Aston Villa boss Unai Emery is reportedly keen to sign Ross Barkley this summer as the club is said to be confident of getting a deal done.
Barkley, 30, enjoyed a productive season this past year, scoring five goals and providing six assists in 37 appearances for Luton Town.
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With a wealth of experience at this stage of his career having had stints at Everton, Chelsea, Villa on loan, Nice and now Luton, he returned to the Premier League with the Hatters and certainly impressed back in the top flight.
So much so that it appears as though he has caught Emery’s eye, as Fabrizio Romano has reported that the Villa boss is keen to secure the signing of Barkley, as he believes that he would be an important addition to strengthen our midfield options.
“Unai Emery wants Ross Barkley at Aston Villa as he’s convinced could be quality addition for his midfield,” Romano wrote on X. “Villa are confident to get it done with their manager pushing for it.”
As we’ve seen with the signings of Alex Moreno, Pau Torres, Youri Tielemans and Morgan Rogers in particular, Emery knows what he wants and who he believes fits his structure and style of play to help improve us.
With that in mind, if he believes that Barkley could play a key role for him moving forward and would adapt and settle in well to make a vital contribution next season and beyond, then it’s a move that hopefully gets done in the coming days or weeks.
Barkley has the characteristics that would suit the way we play with his technical ability, positional awareness and ability to break into the final third and pose a goal threat directly or create for others, and so it will be fascinating to see if we do bring him back for a second stint at the club.
That factor should be of benefit to him having had previous experience of being at Villa, and so he will hopefully hit the ground running, should a deal be done, as Villa look to complete an astute piece of business on a player that isn’t likely to command a hefty fee but could prove to be an excellent reinforcement for the squad.
I love the Ross Barkley addition.
Cant help but assume Douglas Luiz is heading to Arsenal, considering the Gallagher & Soler interest, and now the Ross Barkley approach.
Do you know Villa’s status on defensive mid Wilfried Ndidi? I would someone like him at Villa during the big campaign ahead, so form doesn’t dip much by a Luiz or Boubacar absence.
YOUR THOUGHTS??
Not seen anything concrete on Ndidi but will post if something pops up. Agreed, definitely need to strengthen the central midfield area this summer, particularly a defensive-minded option, sure we’ll see something done. Hopefully don’t have to sacrifice too much to balance it.