Aston Villa are reportedly keen on Schalke youngster Assan Ouedraogo, but it’s expected that we’ll face significant competition for his signature.
The 18-year-old has come through the youth ranks at Schalke and has gone on to make 17 appearances at senior level for the German outfit, scoring three goals and providing two assists in those outings.
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Capped at U17s level for Germany, the talented central midfielder is seemingly attracting plenty of interest based on his performances thus far, as Sky Sport Germany’s Florian Plettenberg has reported that Villa, Man Utd, Newcastle Utd and Liverpool are all keen on him, and some have already presented proposals.
While he initially suggested that Bayern Munich was the starlet’s preference, he has since reported that the Bundesliga giants aren’t in the market to sign him this summer, and so that could now spark Villa into making a more formal approach to try and fend off our competition from around the Premier League.
Further, Ouedraogo is said to have a £12m release clause in his current contract which must be triggered in mid-June, and so the expectation is that if Villa do decide to swoop for the talented youngster, then it could happen relatively soon.
It promises to be a crucial summer for Unai Emery and the club, as with the challenge of sustaining and improving on our fourth place finish in the Premier League last season coupled with Champions League football to consider too, we’ll hope to end the summer transfer window with a stronger and more competitive group.
That won’t be easy amid ongoing suggestions that we’re walking a tightrope when it comes to PSR, and so it will be an interesting couple of months to see how we navigate that and try to improve the squad.
Ouedraogo is evidently a real talent who has caught the eye of a lot of top clubs and will hope to have a big future ahead of him for club and country, but it remains to be seen if the next chapter of his career takes him to Villa or elsewhere.
Based on the speculation that we’ve seen so far this summer in terms of targets being linked, Villa perhaps also have a strategy that ticks the right boxes for both the short-term and long-term future, building a plan that allows Emery to keep us performing at a high level in the coming years.
