The summer transfer window officially opens for business this week and Aston Villa could be in the market to bolster their squad ahead of the 2023/24 campaign.
Unai Emery was able to add Jhon Duran and Alex Moreno to his roster in January and now has multiple months to work with the club to add more quality across the pitch.
The Spanish head coach is set to lead the Villans into European football next term after qualifying for the Europa Conference League and the prospect of playing in that competition could tempt the manager to improve his options in the coming weeks.
One player who could come in as an upgrade on what Villa already have at their disposal is Barcelona winger Ansu Fati, who could be put forward to the club by agent Jorge Mendes this summer.
How did Ansu Fati perform his season?
The 20-year-old winger found it difficult to nail down a regular starting spot with the Spanish giants but his performances in LaLiga suggest that he would offer far more than Leon Bailey in the final third.
Fati started 12 games in the league for Barcelona and contributed with seven goals and three assists from out wide, whilst he also produced three goals in seven domestic cup appearances.
The forward, who has racked up 22 goals and four assists in 32 LaLiga starts since the start of 2019/20, has shown plenty of promise in his limited game time with Xavi's side, whereas Bailey has struggled to be a consistent performer in the Premier League for the Villans.
In 22/23, the Jamaica international scored four goals and provided four assists in 26 starts with that coming after the 25-year-old scored one goal and assisted two in seven starts in the previous campaign in the top-flight.
Therefore, the Villa dud has averaged a direct goal contribution every three starts in the Premier League. Whereas, Fati has only needed 1.23 starts on average to register a goal or an assist in LaLiga for Barcelona.
These statistics suggest that the Spain international, who is also five years younger than Bailey, has the potential to make a bigger impact on matches for Emery next season.
The £230k-per-week wizard, who was described as a "generational" talent by Xavi, ranks in the top 1% of players in his position in the Men's Big Five Leagues over the last 365 days for non-penalty xG per 90, meaning that the forward is excellent at putting himself in good positions to generate goalscoring opportunities.
Bailey, on the other hand, is not in the top 35% in the same group of players, suggesting that the Villa winger is not as intelligent at creating chances for himself with his movement in the box, something that is also reflected in their respective goalscoring records.
Therefore, Emery could land a big upgrade on the former Bayer Leverkusen ace by securing a deal to sign Fati from Barcelona this summer.
