Arsenal wary of serious Aston Villa threat for attacking midfielder who could replace failed 2023 signing

Despite recent links with Arsenal, Aston Villa are serious contenders for the signing of Red Bull Salzburg attacking midfielder Oscar Gloukh, a report has reminded.

Gloukh was linked with Arsenal over the weekend, when FootballTransfers claimed the Gunners sent a scout to watch him in an Austrian Bundesliga match against Blau Weiss Linz on Saturday. In the same report, Barcelona were also said to be monitoring the 19-year-old.

But Aston Villa’s interest in Gloukh was already established late last year and Football Insider has now confirmed they too remain in the race to sign him.

The latest report claims Aston Villa are ‘very keen’ on Gloukh after undergoing some ‘extensive’ scouting work on him. He remains someone they are ‘closely monitoring’ and their interest is ‘concrete’.

Obviously, it sounds like Villa might have some serious competition in the race for Gloukh, but they have been pushing to establish themselves at a higher level in the Premier League and are aiming to make a similar impression in the transfer market.

Gloukh is an attacking midfielder who usually plays in a no.10 role, although he can feature on the left-hand side when required.

This season, he has scored six goals and provided seven assists from 28 appearances across all competitions. In other words, he contributes to a goal almost every other game.

Gloukh even participated in the Champions League group stage for Red Bull Salzburg, scoring against Benfica and last season’s runners-up Inter until his side finished fourth in their table.

Aston Villa still have room for Gloukh after January business

There is still a place in Villa’s plans for him, according to Football Insider, despite the January addition of Morgan Rogers from Middlesbrough.

After all, Rogers is more of a winger than Gloukh. In terms of no.10s, players like Youri Tielemans and John McGinn have been deployed there by Unai Emery recently, although they can feature further back in more defensive midfield roles.

There is also Nicolo Zaniolo to consider, but he is only on loan from Galatasaray and as things stand it seems unlikely that Villa will be making an effort to keep him due to him only scoring twice in 26 appearances, so Gloukh could come in as a replacement.

At the age of 19, Gloukh would be a long-term reinforcement for Villa, just like Rogers in the most recent transfer window.

However, Gloukh is only a year into his spell with Red Bull Salzburg, where he remains under contract until 2027.

Before that, he was playing for Maccabi Tel Aviv in his native Israel. He made 33 appearances for his former club, scoring nine times, and has 12 caps and three goals for his country.