Aston Villa could sign new Ollie Watkins with monster £40m January transfer - if rivals don't get there first
Aston Villa need to revitalise their attacking line this January transfer window
Will Aston be regretting their decision to sell Jhon Duran and keep Ollie Watkins last January? While it seemed a brave move at the time, with the England striker’s loss of form in the season that he turned 30 it would be a surprise if they don’t target a centre forward in 2026.
While Donyell Malen has been in fantastic goal-scoring form so far this season after an inauspicious start to life at Villa Park, aged 26 he’s still yet to prove himself as a consistent forward in a big five league.
Malen only hit double figures once in three-and-a-half Bundesliga seasons at Borussia Dortmund and he only started nine times in all competitions in 2024/25 before he was sent to the Midlands. With all due respect to Aston Villa, there’s a reason why The Prussians were willing to sell and why no bigger team than the Midland side wanted to buy him.
So the Villans should target a young striker who’s ideally a proven goalscorer and has the potential to develop into an all-round threat at least as good as Watkins at his best - if not better. And thankfully, one such player will be on the market in January - FC Midtjylland’s Franculino Dju.
Franculino can terrorise Premier League defences
With 20 goals in 24 games for Midtjylland this season across the Superliga, Europa League proper and Danish FA Cup, Franculino has established himself as one of the hottest striker prospects on the continent in the space of just a few months.
A product of Benfica’s academy, Franculino failed to impress in Portugal and took a while to catch fire in Denmark but he’s been almost unplayable this season. One of the best finishers in Europe, Franculino is also a demon dribbler and one of the best strikers in the Europa League for successful take-ons, and for carries into the final third.
While he’s not a prolific provider of assists just yet, he takes set pieces for Midtjylland while he’s industrious out of possession too, ranking highly among his peers for tackles and blocks. In short, he’s shown he could be the complete article.
The issue for Roberto Olabe and Unai Emery may well be attracting him to Villa Park in the first place though. He’s been linked with pretty much the whole Premier League and if Manchester United or Tottenham Hotspur are interested then they have financial pulling power that Aston Villa can’t match.
Likewise David Moyes’ project on Merseyside is an exciting one where Franculino could have an instant path to the first-team, and he has suitors from continental Europe’s elite including AC Milan and Bayern Munich.
A price tag of £40 million was floated for Franculino earlier this season though he could well end up costing north of that. However, for a striker who could eclipse even Watkins’ impact in B6, that could end up being a bargain. And if Franculino can replicate his Midtjylland form in the Premier League he will be worth twice or three times that fee in the space of just a few seasons.