Aston Villa's triumphant players are enjoying a well-earned rest following the conclusion of the 2023/24 season, having brilliantly qualified for the Champions League through a fourth-place Premier League finish.
Of course, Unai Emery will be delighted with his progress at Villa Park but he has not yet enjoyed a taste of silverware and this will drive him toward improving his squad with purposeful summer recruitment.
Former loanee Ross Barkley is already in discussions to join the side following an excellent campaign with Luton Town, while rumours persist that Emery and Monchi are eager to sign a high-profile new wide forward.
Villa will look to balance experienced mettle with youthful avidity, however, with a talented teenager emerging as a contender.
Aston Villa chasing teen talent
According to SportBILD – via Sport Witness – Aston Villa are interested in launching a summer swoop for Mainz 05 teenager Brajan Gruda, who has enjoyed an impressive breakout year in the German Bundesliga.
There will be a tussle for his signature, with Premier League rivals Liverpool and Newcastle United both keen on a move and, moreover, German champions Bayer Leverkusen pushing for a deal too.
Gruda has been appraised at about €20m (£17m) by Mainz, and Emery will hope that his team's newfound presence in the Champions League will give them as good a shout as any in closing the deal.
Brajan Gruda's style of play
19 years old, Gruda has already made quite the impact in Germany, performing with unshackled forwardness in his expression and enjoying a prolific close to the 2023/24 campaign.
Gruda scored four goals and supplied three assists from 19 starting displays in the top-flight last term, with five of his nine goal contributions arriving across his final eight appearances.
Matches played
28
Matches started
19
Goals
4
Assists
3
Pass completion
71%
Big chances created
9
Key passes per game
1.5
Ball recoveries per game
3.5
Dribbles per game
2.5 (52%)
Duels won per game
5.5 (46%)
It's not so much Gruda's output than his all-encompassing swagger that has arrested Emery's intrigue, boasting an almighty array of strengths that have been showcased through his performances in his homeland this season, ever more important after playing just two minutes of Bundesliga action in 2022/23.
With such remarkable robustness and playmaking ability, Gruda – who has been dubbed an "ideal second striker" by Ben Mattinson – might even be the perfect player to maintain Ollie Watkins' level next season, with Aston Villa's Player of the Season plundering an awesome 27 goals and 13 assists across all competitions.
Described as "unstoppable" earlier in the campaign by pundit Jamie Carragher, the mobile and multi-angled approach of the England international has kept defenders guessing all term, and his skill set might just make him the "ideal" star to play off Villa's main man.
With a growing list of ambitious European outfits eager to complete a deal, it's safe to say that the German U21 international has the skills to go right to the top, even described as "one of the most underrated youngsters in Germany" by talent scout Jacek Kulig.
Kulig's eagle-eyed analysis has also drawn the conclusion that Gruda boasts similarities to one Lionel Messi, though it's perhaps more apt to suggest that Villa could land their successor to Jack Grealish by forging ahead with this move.
Why Villa are interested in Brajan Gruda
Gruda has all the qualities to be a real player in the Premier League, blending skill and style with solidity to overcome and actually revel in the rigours of the Premier League.
He won 5.5 duels per game in the Bundesliga. Take Leon Bailey, for example, a terrific player and highly effective in Emery's system but he only produced 3.1 successful duels per game in the Premier League this season.
Grealish, more to the point, averaged 3.8 duels and only 0.9 dribbles per game in the English first division, albeit with precision rates of 61% and 62% respectively – that latter metric far below Gruda's return of 2.5 successful dribbles per game.
But for the sake of comparability it is important to note that Gruda is playing with the freedom and exuberance of one realising their quality and enjoying their craft in their fledgling phase, much like Jhon Duran, and adding another prodigious talent would only enhance the Lions cause.
Goals (per 90)
0.22
0.27
Assists (per 90)
0.16
0.09
Shot-creating actions (per 90)
5.65
4.82
Progressive carries
100
87
Successful take-ons
46.6%
43.9%
Grealish does rank among the top 2% of attacking midfielders and wingers across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for progressive carries per 90, as per FBref, but he also ranks among the bottom 47% for successful take-ons per 90, which is a metric focussed more on passing an opponent with the ball at feet.
Gruda, in comparison, ranks among the top 9% of attacking midfielders and wingers across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for progressive carries, the top 2% for successful take-ons and the top 8% for shot-creating actions per 90.
Patently, he's an elite-level ball-carrier, and this inborn vehicular ability on the ball will only serve to enrich the Villa attack, supplementing Watkins and offering the creative and fast-driving ability to ensure that the Villans are effective when they surge forward en masse.
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Grealish has not been a part of the newfound sparkle that has lifted the club to heights unseen in generations, having been sold to Manchester City for £100m in 2021, but he could arrive reincarnate in the form of Gruda and all his precocity.
