s plans once again next term.
But what’s another star to the system? In fact, Olise is a player who would transcend the Aston Villa side, handing centre-forward Ollie Watkins an even higher class of comrade to ensure that Champions League nights become a regular feature for Emery’s side, that routes toward silverware are realisable on the regular.
Watkins, to his credit, might also prove to be the perfect strike partner for a dynamic player like Olise, with the Three Lions star having incredibly scored 27 goals across all competitions in 2023/24 – including 19 goals and 12 assists in the Premier League.
Moreover, the Lions talisman has created 11 big chances in the Premier League this term, averaging 1.1 key passes per game, and so Olise would find that his own pursuit of goals would not take a hit with a transfer to a new system.
It’s a system that might suit his wonderful strengths and it’s a move that might just see Olise flourish from the less-trodden road toward a riskier – in a sense – project at Aston Villa than the celebrity and history of Manchester United.
But why not? Olise ranks among the top 4% of attacking midfielders and wingers across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for goals, the top 3% for assists and the top 2% for shot-creating actions per 90, as per FBref, but this does not mean he must opt for the wrong, easier option.
Such prolificness would translate to a new style at Aston Villa, where the roots of success have been placed in firm soil and the 13-point gap from eighth-place Manchester United, having scored 21 more goals, speaks volumes of the polarity in the projects, and where Olise might find the better launchpad for his promising career.
Fighting against such clubs, for such players, is a mark of Aston Villa’s rise under Emery. This is the story of Aston Villa’s position of power. This is the giddying new reality of a football club breaking into Europe’s elite. Just imagine Watkins and Olise under the lights in the Champions League. Salivating isn’t it.
Emery must drop Konsa and unleash Aston Villa's "decisive" star
Aston Villa must overturn a two goal deficit against Olympiacos this evening to secure a spot in the final
ByRoss KilvingtonMay 9, 2024