Villa can sign their own Haaland in Dembele

Aston Villa are reportedly focused on signing Lyon striker Moussa Dembele in January and the Frenchman could possibly be Steven Gerrard’s reply to Erling Haaland.

In response to French information outlet Jeunes Footeux, Villa are focused on signing the previous Celtic man within the January switch window, as Ollie Watkins and Danny Ings proceed to wrestle in entrance of purpose.

Ought to Villa signal Dembele?

The Frenchman could possibly be accessible at a bargain within the new 12 months, as his contract is set to expire on the finish of the season but it surely appears as if Gerrard is eager to convey him in as quickly as doable, reasonably than ready till the summer time when he might probably be signed on a free switch.

Villa’s goalscoring woes had been clear to see final weekend as they didn’t discover a well past a Leeds United facet that performed with ten males for many of the second half, so it’s no shock to see them linked with an skilled goalscorer corresponding to Dembele.

Since becoming a member of Lyon, the 26-year-old has contributed 69 objectives and 18 assists in 151 appearances, together with a powerful 21 objectives in Ligue 1 final season.

The £68k-per-week earner additionally hit 51 objectives in 91 appearances for Celtic, the place he was described as “unplayable” by former teammate Leigh Griffiths.

Watkins and Ings in the meantime, would handle simply 18 goals between them within the Premier League final season and have one every to date this time period, so having a extra medical possibility in assault could possibly be the important thing to the Villans turning their disappointing begin to the season round.

Ought to he make the transfer to Villa Park, then he might show to be Gerrard’s personal model of Haaland, who has been a sensation since swapping Borussia Dortmund for Manchester Metropolis in the summertime, scoring a exceptional 20 goals in all competitions for Pep Guardiola’s facet.

In response to WhoScored, each Haaland and Dembele‘s most important strengths embody ending and headed makes an attempt, whereas FBref indicated earlier than this weekend’s matches that the duo had been alike as per their ‘comparable gamers’ mannequin.

Certainly that may be seen of their statistics, which present that each the Manchester City star and Lyon forward rating above the ninetieth percentile for non-penalty anticipated objectives, complete photographs and touches within the attacking penalty space when in comparison with different strikers within the prime 5 leagues, numbers that will point out they’re distinctive penalty field poachers.

Final season noticed Haaland and Dembele register very comparable numbers by way of non-penalty anticipated objectives per 90 minutes (0.61 vs 0.62), photographs per 90 (3.49 vs 3.43) and key passes (24 vs 22) – demonstrating that their fashion inside the world and from a artistic standpoint are very a lot alike.

All of this emphasises that Dembele has the potential to be an actual success within the Premier League and whereas he’s unlikely to attain as many as Haaland, the stats recommend that he could possibly be a medical possibility for Gerrard in Villa’s facet, so NSWE ought to undoubtedly look to convey him in throughout the January window.