Aston Villa have been offered the chance to bolster their ranks with a decorated free agent this summer, according to fresh reports.
Aston Villa lead Premier League’s transfer business
Unai Emery’s side are in Europe’s top club competition for the first time in over 40 years and are flexing their financial muscle ahead of the new Premier League season in a bid to ensure that they stay there for the long term.
Much of their focus has been on adding depth to their ranks, with eight new signings already having been made by the club. However, the squad is still lacking any real Champions League experience, with Youri Tielemans and Lucas Digne the only players in Emery’s side to have played more than 15 times in Europe’s elite competition.
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Champions League games played by Villa’s new signings |
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Amadou Onana |
8 |
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Ross Barkley |
6 |
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Ian Maatsen |
7 |
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Samuel Iling-Junior |
1 |
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Enzo Barrenechea |
1 |
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Lewis Dobbin, Jadon Philogene and Cameron Archer |
0 |
Though by no means a pre-requisite for success in the competition, European experience is useful as Premier League rivals Arsenal have found out in recent seasons. Now, Villa have been offered the chance to bring in a man who has plenty.
Aston Villa offered to sign free agent
That comes as journalist Graeme Bailey claims that Villa have been “offered” the chance to sign veteran attacking midfielder James Rodriguez this summer.
The two-time Champions League winner is a free agent after leaving Sao Paulo a year early and is reportedly “keen” on a move back to England, where he spent a season with Everton.
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He managed 10 goal contributions in a stop-start season for the Toffees, before leaving for Qatar and subsequently moving to Brazil. The ex-Real Madrid man boasts a mammoth 53 appearances in the Champions League, during which time he has found the net on five occasions and set up a further 11.
Villa are just one of the sides his representatives are thought to have contacted, with the likes of Midlands rivals Wolves and Nottingham Forest among those who have also been made aware of his availability.
Rodriguez could be Aston Villa’s Coutinho 2.0
Of course, Aston Villa have just got rid of an attacking midfielder in their early thirties who boasts a Champions League trophy in his cabinet, but Rodriguez’s performances in the most recent Copa America suggest that his arrival could play out differently were it to come to fruition.
While he brings a wealth of Champions League experience, he is also still performing on a regular basis, at least for his national side.
The Colombian attacker helped his side reach the final of the competition before they were eventually beaten by Argentina, grabbing a goal and six assists on the way.
Those six assists were enough to set a new record for the competition and land the 33-year-old the player of the tournament award ahead of the likes of Lionel Messi and Emiliano Martinez.
There are certainly question marks about whether that form can be sustained over the course of an entire season, but as he showed during the early stages of his stint with Everton, he has the ability to carve Premier League teams apart when he wants to. He could well be worth taking a risk on as a free agent, making this one to watch.
