Aston Villa have confirmed the signing of Alysson from Gremio, in a deal reportedly worth an initial €10m fee plus €2m in potential add-ons.
Our touted move for the 19-year-old winger has been reported for a number of weeks, and the expectation was that we were simply at the stage of waiting for the January transfer window to open for business in order to announce the completion of the deal.
As per the club’s official site, Villa have secured the signing of Alysson from Gremio, with Fabrizio Romano reporting this week that the initial fee is €10m, while we could pay the Brazilian outfit a further €2m in add-ons.
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It’s an exciting and intriguing addition to the Villa squad, but naturally we’ll have to wait to see if Alysson has been signed with a view of integrating into the first-team squad immediately, or if we have other plans for him in the short-term future.
He certainly fits the profile of an attacker that Emery values highly as a left-footed, right-sided winger, and so he perhaps fills the void left behind by the likes of Moussa Diaby and Leon Bailey.
Time will tell if he is able to develop and adapt to the Villa boss’s demands both tactically and on an individual level, or if he’s ultimately a savvy signing that could prove to be an excellent investment over time.
With Villa still being mindful of our financial position in order to avoid breaching any relevant regulations, both domestic and European, there is a lack of clarity at this stage over how much we’re able to spend this month.
Emery noted last week that we could see both incomings and outgoings to balance that out, and so it will be intriguing to see if Alysson has arrived to complement what we already have available, or if we’ll look to move a current option on to make space for him in the squad, with the expectation that Harvey Elliott at least may return to Liverpool given his move to join us hasn’t gone the way anyone would have hoped.
Meanwhile, it’s the first signing Villa have made since Roberto Olabe was appointed President of Football Operations, and although it’s understood that the final word on transfers comes from Emery, it’s a fascinating insight into the type of players we’re able to identify and bring in to hopefully help us continue to compete at the top level.
