Luton Town defender Gabriel Osho is catching the attention of Premier League sides and one of those is Aston Villa.
Unai Emery has made it clear that he wants to bolster his Aston Villa squad in this transfer window.
The Villans don’t want to rest on their laurels and enter the business end of the season without strengthening and Emery has pinpointed some key areas of focus.
For one, a backup striker to goal machine Ollie Watkins is on the agenda. The Englishman has played in all but two matches this season and could do with a second-hand man to reduce his workload.
The Spaniard is also in the market for a right-back to provide competition for Matty Cash with Bayer Leverkusen’s Jeremie Frimpong drawing the most attention.
Although Leon Bailey has been phenomenal, Emery accepts that he needs to add more depth on the flanks, hence why the likes of Wilfried Zaha and Felipe Anderson have been linked.
A position that Villa didn’t expect to strengthen in January was centre-back.
With Diego Carlos, Ezri Konsa, Pau Torres and Clement Lenglet all vying for a starting spot, competition for places is already huge and that is without putting Calum Chambers and Kourtney Hause into the equation.
According to GiveMeSport, however, the Villans are interested in Luton’s Gabriel Osho.
Aston Villa are tracking Luton defender Gabriel Osho
Since recovering from a knee injury that he suffered early on in the campaign, Osho has been instrumental at the heart of the Luton defence.
Although the Hatters are constantly put under pressure by the opposition, this has only heightened the 25-year-old’s defensive capabilities, and he’s been truly phenomenal for Rob Edwards.
This is underscored by the fact that Luton have picked up 10 points from the nine games he’s started while picking up half of that amount in the games he missed at the start of the season.
Osho’s impact from a defensive view has been outstanding and against his positional peers across Europe’s top five leagues, he ranks in the top 8% for interceptions, top 4% for clearances and top 1% for blocks, as per FBref.
Although those statistics are partly down to the amount of defending Luton have to do, several Premier League sides – including Aston Villa and Crystal Palace – are now tracking the centre-back following his impressive performances.
Given the competition at the heart of their defence currently, Villa don’t necessarily need Osho, who has been described as “absolute mustard” by EFL journalist Gabriel Sutton.
But once Lenglet returns to Barcelona with Chambers and Hause both likely to depart in the summer, it could be worth looking at the Englishman, especially if Luton do get relegated.
