Scouting report: Euro 2024 Matchday 1

The first round of fixtures has seen a number of players perform very well for their countries. We take a look at some of the not-so-well-known names that could feature in Premier League transfer stories this summer.

Arda Guler

The young Turkish international scored one of the goals of the tournaments so far in yesterday's victory over Georgia. Guler was a member of last season's La Liga and Champions League winning Real Madrid squad and will be keen to produce a performance similar to yesterday for the next couple of games. At just 19 years of age, Guler began to break into the Madrid team towards the end of the season and finished with 6 goals in just 10 La Liga matches. Guler tends to play as an attacking midfielder and predominantly on the right wing, but with Madrid having signed Mbappe on top of all the attacking talent at their disposal already Guler may find it difficult to gain first team opportunities next season.

Michael Aebischer

The Bologna midfielder produced a Man of the Match display in Switzerland's 3-1 victory over Hungary. Aebischer played in all but one of Bologna's Serie A games last season, captaining the team several times, and proved to be one of the best defensive midfielders in the league. With Boubacar Kamara's return date from his ACL injury unknown and Douglas Luiz likely to leave the club in the next couple of weeks, an obvious gap appears in the Villa midfield. With a value of just under £10 million, Aebischer could be a sensible transfer target. He will be keen to stamp his authority once more against John McGinn's Scotland this evening.

Nico Williams

Nico Williams is already a player with a well known profile but is also a name that has been linked with a move to Villa Park in recent transfer windows. The young Spaniard lit up La Liga last season with his trickery and pace down the left hand side and resulted in a total of 5 goals and 12 assists in the league for Athletic Bilbao. Williams reportedly has a release clause of £50 million and with Athletic Bilbao not qualifying for next season's Champions League, he may well be keen on a move elsewhere. Unai Emery is known to be an admirer of the player and Villa are likely to test the waters this summer as they look to add quality to their squad ahead of their Champions League season.

Andrej Ratiu

The Romanian right-back put in a very solid display in his teams outstanding 3-0 win over Ukraine. Ratiu signed for Real Vallecano of La Liga in the summer of 2023 following two excellent seasons in La Liga 2. The 25-year-old struggled to stamp his name into the starting XI at Vallecano though last season starting only 6 games for the club. His performance in Romania's opening game was very encouraging however and with right-back being a potential problem for Villa to solve Ratiu may be a name that appears in the rumour mill this summer. Matty Cash looks close to a move to AC Milan and Villa will therefore need to sign a replacement and Ratiu would likely cost very little.

Denis Dragus

Another Romanian that shone in the victory over Ukraine was centre forward Denis Dragus. Dragus scored the third goal in that game with a tap in from 6 yards, as a result of some clever movement to make himself the space. The forward, who scored 14 goals in the Turkish top flight last season, caused problems all game for the Ukrainian defence and again could be looked at by Premier League clubs this summer. With a market value of under £10 million, he could provide useful competition to Ollie Watkins in attack.

UTV