Aston Villa have reportedly expressed interest in Crystal Palace forward Jean-Philippe Mateta, while Evann Guessand could move in the opposite direction.
The 28-year-old has established himself as a key figure for the Eagles, scoring 10 goals and providing two assists in 33 appearances across all competitions so far this season, while he’s bagged 56 goals in 185 outings for them since joining in 2021.
In contrast, Guessand has struggled since his switch to England last summer, with the 24-year-old contributing two goals in 20 appearances thus far, but his impact in the final third has undoubtedly been limited to this point.
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According to David Ornstein, Villa have expressed interest in Mateta while Palace are said to be weighing up a move for Guessand, and this comes amid complicated negotiations for who was perceived to be our primary transfer target, Tammy Abraham.
It remains to be seen if those talks go anywhere or if Mateta becomes the priority, but it would certainly seem like a smart move from a Villa perspective, albeit it would depend on the financial aspect of any agreement in this potential the player swap, as it’s unclear at this stage which club would be demanding an additional fee, and how much it would be.
Like Abraham, Mateta would give us a different option in leading the line with his physical attributes, aerial threat and all-round game offering a different dynamic to Ollie Watkins, while the pair could potentially be deployed together.
Villa need different tactical options at Unai Emery’s disposal to combat and overcome different tests that opposing sides present us with, and so time will tell if Mateta can be the solution.
As for Guessand, it’s still early in his adaptation and time in the Premier League, but after watching him so far this season, question marks arguably have to be asked over whether or not that was a sensible piece of business from us last summer, and if we’ll be able to recoup the initial outlay further down the line if we don’t take advantage of this possible option.
Conversely, this could be a savvy ploy from Villa to hurry up negotiations with Besiktas for Abraham, and so there will be an intriguing few days ahead to see how our squad is going to be improved.
