Aston Villa set to rival Arsenal for £50m playmaker after scouting him last week
Mark Marston
Mark Marston Unai Emery has established Aston Villa as one of the best sides in the country since joining in November 2022.
Aston Villa finished inside the top four last term and are plying their trade in the Champions League this season. They’ve made a productive start this term, too, as they reside just one point adrift of third-placed Chelsea.They’ve made a productive start this term, too, as they reside just one point adrift of third-placed Chelsea. Attention is already starting to turn towards the January transfer window as they look to bolster their ranks. Aston Villa scout Arsenal target Alex Baena
TBR Football understands that Aston Villa were present in Copenhagen last week to see wing target Alex Baena start for Spain against Denmark.
Baena was given the nod with Lamine Yamal out injured and Nico Williams on the bench. The Villarreal star featured for an hour in the Parken before being forced off through injury. Baena is a player that Emery rates extremely highly from their time together at Villarreal and they have keep tabs on him constantly.
The Spaniard has already registered six goal involvements in 11 LaLiga outings so far this season and that’s put a number of other clubs on red alert. Both Saliba and Konate played well for France and earned rave reviews from the French media.France beat Italy 3-1 away from home at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza in Milan in UEFA Nations League – League A – Group 2 on Sunday evening.Digne was one of the stars of the show. The £25 million left-back gave two assists.
Praise for Aston Villa star Lucas Digne on international duty with France
As you can see below, Arsenal defenHow the French media rated Lucas Digne
Digne had one of his best games for France, and the stats show that.
The Frenchman took one shot which was on target, played two key passes, had a pass accuracy of 91.3, won two headers, took 67 touches, made four tackles, one interception and two clearances, and put in five crosses.
Rating Digne’s performance as 8 out of 10 and naming him as Player of the match, FootMercato wrote: “He had a big opportunity to play with this new start, and the Aston Villa player more than made it profitable.
“He made a decisive corner pass in the third minute of the game with a superb centre for Rabiot, and then again in the second period with a free kick, again for Rabiot.
“But the highlight of the show remains his extraordinary free kick (granted to Vicario against his camp), from more than 30 metres, six years after the last one scored by a player from the French team (Pogba against Russia in 2018).
“Defensively, he also held his rank by putting Di Lorenzo out of harm’s way.”der William Saliba and Liverpool centre-back Ibrahima Konate were impressed with the display produced by the left-back.Amadou Onana is playing for Belgium, and Jhon Duran is turning out for Colombia.
Another Villa player who is away on international duty is Lucas Digne. The 31-year-old left-back is part of the France squad.
Be the first to comment