Aston Villa now bid £8k-p/w youngster to sign Sergio Aguero

Aston Villa have now tabled a bid to sign a striker who will model his game on Sergio Aguero, it has been reported that Unai Emery's side have given an answer.

Villa are rethinking attacking additions

After Ollie Watkins' superb Premier League season at Villa Park, the key was to find a suitable replacement for the England international this summer. But that depended on the exit. For most of the summer it looked promising, with John Duran attracting interest from Chelsea and then West Ham United in recent weeks.

However, the pair are looking elsewhere after struggling to meet Aston Villa's £40m bid for the Colombian striker, with West Ham signing Niclas Fullkrug and Chelsea in advanced talks to sign Atletico Madrid striker Samu Omorodion.

It left Villa with Duran still at the club ahead of their Premier League opener against West Ham at the London Stadium. Recalled striker Cameron Archer is also on the bench and there is little room to sign an expensive new striker to compete with Watkins or provide top-quality cover in cases where the Englishman is injured or unfit.

Because of this, they will now have to change their transfer plans to sign a young, less experienced striker on the cheap and try to make them the next star, as they did with the likes of Ezri Konsa in defence. And reports from Turkey indicate that they may have found their man.

Villa table given to young striker

That comes with Villa one of two clubs reported to have made an offer to sign top-class Turkish striker Semih Kilicsoy this summer. The 18-year-old can play up front, with Besiktas using him as a left-back and striker in the 2023/24 campaign.

That was his breakthrough season in Turkey, with Kilicsoy making 23 appearances in the Super Lig and scoring 12 goals in the process, making his debut for the Turkish national team ahead of EURO 2024 and being named as Vincenzo's replacement. Montella's team in this competition, although he played only one minute.

Speaking at the start of the season, Besiktas football academy director Mehmet Eksi compared him to Gerd Muller, but revealed that Kilicsoy himself prefers another comparison.

“As youth coaches, we compare Semih to Gerd Müller. Others compare him to Agüero. He also sees Agüero as his idol”, he explained.

Now, Turkish outlet Sabah have revealed that Fulham and Aston Villa have both tabled bids for his services this summer, with Emery reportedly willing to offer around 18m euros (£15.4m). However, they added that both have been reinstated, Kilicsoy has four years left to run on his £8,000-a-week deal in Turkey and Besiktas are in no rush to part ways with him.

It's not clear which club will return to sign the youngster in the remaining weeks of the transfer window, but if they choose not to and the striker enjoys another strong season, he could find himself being bullied by other players in 12 months' time.