Aston Villa are reportedly interested in Rennes winger Jeremy Doku as a potential alternative to Moussa Diaby this summer, if a deal doesn’t materialise for the Bayer Leverkusen ace.
As per Fabrizio Romano this week, Villa had an opening offer worth €35m plus add-ons for Diaby rejected by the Bundesliga outfit, but the expectation is that we will return with an improved bid to try and prise him away.
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Having strengthened our defensive and midfield options with the signings of Pau Torres and Youri Tielemans respectively already this summer, it appears as though Unai Emery’s next priority is to bolster our attack and address a specific area on the right side that he identified as an issue back in January.
Romano has now reported that while Diaby remains our top choice and we will submit another offer, Doku has emerged as an alternative option on our shortlist in case an agreement can’t be reached.
Doku, 21, has scored 11 goals and provided 10 assists in 90 appearances for Rennes since joining them from Anderlecht in 2020, while he has two goals in 14 caps for Belgium at senior level.
With his pace, creativity and eye for goal, he could be an exciting choice to make us a more potent attacking outfit, and he’ll add something different in the final third to what we already have available to give Emery a different tactical solution.
However, the priority seemingly remains Diaby for now, and so time will tell if the two clubs reach a compromise on a transfer fee to ensure that deal progresses, and if not, there are a handful of names that have been paired with the club in recent days that could emerge as a Plan B.
With our objective of wanting to compete on multiple fronts for silverware and the increase in games that comes with that, Emery knows we need more in the final third to complement and compete with the likes of Emiliano Buendia and Ollie Watkins, and so hopefully whoever is ultimately acquired, provides the necessary boost.
