Emery's own Saliba: Aston Villa will have bid accepted for £50m "monster"

Aston Villa fans far and wide will be travelling to Paris right now ahead of their side’s huge Champions League first leg tie with Paris St. Germain tomorrow evening, confident that their team can pull off a fantastic result in the daunting French capital.

After all, Unai Emery’s Villans head into this clash against their manager’s former employers having won their last seven games in all competitions, meaning the likes of Morgan Rogers and Co will dive headfirst into the contest at the Parc Des Princes without fear.

Still, the rosey recent form Villa are able to boast doesn’t mean summer additions won’t be lined up, with a recent report suggesting that Emery and Co could now land a new defensive titan for £50m.

Aston Villa lining up move for £50m defender

As per a recent report from Football Insider, the Birmingham-based giants could soon plot an ambitious deal for Sporting CP centre-back Ousmane Diomande.

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Football Insider further reveals that £50m would be enough for the Portuguese side to consider parting ways with their star defender, with the Villans willing to splash that extortionate amount of cash on Diomande to get a statement deal over the line.

After all, the “monster” centre-back – as he’s been labelled by football analyst Ben Mattinson – is very much an in-demand figure, with fellow Premier League sides Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur all reportedly keen alongside Emery’s outfit.

Winning Diomande’s services would be yet another indicator that Villa are progressing as a force to be reckoned with, therefore, with a hope on the end of the West Midlands side that the 21-year-old could be their very own William Saliba, having seen how imperious the Frenchman has become for the Gunners.

How Diomande could be Emery’s own Saliba

Saliba would enter into the English game with a lot of similar hype attached to his name, costing the Gunners – then managed by Emery – £27m back in 2019, before actually making his debut under Mikel Arteta in 2022.

He has more than lived up to all the wild praise that has come his way, with Saliba near faultless with the ball at his feet this season in the Premier League by averaging a 94% pass accuracy per match, alongside showing off his multi-faceted game by bravely winning 4.6 duels on average.

Further capable of popping up with a crucial header – seen in Saliba’s growing goal count of seven in North London – Villa will pray that forking out £50m for Diomande pays off and they do end up winning their very own version of the French powerhouse.

Both players have notable similarities when assessing their numbers in the Champions League this season, via FBref, with Diomande equally a cool and calm customer on the ball like his Arsenal counterpart, who is also unafraid to launch himself into full-throttle challenges if needed.

As can be seen looking at the table above, the in-demand Diomande is a very similar style defender to Saliba, with both players in question unerring when it comes to their quality of passing, but both also have a mean streak present.

Indeed, the 21-year-old Villa target even betters the Arsenal stalwart when it comes to some of their defensive basics, with Emery hopeful that the “aggressive” colossus – as he’s been lauded by football talent scout Antonio Mango in the past – can then cut it in the demanding Premier League.

Villa have already seen both Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio boldly enter through the door recently, so a jaw-dropping deal for Diomande to join isn’t out of the realms of possibility, especially as Emery and Co go about strengthening more to bolster their reputation as one of the Premier League’s top sides.

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