Aston Villa appear to monitor another young player in the Middle East as their target for the winter transfer window.
Aston Villa’s rebuilding phase might be doing well so far as they managed to pick up two important wins before the lengthy international break. Unfortunately, the number of injured players in the squad is rather worrying. Pau Torres, Ian Maatsen and Marco Bizot just added up the players on the injury table. Previously, Villa already had Amadou Onana, Brian Madjo, Alysson and Leon Goretzka. The last name has even yet been able to make his debut in The Clarets and Blue.
Thus, Unai Emery’s side might be looking back to their target last summer to be signed in the near future, either January or June 2027, as reported in Sportview.co.uk. One of the players on their radar is another youngster playing in the Saudi Pro League side, Valentine Atangana. He is another target from the Middle East beside Al-Hilal’s Kader Keita.
“They should keep Atangana on their radar heading into January, particularly if they are still light on numbers in midfield.”
Atangana left Europe last summer to join Al-Ahli with a transfer fee up to £ 21.5 million. He is under the contract until summer 2028. The price tag of the 21-year-old versatile midfielder could be reaching up to £ 35 million next year.
Aston Villa was already interested in signing him last summer. They were in a race with Nottingham Forest. Both sides could be in a tussle again to secure his signature.
Atangana himself does aim to return to Europe in the future. It would be interesting to see how much Villa would strive to sign him. He could be prioritised to sign next January if they have a midfield crisis like in the previous campaign.
The French youngster is a versatile midfielder. His main position is defensive midfielder but can be deployed as box-to-box midfielder. He excels at winning the ball with physical prowess and also stands out in leadership.
The former Reims man has been playing regularly for Al Ahli. Since moving to the Saudi Pro League outfit, he has made 49 appearances, scoring six goals so far. Atangana also helped his team win the AFC Champions League last season under Matthias Jaissle, the current Newcastle boss.
Prior to his switch to the Middle East, he was part of the Reims squad when they reached the Coupe de France final in the 2024/25 season. He was promoted to the first team in 2023 and featured in 63 games, registering one goal.
Based on the data in FotMob, the performance of the product of Stade Reims academy this season in the league is stunning. His successful passes is 91.9 %, while his accurate long ball is 57.1 %. Meanwhile, his rate of winning duels is 47 % whereas the aerial duel rate is 64.3 %. Atangana’s defensive contribution reaches 46 so far. It includes 19 tackles, 11 interceptions, four blocking shots and 12 clearances.
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