Aston Villa have been a disappointment in the Premier League this season, falling outside the top six after 35 Matchdays following a top-four finish in 2023/24. Loan acquisitions Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio have had their moments but have been unable to turn the tide for the club.
If Rashford and Manchester United both can’t come up with reasonable deals, Villa will be forced to look for alternatives up top on the transfer market. Porto star striker Samu Aghehowa is reportedly one of those alternatives Aston Villa could go after, per Portuguese outlet Record.
Samu was on the books at Atletico Madrid and broke out at Deportivo Alaves last season as one of the most promising young strikers in LaLiga, electrifying with his ability to turn something out of nothing.
Samu almost joined Chelsea
Chelsea were so intrigued by Samu that they nearly signed him, but the transfer collapsed, leading to the physically imposing 21-year-old No. 9 joining FC Porto, one of the three powerhouse clubs in Portugal.
Samu has scored 18 goals this season for Porto in league play, using his frame well to draw fouls and create scoring opportunities. He is still raw, but you can see the traits that would make him a viable Aston Villa transfer target.
Aston Villa have some interest in retaining Marcus Rashford, but his wage demands are going to be difficult to meet, in addition to the fact that Manchester United are floating around figures like 60 million pounds as their asking price for a clearly out-of-favor attacker.
Manchester United will eventually lower their demands to something more reasonable, but Aston Villa are probably still going to look elsewhere for another forward to pair with Ollie Watkins.
Aston Villa recently sold Jhon Duran to Saudi
In the last two windows, Aston Villa have sold talented young players to Saudi Arabia. First, it was Moussa Diaby in the summer, and then, later, they were made an offer they could not refuse for breakout star Jhon Duran by Saudi’s Al-Nassr in the winter.
Samu is, like Duran, a very talented but very raw player. He won’t come cheap after Porto spent 15 million euros and added a 100 million euro release clause as part of his new contract with them, but he has enough upside to legitimately replace Duran as an ideal stylistic partner for the more well-rounded and finesse Watkins as the veteran striker at Villa Park.
Right now, the interest appears to be preliminary, but with not many teams on the Samu track after his failed Chelsea transfer last summer, the former LaLiga standout is another player of that pedigree Unai Emery could potentially bring to the rising English side.
Joe Soriano covers Tottenham for FanSided’s Hotspur HQ and writes about Real Madrid for The Real Champs. He has extensive experience covering world football since 2014. Joe is an editor for The Trivela Effect, where he covers the biggest clubs in European football. He has watched professional sports regularly since 2002 and can be found playing the same sports he covers with his friends.