Aston Villa have reportedly submitted an offer to Hoffenheim in a bid to secure the signature of forward Maximilian Beier.
Amid ongoing speculation over Jhon Duran’s future and question marks over whether or not we have sufficient depth behind Ollie Watkins up front as we look to compete on multiple fronts year in and year out, it appears as though Unai Emery could see a reinforcement arrive in that department.
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According to Sky Sport Germany’s Florian Plettenburg, Villa have made a ‘concrete offer’ for Beier, and although no specific details are confirmed in his report, the 21-year-old is said to have a €30m release clause in his current contract, thus giving us an indication of what it might take to prise him away from the Bundesliga side.
It’s added that Chelsea and other clubs are interested in acquiring the young striker too, but at this stage, there are no negotiations or agreements in place and so the race for Beier is very much open.
Beier has come through the youth ranks at Hoffenheim and has gone on to make 46 appearances at senior level, scoring 18 goals and providing four assists, while he also had a productive loan stint at Hannover.
Capped twice at senior level for Germany, he appears to have a bright future ahead of him, and in keeping with Villa’s more general transfer strategy over the past two windows, he ticks a lot of the right boxes in terms of his age, potential and future value.
Based on his attributes and the positions in which he has looked most effective for Hoffenheim, he would add a different dynamic to our attacking play, with the versatility to either play up top or in wide areas, perhaps with or instead of Watkins.
In turn, it would seem like a sensible potential signing, but time will tell if he is emerges as our priority target and if a deal can be done with Hoffenheim to push the transfer through ahead of the competition.
Further, it will be interesting to see if this move is dependent on Duran leaving first, as the Colombian international appears to be on his way out this summer amid his ongoing off-the-field antics and speculation linking him with a move elsewhere.
It’s hoped that the pieces ultimately fall into place for Emery to have a more suited option at his disposal in the final third, and so if he feels replacing Duran with Beier will improve and strengthen us, that will hopefully materialise in the coming weeks.
