Aston Villa have are targeting a deal for Porto striker Samu Aghehowa as a potential replacement for Jhon Duran.
Villa sanctioned the sale of Duran during the January transfer window with the forward joining Al Nassr in a deal worth โฌ77m (ยฃ63.7m). Unai Emery’s team also turned down a ยฃ60m proposal from Arsenal for fellow forward Ollie Watkins late in the window.
Villa want to bring in another centre-forward in the summer and have identified Aghehowa as a replacement for Duran. The 20-year-old has scored 19 goals in 30 appearances across all competitions for Porto since joining the club from Atletico Madrid last summer.
Agehowa scored during Porto’s 3-2 defeat at Roma on Thursday as the Portuguese side exited the Europa League. It was his sixth European goal of the season, with only Olympiacos’ Ayoub El-Kaabi (7) having netted more. That return includes a brace in a thrilling 3-3 draw with Manchester United earlier in the campaign.
๐ช๐ธโญ๏ธ | After 8 Matches without scoring, ๐๐๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐๐ ๐ก๐๐ก๐จ๐ฐ๐ (๐๐) is back to the Goals pic.twitter.com/VHvvFOP3tZ
โ Rising Stars XI (@RisingStarXI) February 20, 2025
Aghehowa came close to joining Chelsea in a ยฃ34m deal last summer but a deal collapsed due to concerns over an ankle issue in his medical. Porto swooped in to sign the striker, purchasing 50% of his rights for โฌ15m (ยฃ12.4m). He has since impressed in Portugal and made his international debut for Spain in November.
Spanish outlet Fichajes are reporting that Villa are now keen on a deal. However, Porto are reluctant to lose the forward, who signed a five-year contract at the Estรกdio do Dragรฃo last summer. His deal with the Portuguese side contains a release clause of โฌ100m (ยฃ82.7m).
