According to Sky reporter Florian Plettenberg Aston Villa have submitted a concrete offer to sign Germany and TSG Hoffenheim forward Maximilian Beier. However, Villa are reportedly not the only club to do so and they are likely to have a head-to-head battle with Chelsea for his signature if Beier wishes for a move to the Premier League.
🚨🆕 🔵🟣 Chelsea and Aston Villa have submitted concrete offers to Maximilian Beier ✔️
— Florian Plettenberg (@Plettigoal) July 30, 2024
Two more top clubs from abroad have made contact in the last hours. Leverkusen, still in the race. But no club has started negotiations with Hoffenheim yet. No total verbal agreements with… pic.twitter.com/OHtLfIrP2B
The 21-year-old was one of the players of the season in the Bundesliga last season scoring 16 goals in 33 games for Hoffenheim to help guide them to their highest league position in five years (7th).
Beier plays as a centre forward and Villa fans are starting to therefore wonder if they are likely to pursue a deal for Atletico Madrid forward Joao Felix or if this could signal an intention to sign both.
Diaby and Duran out.
— Phil Roberts (@PhilHRoberts) July 30, 2024
Felix and Beier in.
That would be phenomenal. 🔥 #avfc
The other question would be, if he were to sign for Villa, where would he play given that Ollie Watkins is more than likely going to be a regular starter in the team? Unai Emery tends to play with one forward and so this move could indicate that Emery is looking to change the way Villa set up next season by having both Watkins and Beier up top together. The table below shows a comparison between Watkins and Beier's league performances last season (2023/24).
Ollie Watkins | Max Beier | |
|---|---|---|
Goals | 19 | 16 |
Games played | 37 | 35 |
Assists | 13 | 3 |
Goals + Assists per 90 | 0.9 | 0.63 |
Pass completion rate | 75.4% | 69.8% |
Take-on success rate | 41.3% | 37.9% |
However, it has also been reported by Fabrizio Romano this afternoon that the club are currently not negotiating with Hoffenheim for Beier's services and that Joao Felix remains the 'dream' signing for Unai Emery this summer.
🟣🔵 Aston Villa are not negotiating for Max Beier, he’s currently not part of Villa plans for this summer.
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 30, 2024
João Félix remains Unai Emery’s dream target. pic.twitter.com/uZixBMW4rO
Both players futures are likely to be resolved in the next 14 days and Villa fans could see both, one of them, or neither(!), lining up in claret and blue next season.
UTV