Aston Villa could sign their answer to Bowen in “gifted” £8.7m whiz

Even if it was a success, the former manager of Arsenal is still eager to recruit players in January. An attacker is expected to move to the Midlands.

Most recent transfers to Aston Villa: Cyril Ngonge

Italian publication Tuttomercatoweb reports that Hellas Verona has accepted Villa’s offer for attacker Cyril

Ngonge, who has been described as “gifted,” as per one source.

Aston Villa transfers latest – Cyril Ngonge

According to Italian outlet Tuttomercatoweb, Hellas Verona have accepted a bid from Villa for attacker Cyril Ngonge, who has been described as “gifted,” as per one source.

The two parties are said to have ‘reached an agreement’ for a fee that is rumoured to be €10m (£8.7m), which is enough to make him a Villa player this January.

However, the suggestion is that Ngonge is keen to stay in Italy rather than move to the Premier League, which may be a huge roadblock on the journey to acquire his signature, unless the Villans can tempt him into a change of heart.

Cyril Ngonge’s style of play

Ngonge’s arrival will give Moussa Diaby some competition. Despite joining the Villa team for a hefty £51 million, Diaby hasn’t established himself as a regular player. This season, the former Bayern Leverkusen player has appeared in every Premier League match, tallying four goals and providing four assists. However, Ngonge has emerged as a bright spot on the struggling Hellas Verona team, now ranked 17th in Serie A.

The 23-year-old has the potential to develop into a frightening attacker if he was to play for a better side such as Villa, and the table below showing his statistics from the last year across the top European leagues proves that.

According to FBref’s similar player model, Ngonge’s attributes are closely linked to Jarrod Bowen’s of West Ham. Just like the Englishman, the Belgian is a versatile left-footed winger by trade who can play across the attack but has mainly featured as a centre-forward or as a second striker. If the Verona man was to move to the Villans, he would feature in the role just off Ollie Watkins, which is where Diaby and John McGinn have played at times this season.

Ngonge is a confident player who uses his quick feet, dribbling ability, and direct approach to cause havoc. He often drifts wide to find pockets of space, where he can use the aforementioned traits to produce a cross, which would work perfectly alongside Watkins.

However, it is difficult to compare his stats fully due to the side he is playing in currently, often feeding off scraps constantly to create a moment of magic from nothing – although as shown below, he is certainly capable of doing just that…

Nonetheless, the PSV youth academy star is his side’s top scorer this season with five goals, and he has contributed 47% of his team’s overall Serie A goals this campaign. Therefore, it is only reasonable to presume that he would thrive at Villa given the quality of players and coaching staff in Emery’s team.

Since going to Italy, Ngonge has shown a lot of promise, so it looks like a good deal to sign him for under £8.7 million, especially if he can replicate Bowen’s success at the London Stadium, where the former Hull City player has scored 11 league goals this year.

The highly sought-after forward is versatile, has many appealing qualities, and would fit in into Emery’s system. This is an action that is just too good to fail.

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