Aston Villa completed their fourth signing of the summer transfer window this week as they announced the arrival of Nicolo Zaniolo on loan from Galatasaray.
Who have Aston Villa signed this summer?
The Villans had already splashed the cash to sign winger Moussa Diaby from Bayer Leverkusen for a club-record £51.9m.
Unai Emery also swooped to land Youri Tielemans on a free transfer from Leicester City and his former Villarreal central defender Pau Torres for a reported fee of £33m.
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There could be more on the way for Villa supporters, though, as they have been touted with making an addition in the number nine position.
Santos centre-forward Marcos Leonardo has been linked with a move to the club earlier this summer, which suggests that Emery is looking at possible competition for Ollie Watkins.
How good is Marcos Leonardo?
The 20-year-old dynamo, who has reportedly been valued at €15m (£13m) by the Brazilian club, is an excellent young talent who could be an exciting player to play alongside Diaby in attack over the years to come.
Despite his young age, Leonardo has a wealth of experience with Santos as he has already been able to rack up 150 first-team appearances for the club. In that time, the talented finisher has scored 48 goals and provided 11 assists for his teammates.
This year, the prolific ace has scored seven goals and assisted two in 13 Serie A matches. He also enjoyed a fantastic U20 World Cup this summer with a return of five goals in five outings, which earned him a Sofascore rating of 7.44.
Leonardo scored 12 goals in 18 clashes across the two competitions for club and country combined, which is an average of one strike every 1.5 appearances.
Watkins, meanwhile, scored 15 goals in 37 Premier League games – one every 2.47 matches – and averaged a Sofascore rating of 6.88 last season for Villa.
These statistics suggest that the potential is there for the Brazilian youngster, who is seven years younger than the England international, to develop into a better option than the ex-Brentford man if he is able to translate that form over to English football.
Having a player like Diaby on the wing to supply him could allow the 20-year-old starlet to thrive as the ex-Bundesliga wizard is a sublime creator.
The 24-year-old magician created 14 'big chances' and produced 1.8 key passes per game in the German top-flight last term, which came after he provided 15 'big chances' and 1.9 key passes per outing during the 2021/22 campaign.
No Villa player, meanwhile, managed more than 1.2 key passes per match last season, which suggests that the French dynamo is Emery's outstanding creative threat and could be a dream player for Leonardo to make runs for.
U23 scout Antonio Mango claimed that the Brazil U20 international has "frightening" pace and this is another reason why he could be a lethal partner for Diaby as the current Villa ace is also known for his speed.
Bayer Leverkusen's website once described the France international as like 'lightning with a run-up' due to his immense pace when bursting forward to attack, which has also been backed up by The Analyst, which hailed his running power as 'searing'.
Therefore, Villa should sign Leonardo as an eventual replacement for Watkins due to the potentially lethal link-up that he could have with Diaby.
