Aston Villa manager Unai Emery is reportedly eyeing a transfer move for Real Betis winger Luiz Henrique, according to journalist Dominic King.
This latest January transfer window has seen the Midlands club bring in the likes of Alex Moreno and Jhon Duran, as well as seeing Danny Ings make a move to West Ham United.
Now though, the Villans boss has set his sights on a move for the Betis figure after seeing the club be unsuccessful in their attempts at signing another one of La Liga’s attacking stars.
In a recent Twitter post, King said this on the matter.
He said: “Aston Villa have failed with a club record bid to sign Nico Williams from Athletic Bilbao. Prepared to pay £45million release clause but Williams didn’t want to leave the Basque country. Unai Emery has enquired about Luiz Henrique as an alternative at Real Betis.”
After scoring 14 goals and delivering 13 assists in 118 appearances for Fluminense, the 22-year-old joined Betis back in the previous summer transfer window.
Since then, the Brazilian has made 24 appearances for Manuel Pellegrini’s side across all competitions, finding the net on three occasions and providing five assists.
Despite only scoring one goal and supplying one assist in 15 La Liga appearances this season, Henrique has still managed to show how much of an impressive player he is on and off the ball.
Do Villa need to sign a new winger this month?
Yse
No
For example, as well as having the joint-highest number of shots on target (11) at Betis, the winger has also racked up more successful dribbles (24) than any of his teammates.
Then from a defensive point of view, the summer recruit has the fourth-highest combined total of tackles and interceptions (39) at the Spanish club, highlighting how much of a hard worker he is out of possession as well as being an attacking threat on the ball.
Having recently been described as “unstoppable” by journalist Fernando Kallas, it’s easy to see why Emery has turned his attention to Henrique after missing out on Williams.
Moving forward, if the Villa boss wants to add another attacking figure to his ranks before the end of the month, securing a deal for the Betis star could be a very exciting acquisition for the club.