Aston Villa Eyes Aaron Wan-Bissaka for Right-Back Role
Unai Emery has drawn a thick red circle around one position this summer: right-back.
Aston Villa’s head coach wants a squad that can go the distance in the Premier League and handle the strain of Champions League nights, and he sees that flank as a fault line that needs reinforcing. Matty Cash remains the current first-choice, but Emery wants genuine, high-level competition. That search has led Villa to a familiar Premier League name: Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
According to The Athletic, the 28-year-old West Ham United defender sits near the top of Villa’s shortlist. His reputation as an elite one-on-one defender and his comfort in different defensive structures tick key boxes for Emery, who demands tactical flexibility from his backline rather than a simple overlap-and-cross full-back.
Villa turn to Wan-Bissaka after early misses
Villa’s move comes after other attempts to strengthen the position stalled earlier in the window. A proposed deal for Flamengo’s Emerson Royal, formerly of Tottenham Hotspur, never got off the ground. With that avenue closed, Villa’s recruitment team shifted quickly, and Wan-Bissaka has emerged as a leading alternative.
The timing is deliberate. Villa are not just building for another top-four push after last season’s fourth-place Premier League finish; they are gearing up for the Champions League after lifting the Europa League last term. Depth is no longer a luxury. It is a requirement.
West Ham’s relegation opens the door
West Ham’s relegation to the Championship has changed the landscape. For the first time since the 2011-12 campaign, the east London club are preparing for second-tier football. That drop brings financial and sporting recalculations, and the Hammers are understood to be open to sanctioning Wan-Bissaka’s exit.
He featured 27 times in all competitions last season, contributing three assists, but his influence faded as the campaign wore on. In West Ham’s final seven matches, he started only twice, increasingly losing his place to Kyle Walker-Peters. For a defender of his pedigree, that kind of reduced role underlines why a move back into a Champions League environment would feel like a reset.
The obstacle is his contract. Wan-Bissaka is tied to West Ham until 2031, having penned a seven-year deal when he arrived from Manchester United in a £15 million transfer. That long agreement underpins a high valuation, and any deal will require Villa to decide just how much they are willing to invest in a specialist defensive full-back.
International form and Old Trafford pedigree
While West Ham faltered, Wan-Bissaka’s stock on the international stage held firm. He started all four of DR Congo’s matches at this summer’s World Cup, delivering a series of strong displays that attracted attention from scouts across Europe. Those performances reinforced the sense that, in the right setup, he still belongs at the top level.
His body of work at Manchester United remains a major part of his appeal. Across five seasons at Old Trafford, Wan-Bissaka made 190 appearances and established himself as one of Europe’s most reliable one-v-one defenders. He played central roles in the United sides that lifted the EFL Cup in 2022-23 and the FA Cup in 2023-24, proving he can live with the pressure and expectations that come with chasing trophies on multiple fronts.
For Villa, the question is simple but sharp: is Wan-Bissaka the final piece in Emery’s defensive puzzle, or just one option in a market that will only get more frantic as the window wears on?
