The truth behindVilla pursuit of Smith Rowe
VILLA are building a squad capable of challenging for Europe and next season presents a real opportunity for the club to gatecrash the top six.
Premier League rivals should be taking Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens’ ambitions very seriously.
Villa’s ownership pair aren’t only here to take part, it’s their aim to overtake the likes of Arsenal, Tottenham and Everton and stake a claim for European football in the coming months and years.
The club’s immediate focus is to provide Dean Smith with all the tools necessary to make next season a success.
While Villa’s prospects are very much reliant on the future of Jack Grealish, the odds are currently stacked in Smith’s favour to keep hold of his captain for at least another season.
The reports linking Villa to Arsenal’s Emile Smith Rowe are in no way, shape or form a safety net in case Man City are able to lure Grealish to The Etihad this summer.
Smith Rowe has been earmarked as the ideal player to operate behind centre-forward Ollie Watkins and in between wide attackers Grealish and Emi Buendia – the latter they beat Arsenal to.
Following the club’s record signing of Buendia from newly-promoted
Norwich last month and the return of Ashley Young, Villa are believed to be preparing a third bid for Smith Rowe.
He enjoyed a breakthrough season at Arsenal last term, is out of contract in two years and is yet to sign a new deal with his boyhood club, despite Mikel Arteta’s optimism that fresh terms will be agreed.
Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano claims a ‘‘verbal agreement’’ is already in place with the Gunners but Villa appear determined to land their priority target as Smith’s firstteam squad begin to report back for pre-season training at Bodymoor Heath this week.
Arsenal have turned away bids believed to be in the region of £25 million and £30 million from Villa, who appear persistent in testing their resolve by improving the size of their offer each time.
Links to one of Arsenal’s prized assets immediately drew lazy claims that Villa were bound to offload Grealish, because surely they can’t have all three – Smith Rowe, Buendia and Grealish – on the pitch at the same time? Well, actually, it’s quite simple.
Granted, Smith
Rowe’s player profile is awfully similar to that of Grealish’s, at least to the eye, but while Villa’s skipper carries an irreplaceable influence at the club, speculation that the 20-year-old Arsenal playmaker would be a straight replacement for him is wide of the mark.
It is Villa’s intention to allow a creative trio of Smith Rowe, Buendia and Grealish to work fluidly and with freedom behind Watkins, who will be licking his lips at the prospect of playing in front of three of the most creative players in the league.
While Buendia and Grealish can also operate as number 10s, both will be deployed wide of a new attacking midfielder.
Hypothetically, if Villa travelled to Watford to kick off their Premier League campaign tomorrow, Jacob Ramsey would presumably start between Grealish and Buendia as Bertrand Traore continues to nurse a groin injury after undergoing surgery last month.
Villa’s chiefs have made it very clear that to challenge among the higher reaches of the Premier League, a whole squad littered with talent is a must, including a subs bench to be feared. While only the two Manchester clubs in the Premier League have spent more money on players since Villa’s promotion in 2019,
the club’s owners are now fully focused on cementing Villa’s status in Europe and, in doing so, supplying the necessary funds so Smith can attract his targets.
On the flip side, if Grealish was to leave this summer, Smith Rowe alone simply would not cover his loss, no matter how highly Arsenal fans rate their young prodigy.
Yes, Smith Rowe would help combat the creativity lost, but he would rethink a move to Villa if he wasn’t going to be lining up alongside a player he idolises next season.
The youngster named Grealish as one of two players who caught his eye in the Premier League last season.
“Paul Pogba is definitely up there; so strong, so technically good,” he said. “Jack Grealish, too. He’s so good, man. I look up to him. The way he is with the ball. The way he scores, assists and creates, he’s so good. Bukayo (Saka) tells me he’s a great guy, too.”
Smith Rowe wears his socks low, just like Grealish, because it ‘‘feels like the shackles are off’’. He added: “It gives me that extra freedom, that openness. It’s like, ‘I just want to play my own game and be free’.”
Talk of Smith Rowe joining Villa’s fast-moving project should worry European-chasing Premier League clubs, yet many are sleeping on the ambitions of a rival determined to seize the opportunity to finish inside the top six next season.