Meet Arthur Atta, Unai Emery's new 'top' summer target for Aston Villa
Aston Villa could bolster their central midfield department with Arthur Atta following Amadou Onana's injury.
News filtered back to Villa Park overnight on Tuesday morning that star central midfielder Onana had suffered a serious injury for Belgium in the World Cup.
His side beat the USA 4-1 to progress to the quarter-finals, but Onana was forced off after 21 minutes, which has now been revealed to have been a result of an ACL tear.
The 24-year-old now faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines, and that could force Unai Emery to look for a new signing in his engine room with Atta's name now being suggested.
A former French youth international, Attah has been with Udinese since initially joining them on loan in the summer of 2024, before turning his move permanent last year.
But, after an excellent 2025-26 campaign in Serie A, the 23-year-old may now be primed for the biggest transfer of his career so far.
Why Unai Emery wants Arthur Atta for Aston Villa
Aston Villa are yet to make a breakthrough in the transfer market this summer, but that could all be about to change.
A report from Italian outlet TuttoMercatoWeb on Tuesday claims that Atta is now on Villa's transfer radar.
Fellow Serie A giants Inter have been strongly linked with the versatile midfielder in recent weeks, but now a move to the West Midlands could be on the cards.
It's claimed that Atta is one of Emery's "top targets" before the window closes, with the report specifically citing Villa's participation in next season's Champions League as being a driving force behind the interest.
The report doesn't make any indications over how much a deal may cost for Atta, but given his youthful profile and the fact he's contracted with Udinese until 2029, he surely won't come cheap.
What is Atta's midfield profile?
Capable of playing as a six, eight or as a 10 and even out wide, Atta is an uber-versatile midfielder who could be a real fun player for Emery to mould.
However, the Frenchman does his best work when contributing to the attacking phases, as proven by his underlying numbers for Udinese
As per FotMob, Atta's 20 shots on target and 63 successful dribbles ranked him in the top 1.9 and 1.3 percentiles of all Serie A central midfielders in 2025-26
In addition to that, he took 57 shots on goal, created 34 chances, delivered 15 successful crosses and took 89 touches in the opposition box respectively last term.
On the flip side, however, his 27 tackles won ranked him in the lower 46.8 per cent of his positional rivals, whilst his 82 defensive contributions were only just good enough to place him above average in that category.
He did win 14 possessions in the final third, 32 fouls and 141 duels though, so it would seem Atta does his best defensive work in a largely attacking sense as well.