Aston Villa's sights set on Premier League ace

Aston Villa have entered the race to sign Crystal Palace winger Michael Olise. The 22-year-old has impressed this season and Villa are one of many clubs eager to sign him this summer.

Wolverhampton Wanderers v Crystal Palace - Premier League
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Crystal Palace - Premier League | Malcolm Couzens/GettyImages

Manchester United, Arsenal and Newcastle have all been rumoured to be interested in recruiting the Palace youngster following what has been a tremendous season. Olise has bagged himself 10 goals and 5 assists in the Premier League which is even more impressive considering he has only played half a season. Hamstring problems has meant Olise has featured in just 18 games this term but he makes a significant impact when he plays.

The skilful winger is a man that Emery can see suiting his style of play at Villa Park and would provide great quality to an already high class Villa forward line. With the likes of Ollie Watkins and Leon Bailey playing so well for Villa this season, Olise could add that bit of magic to progress the team even further as Villa will look to cement their place in Europe again next season.

Moussa Diaby
Aston Villa v Olympiacos FC: Semi-final First Leg - UEFA Europa Conference League 2023/24 | James Baylis - AMA/GettyImages

Villa broke their transfer record last summer with the £51.9m signing of Moussa Diaby from Bayern Leverkusen. Despite a decent enough record this season in terms of goals and assists across all competitions for Diaby, Villa fans know that this first season for him has been a struggle. He has lacked consistency having started the season very well and looks to be low in confidence. Villa's pursuit of Olise could well an upgrade on Diaby and therefore provide much greater depth through the squad.

It is rumoured that Olise has a release clause of £60m at Crystal Palace and Villa would have to be quick if they are to beat the likes of United to his signature. This could be tricky for Villa as it looks likely they will need to sell in order to generate funds before making their move for Olise. It may well be that Villa will look to sell players such as Douglas Luiz who would likely leave for a big transfer fee if he was to depart the club.

Douglas Luiz
Brighton & Hove Albion v Aston Villa - Premier League | Bryn Lennon/GettyImages

Following Crystal Palace's 3-1 win away at Wolves on Saturday afternoon, which added to Palace's fantastic run of form since the appointment of Oliver Glasner in February, Glasner was full of praise for star man Olise:

"He is a brilliant player and a great guy. He has a lot of individual qualities"
Oliver Glasner
Ramon Rodriguez Verdejo Monchi
Valencia CF v Aston Villa - Pre Season Friendly | Quality Sport Images/GettyImages

One thing that Villa will certainly have as an advantage over clubs such as Manchester United and Newcastle is the Champions League factor. With Villa looking highly likely to secure their place in the competition next season, this could prove to be a vital influencing factor in securing the signatures of players that Unai Emery and Director of Football Monchi identify.