Aston Villa have all-but wrapped up their first signing of the summer, with Harry Wilson set to arrive on a free transfer from Fulham, and now Unai Emery’s side are ready to launch an ambitious €50 million bid for a Barcelona starlet.
Villa have shown an intention to get their transfer business done early this summer and, according to WalesOnline, have agreed a package to secure Wales attacker Wilson from Fulham.
With that deal close, the Birmingham side have turned their attention towards Barcelona, with Sport relaying claims that they are ready to launch an enormous bid for Balde.
Balde to Villa: The origin of the rumour
“Alejandro Balde has had an offer from Aston Villa, who can pay up to €50m for him. The player would have an agreement that would be almost impossible to turn down,” according to transfer journalist Jose Alvarez.
This offer is said to be a “dizzying” one for Barcelona, whose economic position means that they will likely need to make sales in order to fulfil their key transfer objectives of signing a centre-forward to replace Robert Lewandowski, a defender to strengthen the middle of their rearguard and, ideally, a winger.
Indeed, the Catalans have already earmarked Bayer Leverkusen’s Alejandro Grimaldo as a replacement.
An incredible deal for Villa
Balde would represent a dream deal for Aston Villa in many ways.
Firstly, the price of €50m may represent the third-biggest signing in Villa’s history, yet it comes in below the left-back’s Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) of €59.3m.
Then there is the question of the quality that the 22-year-old brings to the squad. According to data analytics firm SciSports, which scores every player based on hundreds of in-game data points to provide a SciSkill ranking, he would arrive as the club’s second-best player behind Boubacar Kamara.
In terms of potential, Balde has an enormously high ceiling. SciSports gives him a potential score of 137.2 if everything comes together in his career. That rating would put him as third-best in the world behind Bayern Munich duo Luis Diaz and Harry Kane based on current scores.
This underlines the Spain youngster’s elite potential.
Balde is a strong fit for Villa
On top of this, he is a strong fit for Aston Villa, according to SciSports’ Career Advice tool. He gets a Club Fit score of 72. This is based upon a wide variety of metrics, including development, game time, playing style and formation.
Villa rank fourth among all clubs for Balde. Only Juventus (78), PSG (75) and Bayern (73) score more highly.
One of the strengths of Emery’s side is the playing time they can offer him, but this is offset by a lack of development, which would likely stop him reaching the incredible heights discussed earlier. Given the type of offer that Villa are ready to make him, according to Spanish reports, he may see this as being worth the sacrifice.
Alejandro Balde to Aston Villa: The verdict
Much about this deal adds up, but the major stumbling block will be the financial terms. The pressure that Aston Villa face in this regard has been long-standing and well-publicised, making an investment of €50m an enormous one for the Birmingham side.
Champions League qualification may just unlock the door for this transfer, which has the potential to be a historic one for the club.
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