Aston Villa likely to smash transfer record this summer – Sky Sports journalist
Aston Villa are reportedly eyeing up a move for Sporting Lisbon attacker Pedro Goncalves this summer, but whether Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris would sanction the purchase of the £70million rated attacker remains dubious.
The 24-year-old has enjoyed a terrific season, netting a combined 26 goals and assists in the 2022/23 campaign and hitting the headlines recently after scoring a spectacular long-range goal to knock Arsenal out of the Europa League,
Portuguese newspaper, Record (20 March, page 17), shared that the Villans are set to make a move for the attacking midfielder this summer, although reaching his £70million release clause could prove tricky to meet.
Currently, the £38million paid for Emi Buendia from Norwich City is the club’s record transfer fee, so an offer of almost double this would be needed to lure the Portuguese maestro to Villa Park.
Unai Emery’s need for wide attackers at Aston Villa has been well documented over the past few months, having had to recall Bertrand Traore from his loan spell at Istanbul Basaksehir and depend heavily on the hit-and-miss Leon Bailey down the right flank.
As such, a move for Goncalves makes complete sense, but whether the asking price is out of Villa’s grasp is still up for debate.
Speaking exclusively to Villa News, Sky Sports and The Athletic’s Dan Bardell admitted that Villa were unlikely to pay the £70million figure for Goncalves but that the Portuguese market was one they should be scouting over the coming windows.
“The Portuguese market is a market I would like to see Villa shopping in, because there are a lot of really good players at the moment,” he said.
“As standards go, I don’t think it is far off Serie A and potentially better than Ligue 1. They seem to be doing better in the Champions League and players are leaving teams like Benfica, Sporting Lisbon and Porto in big moves and proving themselves at elite-level clubs.
“So I would love to see Villa shopping in that market, but I’m not convinced they would spend £70million on a player.”
Although £70million might be a tough ask for Edens and Sawiris to sanction for one player, the club are expected to provide Emery with a war chest for the summer transfer window after a quiet January.
The club signed John Duran and Alex Moreno for a combined total of £30million during the winter window, but were largely resigned to waiting for their preferred targets than chasing players who wouldn’t meet Emery’s standards.
On the potential of Aston Villa breaking their club record transfer fee this year, Bardell said: “I think they will break their record in the summer. I think they will go relatively big.
“I always think the ambition has been there from the owners and Christian Purslow to get the big players in, but I’m just not sure they have been able to do it yet.
“There is a reason why he was happy to wait it out during the January transfer window, and so far, that is looking to be a really good move.”
In other Aston Villa news, Ollie Watkins can feel hard done by after this recent decision, according to Alan Hutton.