Aston Villa have had some legendary strikers play for them during the Premier League era. Despite having spent three seasons out of the Premier League, with their only relegation since the inception of the league coming in the 2015/16 campaign, they have had some of the competition’s deadliest marksmen at the club.
Their current all-time Premier League top goalscorer is Gabby Agbonlahor, who played 322 times in the top flight for the Villans, scoring 73 times. He is closely followed by one of the league’s all-time great strikers, Dwight Yorke. Before his move to Manchester United in 1998, Yorke called Villa Park home 179 times, scoring 60 goals.
Coming in third for the Villans is a current player, Ollie Watkins, who was phenomenal with 19 goals to his name in the 2023/24 season. He has 59 Premier League goals in 146 games for the Villans. Those three are the only Villans with 50 or more Premier League goals for the club. Dion Dublin is close behind in fourth with 47 goals.
With all the striking pedigree over the years at Villa Park, they have been linked with another legendary Premier League striker who is already in the 100 club himself.
Villa target Premier League striker
The player in question here is Chelsea and Belgium international striker Romelu Lukaku. It has been a few years filled with turmoil since he returned to Stamford Bridge in 2021 for £97.5m, and he could finally cut ties with the Blues altogether this summer.
According to reports from Italian outlets Il Mattino and Sport Mediaset – via Football Italia – the Villans are ‘ready to pay’ the release clause for the nomadic Belgium striker this summer, as Chelsea look to finally offload him following the disastrous transfer back to Stamford Bridge three summers ago.
However, they won’t be alone in their pursuit of the services of the former Manchester United number nine. Napoli are believed to be clear favourites, and the striker is believed to prefer a move to Naples over the Midlands.
When it comes to a price, the Villans might be looking at a fee of around £38m. That is consistent with the fee Roma would have needed to have paid if they had activated the buy clause in his loan deal from the 2023/24 season.
Why Lukaku would be a good signing
There are few current players as experienced at scoring goals in the Premier League than Lukaku. The 31-year-old striker has scored 121 times in 278 games in England’s top flight, for four different clubs; Chelsea, West Brom, Everton and Man United.
Club
Games
Goals
Chelsea
36
8
West Brom
35
17
Everton
141
68
Man United
66
28
Total
278
121
Although he was arguably not at his best for Roma last term, the Belgian still got himself on the scoresheet 13 times in 32 Serie A games, as well as scoring seven goals in 13 games in the Europa League, as I Giallorossi got to the semi-final before losing to Bayer Leverkusen.
Lukaku could be an excellent signing for Villa this summer as a replacement for Jhon Duran. The 20-year-old Columbian has been trying to force an exit from Villa Park this summer, and whilst the chances of a departure have reduced, he could still leave the club.
Bringing in an experienced centre-forward like Lukaku to replace the former Chicago Fire striker could well be a smart move by Villa. Duran, whilst talented, is still raw, and someone in the mould of the experienced Chelsea man could easily replace his goals.
Last term the youngster scored five goals in 23 games. However, as per FBref, he played the equivalent of just 5.3 full 90-minute games. Like Lukaku, the Columbian far exceeded his expected goals tally, with just 2xG and five goals, compared to 9.3xG and 13 goals for the Belgian.
There is no doubt that Duran has potential, but for a 20-year-old to continue scoring tough chances at that rate is not easy, and some refinement would certainly be needed.
Instead, replacing him with the Belgian legend would take the pressure off such young shoulders and add a natural, and crucially experienced, goalscorer to Villa’s frontline. The former Anderlecht youth product was described as a "phenomenon" by Sky Sports presenter Dougie Critchley, and Villa fans would certainly hope he can be just that should he join the club.
For just £38m, this could be a deal Unai Emery and his coaching staff do not want to miss out on. Lukaku could be the dream Duran replacement if they move the Columbian on, and also bring quality and experience to an already deadly frontline.
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