Aston Villa have started the job of building a Champions League ready squad ahead of the new season.
PSR dominated the early part of the summer, with Aston Villa needing an injection of funds in order to comply with Premier League spending rules ahead of the 30th June deadline.
The club appear to have achieved that, with the sales of Tim Iroegbunam, Omari Kellyman and Douglas Luiz all key to ensuring compliance.
Now, Unai Emery can look forward to next season and how he is going to improve his squad ready for what will be another huge campaign competing in both the Premier League and amongst Europe’s elite in the Champions League.
Ross Barkley’s £5 million signing was confirmed on Monday, whilst Enzo Barrenechea and Samuel Iling-Junior have both also signed as part of the deal that took Luiz to Juventus.
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It is the last of those players, Iling-Junior, whose similarities to a Villa transfer target shows that Emery has identified what he wants this summer.
Samuel Iling-Junior statistically similar to Aston Villa transfer target
Emery will have entered the summer knowing exactly what positions he wants to strengthen ahead of the 2024/25 season.
One key area the Spanish coach is keen to address is full-back, with Lucas Digne and Alex Moreno both 31 by the start of the season and Matty Cash badly out of form towards the end of the last campaign.
Ian Maatsen has arrived from Chelsea for £35 million to solve the left-back issue, but the club are still after a right-back.
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One player who has been strongly linked with a move is Inter Milan and Netherlands right-back Denzel Dumfries and the 28-year-old is actually very similar to Iling-Junior statistically.
This would hint that not only is Emery looking for a similar profiles of players, but the role Iling-Junior may have been signed to play.
Iling-Junior and Denzel Dumfries share similar traits
Iling-Junior considers himself a winger, but the naturally defensive Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri opted to use him as a left wingback more often than not.
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When you consider that Emery likes his full-backs to stay high and wide, the signing of Iling-Junior – as well as the interest in Dumfries – makes a lot of sense.
According to FBREF, Dumfries is one of the ten players most statistically similar to Iling-Junior, showing they may well have both been identified to play the same role on opposite flanks.
When comparing the two players to other fullbacks in Europe’s big five leagues in the past year it is clear to see how attack-minded both players are.
Dumfries is in the top three percent of full-backs for non-penalty goals and expected assists, whilst he is in the top six percent for shots per 90 minutes and the top nine percent for assists.
Iling-Junior ranks in the 88th percentile for non-penalty goals, the top nine percent for assists and the top six percent for shot creating actions.
Where the two are most similar though, is the fact both rank poorly amongst full-backs for passing but incredibly well for progressive carries and progressive passes received; showing they love to run with the ball and maintain an advanced position.
Dumfries averages 2.76 progressive carries per game (80th percentile), whilst he averages 3.95 touches in the opposition penalty area per 90 minutes (98th percentile) and 7.76 progressive passes received (94th percentile).
In comparison, Iling-Junior averages 3.32 progressive carries per game (90th percentile), with an average of 2.56 touches in the opposition box (93rd percentile) and 7.11 progressive passes received (91st percentile).
The similarities between the two players shows that Emery wants attack-minded players who can effectively act as wingbacks in possession.
The numbers show that Dumfries would therefore be the perfect player to replace Cash at Villa and the club should be pushing hard for a deal once the Netherlands’ Euros campaign ends.
