The £30m wonderkid winger who could take Aston Villa to the next level
Aston Villa have been linked with a teenage winger who’s been tearing up Serie A this season – but is he ready for the Premier League?
Aston Villa have a lot of work to do ahead of their first Champions League campaign in decades – and perhaps the most glaring issue with the current squad can be found at right wing, where they are looking worryingly short of options. It’s no surprise, then, to see reports in the Italian media linking the Villans with a move for a talented young player who could fill that particular void. Poor Leon Bailey can’t do it all on his own, after all.
Sport Witness have picked up on a handful of rumours that link Villa and AS Roma with a bid for Matías Soulé, a 21-year-old Argentine from Juventus who has spent the past season impressing just about everyone at Frosinone, for whom he scored 11 goals. The article cites claims that Villa’s scouting staff have been spotted watching him in Serie A – and Unai Emery may well like what he’s read in the reports that were sent back to Birmingham.
A left-footed player who primarily plays as an inverted winger but who can also operate through the middle, Soulé is gifted, versatile, dangerous in the final third and has the dribbling skills to break defensive lines single-handedly. If Villa decide not to make Nicolò Zaniolo’s loan move permanent, as seems likely at this stage, then Soulé could be both a replacement and a potential upgrade.
The winger, who made 21 senior appearances with the Old Lady before last season’s breakthrough on loan, is taller than the archetypal winger but doesn’t seem to have lost the quick feet associated with the role – he’s moves the ball at speed, can shift his pace and body weight seemingly instantaneously, and is always willing to try and beat his man.
He does that successfully a lot, but perhaps a little too much at times – he beats opponents one-on-one on average around three times per match (better than almost 90% of wingers playing at a similar level) but only actually succeeds in getting past his man a little less than half the time. In other words, when he gets the ball, his first and often last instinct is to get his head down and dribble past anybody in his way.
Which makes him both thrilling and frustrating in equal measure, like so many other young wingers who haven’t quite learned when it’s more prudent to turn around and look for a dreary but economical pass. Happily, the end product is good – he generates nearly five-and-a-half shooting chances for his team-mates per game which is, once more, better than almost 90% of wingers in the ‘big five’ leagues.
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