View: Unai Emery will be rubbing hands together as Jorge Mendes pushes Joao Felix to Aston Villa
Unai Emery will be rubbing his hands together after it emerged super agent Jorge Mendes is trying to get Joao Felix to Aston Villa in January.
The Portuguese star is set to leave Atletico Madrid during the winter window after a lack of game time and falling out with manager Diego Simeone this season, with several of Europe’s top clubs said to be interested.
But a report by David Ornstein for The Athletic (12 December) claims that Villa are also in the race, with his agent Mendes pushing the deal.
“Aston Villa is an option that Felix’s agent Jorge Mendes is believed to be pushing,” he wrote.
“He has a strong relationship with the Villa ownership after doing the deal for Unai Emery to be appointed as manager.”
It should be remembered that Emery hasn’t been able to bring in anyone of his own yet. This isn’t his squad and he will be looking to put his own touch on it.
The attacking midfielder/striker roles at the club are quite heavily stocked at the moment, with all of Philippe Coutinho, Emi Buendia, Leon Bailey, Danny Ings, Ollie Watkins and even Jacob Ramsey all capable of playing there.
But with Coutinho’s future up in the air, mixed with the lack of consistency for the rest of the options when it comes to their form, Felix would be a huge coup.
His technical ability is sensational, and his goalscoring record isn’t awful when you consider his limited game time and the style of play that his current team operate.
He showed his talent level at the World Cup though, scoring in Portugal’s win over Ghana and being a key figure as they thumped Switzerland 6-1 in the round of 16.
If Aston Villa are able to bring Felix to the Premier League ahead of some of the competition they’ll face for his signature, Emery will really be rubbing his hands together at what the future could hold at Villa Park.
It would take the attack up a level, it would show that they’re going in the right direction and would surely encourage other players to consider joining a growing project.
It would be expensive and could potentially rely on getting Coutinho out of the door before he could come in, but it’s a deal that 99% of Villa fans would bite your hand off for, and you can be sure Emery would be in that 99% also.
In other Aston Villa news, Emery must build his attack around Leon Bailey