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Aston Villa: Journalist discusses Anwar El Ghazi’s future at AVFC

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Image for Aston Villa: Journalist discusses Anwar El Ghazi’s future at AVFC

Aston Villa journalist Ashley Preece has been sharing some insight regarding Villa winger Anwar El Ghazi and his future at the Midlands club. 

This comes after Preece made an appearance on a recent episode of the Birmingham Mail’s Claret & Blue Podcast, where he spoke about a variety of topics concerning Dean Smith’s side.

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Discussing El Ghazi, whose current contract is set to expire in the summer of 2023, Preece had this to say on his future at Villa Park.

He said: “There’s no deal on the table for him to extend his stay, so that does point towards an uncertain future, I guess – but listen, Dean Smith rates him so highly, as do his peers at Villa, so it’d be up to him to prove a big point again this season.

“I think Anwar has to do that every season going into a new season.”

Villa originally signed El Ghazi on a loan deal from French club LOSC Lille back in the 2018 summer transfer window before securing him on a permanent deal in the 2019 summer window for a fee of £8.1 million.

Overall, the 26-year-old, who is currently valued at £11.7 million, has made a total of 107 appearances for Villa across all competitions in which he has managed to score 23 goals and provide 13 assists along the way (per Transfermarkt).

TIF Thoughts on Ashley Preece’s comments on El Ghazi…

Taking into account how the Dutchman managed to score 11 goals in 31 appearances for Villa last season across all competitions, it’s understandable to hear that Smith and many others at the club rate El Ghazi so highly.

Do you think Villa should sell El Ghazi this summer?

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In our view, if the winger has another successful season at Villa in terms of scoring goals, then the club should definitely consider offering him a new deal to keep him there for the foreseeable future.

However, with Villa having already added Emi Buendia to their ranks this summer and are reportedly in talks to sign Bayer Leverkusen winger Leon Bailey as well, it would be interesting to see where that would leave El Ghazi in terms of the pecking order for Villa’s wingers – so perhaps potential uncertainty over his future is not too surprising.

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