Aston Villa keen on signing Villarreal's Alex Baena in January?

Aston Villa have reportedly identified Villarreal playmaker Alex Baena as a potential January transfer target.

Since his arrival late late year, manager Unai Emery has effectively been given the freedom to make his own changes to the first-team squad.

The Spaniard's business in January led to Villa gatecrashing the top seven of the Premier League standings, subsequently earning a spot in the Europa Conference League.

That led to the West Midlands outfit being in a position to attract a number of high-profile players to the club during the summer window, including Pau Torres, Youri Tielemans and Moussa Diaby.

Despite that influx of fresh faces, Villa have endured a mixed start to the 2023-24 top flight, already suffering heavy defeats at Newcastle United and Liverpool.

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Emery will also feel that he is a creative player down, a consequence of Philippe Coutinho being allowed to move to Qatari club Al-Duhail last week.

With Emiliano Buendia also sidelined with a serious knee injury until at least March, it appears that Emery is already looking ahead to adding to his numbers in the final third.

According to Fichajes, Emery wishes to bring another Villarreal player to Villa Park in the form of Baena.

Torres was signed from the Yellow Submarine earlier in the summer and versatile Baena may seemingly be the next Spaniard to arrive at Villa to link up with his former head coach.

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Baena has come through the academy setup at Estadio de la Ceramica to establish himself as a key player, contributing 15 goals and 14 assists from just 73 appearances in all competitions.

The 22-year-old enjoyed his first full season of La Liga football during 2022-23, chipping in with six goals and three assists from 35 appearances in the top flight.

Although Baena only penned a new long-term contract as recently as January, there is said to be a release clause of €35m (£30m) in his deal.

With a summer net spend of approximately £43.4m, the sales of four academy graduates and getting a large portion of Coutinho's wages off their outgoings, Villa may theoretically be in a position to activate that option.