As per Daily Mail, Aston Villa are open to the idea of selling Anwar El Ghazi if they can get in a like-to-like replacement. The player can feel a little hard done by if he is sold as he did contribute in equal part to ensure Villa remained in the top flight last season.
The 25-year-old Dutch winger started his youth career at BVV Barendrecht in 2000. He moved on to the likes of Feyenoord, Spartan ‘20, Sparta Rotterdam, and Ajax later.
In 2014, he made the jump to Ajax’s senior team and in 99 games, he scored 23 goals and made 16 assists (source – Transfermarkt). After two-and-a-half seasons, he joined Lille but didn’t enjoy the same success as he did at Ajax.
He joined Aston Villa on loan initially in 2018 and the move was made permanent the following season. So far, in 77 games for the club, he has scored 13 goals and made 13 assists. He also has two appearances for the Dutch national team.
This is a hard one to decide as El Ghazi hasn’t done very badly to be booted out of the team and only a deal for Milot Rashica would confirm Villa’s stance on selling El Ghazi. But any deal for Rashica would depend on El Ghazi getting offers.
While he doesn’t have great numbers and has been fairly inconsistent, he still contributed a lot to Villa’s Premier League survival. He is one of the versatile players in the team with the ability to play on the left wing and as a centre-forward.
Villa would be better served if they kept someone like El Ghazi in the team. With a lot of interest in Rashica, Villa might not be able to get their man. Clubs like Napoli are much better options for Rashica than Villa. In case Rashica does end up joining the Villans, the club should not look to throw out El Ghazi right away.
He has been a vital part of the club in the last two seasons and it would be unfair on him if he is shown the door so soon. He is definitely a very useful and versatile player who will have no problems in finding a new club but Aston Villa should try to keep him.