The Five Wingers Aston Villa Are Chasing This Summer

Aston Villa have five wingers on their transfer shortlist for this summer, a list that addresses the one position Unai Emery could not adequately fill across a Europa League-winning season: consistent, direct pace on the right flank. The Athletic reported this week that Emery is targeting at least one player described as a “pacy right winger who makes frequent runs beyond opposition defences.” Leon Bailey’s output fell sharply after his 2023/24 peak, Jadon Sancho’s loan from Manchester United ends this month without a permanent deal expected, and Villa enter this market backed by Champions League football earned through their Europa League triumph over SC Freiburg in Istanbul.

None of these five deals will close quickly. Villa’s spending capacity depends on outgoings arriving first, and the size of any Morgan Rogers sale is the most consequential variable in their summer budget.

The Gap Emery Has Been Carrying

John McGinn spent most of last season operating as a narrow inside forward because Villa had no reliable pace on the right side. Moussa Diaby was sold in 2024. Sancho’s loan covered the structural hole for a year without resolving what lay beneath. The five candidates below span ages 18 to 28, four different leagues, and reported fees ranging from around £35 million to £60 million or more.

Jonathan Rowe and the Bologna Opening

Bologna finished eighth in Serie A and failed to qualify for European football for the first time in three seasons, a result that has reshaped the club’s approach to this summer’s market. Il Resto del Carlino reported that the absence of European football next year has given Bologna a genuine openness to offers they would have deflected a year ago. Rowe arrived from Marseille for approximately €20 million last summer following a dispute-clouded exit from Ligue 1, and one Italian season has built the platform for a substantial profit.

His 2025/26 output at Bologna:

• 8 goals and 5 assists across 40-plus competitive appearances, including four UEFA Europa League goals
• 2.7 successful dribbles per 90 minutes, higher than 95 percent of Serie A players in this season’s data
• A curler against Aston Villa in the Europa League quarter-final first leg at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara in April, scored in front of Villa’s own coaching staff

Football Italia reported a rift developing between Rowe and Bologna coach Vincenzo Italiano, with Italiano frustrated by the gap between Rowe’s training intensity and his match-day output. TuttoBolognaWeb confirmed Villa, Chelsea, and Galatasaray are all in formal pursuit, with a fee of approximately £35 million. Chelsea have significantly deeper pockets. Bologna’s history of selling to England, with Dan Ndoye going to Nottingham Forest, Joshua Zirkzee to Manchester United, and Riccardo Calafiori to Arsenal in recent windows, shows the club knows this process and is comfortable repeating it. Villa’s specific pitch is a guaranteed starting role alongside Ollie Watkins, who scored 22 Premier League goals this season, in a system that generates chances specifically from wide runners attacking the space in behind.

Can West Ham’s Relegation Force a Summerville Deal?

Crysencio Summerville finished as West Ham’s most reliable wide option in a season that ended with the club’s relegation from the Premier League. His final numbers were seven goals and five assists in all competitions. He did not score until January, then scored in four consecutive top-flight appearances before the spring run-in gave way to a final-day drop to the Championship.

West Ham have no relegation release clause in Summerville’s contract, per Soccer News, meaning the sale will not occur at a pre-set forced price. TEAMtalk has reported the likely fee at approximately £35 million, built from the roughly £25 million West Ham paid Leeds United in 2024 with a markup earned by his Premier League performances and goal return and his selection in Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands squad for the 2026 World Cup in North America. His first senior Netherlands call-up, earned without yet winning a cap at that point, reflects the profile his performances built even in a difficult West Ham side. The Hammers, who per reports must raise more than £100 million in player sales this summer, have held firm on his valuation since January but face growing pressure from a buyer’s market as the window opens.

TEAMtalk reported Thursday that AC Milan have made the most serious third-party approach, positioning Summerville internally as a candidate to replace Rafael Leao, whose departure from the San Siro looks increasingly likely. Tottenham and Roma have also registered interest. All three competing clubs can offer European football next season. Villa’s pitch adds Premier League football alongside Champions League group-stage fixtures simultaneously, a combination none of the others can match.

Adeyemi’s Contract Standoff

Karim Adeyemi’s situation at Borussia Dortmund is the most publicly advanced transfer saga on this list. His contract runs to June 2027. Extension talks have broken down, BILD reported, with the gap between his current salary of approximately €6.5 million per year and his demanded figure of over €10 million annually the central sticking point. His agent Jorge Mendes is pushing for a release clause in any new deal, a demand Dortmund’s board has declined to meet, producing a standoff that sporting director Nils-Ole Book confirmed this week is still ongoing through the summer break.

Dortmund have set an asking price of €60-70 million, per TEAMtalk and multiple German outlets, preferring to bank that now rather than risk losing him on a free in 2027. Transfer News Live reported June 2 that Adeyemi is open to a Premier League move and that Villa have received clearance to pursue him formally. His season total of 10 goals and 6 assists across all competitions, alongside a recorded top speed of 36.65 km/h, has drawn simultaneous interest from Manchester United and Chelsea.

The transfer fee, at €60-70 million, is expensive but fundable if a Rogers sale delivers close to asking price. Adeyemi’s wage demands are the harder obstacle. Per The Athletic’s reporting, his required package sits above Villa’s standard salary structure, and meeting it without creating internal distortions across the rest of the squad is a problem clubs at this financial level typically spend considerable time trying to solve before agreeing.

Barnes, Mbaye and the Deals Still Pending

Harvey Barnes registered 16 goals and six assists across all competitions for Newcastle last season, six of those goals in the Champions League. At 28, with two years left on his contract, he is described by sources familiar with the club’s thinking as an internal favourite for this window. His family are based in the Midlands, and his formative football came through Leicester City’s academy. Newcastle, per the Daily Mail, are seeking a fee close to the £38 million they paid Leicester in 2023. Barnes has scored 30 goals in 120 Newcastle appearances overall, though only 62 of those came from the starting lineup, a statistic that captures both his goal return and his inconsistent standing under Eddie Howe.

It’s a brilliant return from someone who has always had the ability to score, always been a very, very good finisher, we see that in training consistently. It’s just great to see him getting the rewards on a game day.

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe made those comments after Barnes scored twice against Leeds United in January. They also describe why Newcastle will resist a departure at any significant discount. Anthony Gordon has already moved to Barcelona for £70 million, The Shields Gazette reported this week, leaving Barnes as the only recognised left winger on Howe’s books for a campaign that now carries no European football. The club’s reported position is that they will not consider Barnes offers until Gordon’s replacement is confirmed, a sequencing that makes the deal difficult to force quickly.

Ibrahim Mbaye’s deal is the one most outside Villa’s control to accelerate. Top Mercato, the French outlet that first broke the story, confirmed discussions with his representatives are underway at a fee around €40 million, with confidence on the Villa side that a positive outcome is possible near that figure. The 18-year-old broke Warren Zaïre-Emery’s record to become PSG’s youngest-ever starting player in 2024, and added three goals and two assists across 23 appearances this season before scoring and providing two assists at the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco with Senegal. He is also in Senegal’s World Cup squad, meaning his market value could rise further before the summer window closes. PSG hold his contract until June 2028 and dismissed January interest sharply, with journalist Florian Plettenberg reporting one club source responded with a laughing emoji. Luis Enrique has reportedly grown frustrated with Mbaye’s training intensity since his AFCON return, a development that might soften PSG’s position, though no public signal of willingness to sell has emerged.

Player Sales Come First

• €25 million: the Malen permanent sale to Roma completed this week; Donyell Malen scored 14 goals in 18 Serie A appearances for Gasperini’s side before Roma bought him outright
• £80 million: Villa’s asking price for Morgan Rogers, with Arsenal, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, and Chelsea among those monitoring
• £35-70 million: the fee range across the five names on Emery’s confirmed winger shortlist

The Malen proceeds have created some financial room but nowhere near enough to move on multiple targets simultaneously. Rogers is the transaction that unlocks the rest. If a sale closes near the £80 million asking price, the financial architecture to pursue two names from the list at different fee levels becomes workable. Leon Bailey’s expected departure adds a further tranche, though his fee will come in well below what Rogers would command given how far his output has dropped from his 2023/24 form. Without Rogers, the shortlist of five narrows to whichever single deal fits within the available budget.

Five targets are confirmed. How many of them sign for Villa this summer depends on the Rogers deal, and on how quickly it closes.