Last summer, Unai Emery brought Youri Tielemans to Aston Villa on a free transfer after he reached the end of his contract at Leicester City. Tielemans had attracted interest from clubs across Europe in anticipation of his release, but it was Villa who won the race.
Now, heading into this summer, Villa could look to repeat the trick of snapping up a player from a relegated club in a transfer that wouldn’t cost a penny. Luton Town came up from the Championship last year and could well end up going straight back down, having won only 20 points so far. The Hatters are just a point above the relegation zone heading into their final 15 Premier League games.
Villa one of the sides eyeing up Osho
According to Sportslens, Villa are watching Gabriel Osho at Luton, with his deal due to expire at the end of June. The defender has been “catching the eye” of clubs further up the division, including Villa, Fulham and Crystal Palace.
Luton hope to keep Osho if they stay up this season, but he’s expected to join a more “established top-flight side” as a free agent if they do end up getting relegated.
“Gifted athlete” Osho shining despite Luton struggles
Osho was actually unattached when Luton signed him back in 2020 and, after spending time at Yeovil Town and Rochdale, he’s now a key player at Kenilworth Road. He started 22 of the 31 Championship games for which he was available last season, and then made the XI for all three play-off matches as they earned a place in the Premier League for the first time in their history.
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He missed the start of the current campaign because of an injury he suffered in pre-season, but manager Rob Edwards backed him to thrive in the top-flight at the outset.
He said: “He’s a naturally gifted athlete and someone who’s very intelligent as well, switched on, so I back him to step up to any challenge really. I think the level he was performing at last year was like a Premier League footballer anyway, so I expect him to be able to come in and handle it pretty well.”
Osho has since repaid his boss’ faith and earned a start in 13 of the past 14 games. As you can see in the table below, he’s been extremely busy at the back, but perhaps the standout stat is the third one, which shows that he’s proving very difficult for attackers to beat in individual battles.
Volume | Rank vs centre-backs in top 5 leagues | |
|---|---|---|
Tackles per 90 | 1.98 | 83rd percentile |
Tackles won per 90 | 1.35 | 88th percentile |
% of dribblers tackled | 68.8 | 80th percentile |
Blocks per 90 | 1.9 | 95th percentile |
Interceptions per 90 | 1.82 | 92nd percentile |
Clearances per 90 | 5.07 | 87th percentile |
Errors per 90 | 0.00 | 81st percentile |
Edwards sounded relaxed about the situation when asked about it late last month, telling the press: “I don’t think we’ve got too many that will be out of contract. There’ll be one or two, but I think pretty much everyone is fairly comfortable with where they’re at and where they fit at the moment.
“It won’t be something that we’re worrying about addressing right now, the important thing is we get January out of the way and making sure we’re in a strong position when we come out of the month. Once we get into February, March-time we can really start assessing where everyone’s at contract-wise and what we do going forward.”
It remains to be seen whether the emergence of interest from Villa and other top-flight clubs causes Luton to try to accelerate their plans with Osho, but the player himself may be waiting to discover their fate before he commits.
