Aston Villa will look to boost their forward line with quality this summer and there are rumours circulating that Villa may look at Artem Dovbyk of Girona. Following the confirmation of Villa’s qualification for the Champions League next season, the club will have a healthy financial boost that will help towards signing top transfer targets.
The 26 year old Ukrainian striker has had a phenomenal season in the top tier of Spanish football, recording 20 goals and 7 assists with two games still to play. His goals and general influence has helped Girona claim a Champions League spot for the first time in their history.
According to reports in Spain, Dovbyk has a £34 million realease clause in his contract and Juventus, Napoli and AC Milan have all been linked with signing the forward already. Girona signed Dovbyk for a reported fee of 7 million euros in August 2023 from the Ukrainian league and it is believed the club would be willing to cash in on their star man whilst his market value is as high as it is following a brilliant season.
Having kept an eye on La Liga and the title race this season, I have outlined what I believe Dovbyk’s strengths and weaknesses are. Firstly, his strengths:
At 6 ft 2, Girona often use the forward as a powerful weapon to hold the ball up and link with the midfield. He has excellent strength on the ball and so when the team are under pressure they will often use the long ball to Dovbyk to hold it up and take the pressure off the team defensively.
It would be obvious to say, as the top goal scorer in La Liga, that his ability to put the ball in the net is very good. Averaging 0.74 goals and maintaining an xG of 0.69 per 90 minutes this season he has a great year in front of goal. This xG per game is higher than Ollie Watkins at 0.54 per game, and we all know how good Watkins has been this season.
A quarter of Dovbyk’s goals this season have been in air and from corners and set-pieces he is a major threat.
The forward does also have his areas to improve. In comparison to the work that Ollie Watkins does for the Villa team and the number of chances he creates, Dovbyk is not quite at that same level of quality. Despite his good hold up play, his ability to distribute the ball and create cutting edge chances for teammates outside the box is not a major strength. The Ukrainians strengths certainly lie in the penalty box. Whether Unai Emery could see someone like that in his team is uncertain.
I believe it is more likely that Girona’s star man is to move to Serie A and join the likes of Milan or Juventus as he is more suited to their style of play. It is one to keep an eye on however as Villa and other clubs in the Premier League are likely to show interest due to the number of goals he has scored this season.
