Amid speculation linking Aston Villa with an interest in Universidad de Chile winger Dario Osorio, could the youngster be the solution Unai Emery is looking for?
It’s no secret that Emery wants to add a winger to his squad this month, but as we enter the final few days of the January transfer window, it remains to be seen if we can bring in one of his preferred targets.
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The Villa boss has been adamant that he only wants to sign players who significantly improve the current squad, and so time will tell if Osorio has been identified as a solution, with Gianluca Di Marzio reporting that we’re interested in the youngster along with AC Milan.
So, who is Dario Osorio and what could he bring to Villa if a move were to materialise?
Dario Osorio analysis, profile and stats
Still only 19 years of age, Osorio has caught the eye of clubs in Europe after scoring seven goals in 27 Primera Division games this season, having come through the youth ranks at Universidad de Chile.
Capped U20 and U23 level for Chile, he made his senior debut last year and has two caps at international level, thus suggesting that he has a potentially big future ahead of him for club and country having been given that opportunity so early in his career.
With his natural role being a right winger who can cut inside onto his preferred left foot and provide a direct goal threat, he has the versatility and tactical flexibility to operate on the opposite side too, and so that could be a key factor for Emery as he looks for options he can deploy across the frontline.
Osorio is a tall, athletic, agile and powerful individual with the ball at his feet despite his young age, while he has the technical quality and skill to get past players and break away with speed to create dangerous openings.
As with any young player around his age though, his talent is still quite raw and so there are obvious areas in which he can still improve – namely his final ball and general awareness in the final third. That said, given the improvement that Emery has extracted from the current Villa squad since he arrived, he would likely relish working with a talented young player like Osorio to help him develop his potential.
Osorio has also shown tenacity and good work ethic to put in a shift for his team, and looking at his general play in the examples offered in the video below, there is arguably a little Angel Di Maria about him in terms of his physical attributes and the way he moves on the pitch.
The one common factor between most of the wingers that have been linked with Villa is that they are left-footed and primarily play on the right side, with the ability to cut in or go wide to stretch the pitch and give us speed on the counter attack.
Osorio seemingly ticks a lot of the right boxes in terms of what Emery is perhaps looking for, and so it remains to be seen if he’s a late arrival at Villa before the transfer deadline as we look to add further reinforcements following the arrivals of Alex Moreno and Jhon Duran.
