Emile Smith Rowe: Who can Aston Villa target if they miss out on Arsenal midfielder?

Zinedine Ferhat (28) – Nimes

Ferhat is the oldest entry in this list and one that targets the more frugal side of recruiting for Villa’s needs. As he has a year left on his current contract with Nimes, the French outfit are willing to part with the attacker for just €5M.

For the production that his former side Le Havre and currently Nimes have gotten out of the Algerian, that price solely for a squad player would do any team in Europe wonders. Recording 6 goals and 10 assists, identical to Grealish, Ferhat excels in playmaking and his dribbling is of a high calibre.

His shot-creating actions from dribbles were recorded as 0.43 per 90, a figure putting him roughly in the 80th percentile. This booms when looking at his goal-creating actions where 0.67 puts him at the 91st percentile.

Whilst being a vital cog in the attacking output of Nimes, his ability to find his target man and progress play was second to none in Ligue 1.

Taking into account players who had played at least 10 games, he was 1st in registering passes into the penalty area, 1st in carries into the penalty area and 3rd for key passes (per 90 metrics).

The versatility to play on either flank also hugely benefits Dean Smith in using his substitutions with more freedom and having a player be a creative sparkplug whenever needed.