Aston Villa Target Aaron Wan-Bissaka for Right-Back Upgrade
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 on several fronts, and he believes upgrading competition for Matty Cash is essential if Villa are to look at the Champions League with anything more than curiosity. Into that picture steps Aaron Wan-Bissaka, now one of the leading names on Villa’s shortlist, as reported by The Athletic.
At 28, Wan-Bissaka brings a very specific profile. He is an elite one-on-one defender, a specialist in shutting down wide threats, and Villa see that as a perfect match for the tactical demands Emery places on his backline. The Spaniard wants full-backs who can shift shape, lock down their flank and still adapt to different game plans in Europe and at home. Wan-Bissaka ticks those boxes.
Villa pivot after early right-back setbacks
Villa’s interest has hardened after other plans in the same position fell apart earlier in the window. The club, fresh from Europa League glory and a fourth-place finish in the Premier League, are trying to assemble a group that can handle the extra strain of Champions League football. They moved for Emerson Royal, the Flamengo defender and former Tottenham Hotspur right-back, but that deal never got off the ground.
Once that avenue closed, attention swung firmly to Wan-Bissaka.
The timing is significant. Villa are no longer shopping as plucky outsiders; they are recruiting as a Champions League club with trophies in the cabinet and a manager with a clear blueprint. They want depth, experience and players who have lived at the sharp end of European and domestic competition. Wan-Bissaka’s name fits comfortably in that category.
West Ham’s relegation opens the door
On the other side of the equation, West Ham United are in a very different place. Relegation to the Championship has dragged the east London club back into the second tier for the first time since the 2011-12 season and forced some hard conversations about the squad.
In that context, West Ham are understood to be open to letting Wan-Bissaka go. The right-back made 27 appearances in all competitions last season and chipped in with three assists, but his status slipped as the campaign wore on. He started only two of the club’s final seven matches, often watching on as Kyle Walker-Peters took his spot.
For a player tied to the London Stadium until 2031 on a seven-year contract signed after a £15 million move from Manchester United, any transfer will not come cheap. The valuation is high. Even so, a switch to a Champions League side would mark a sharp upturn for a defender who ended last season fighting for minutes in a team that ultimately went down.
International stock still rising
Wan-Bissaka’s club form may have stuttered, but his international standing with DR Congo has gone in the opposite direction. He started all four of their matches at this summer’s World Cup and impressed enough to draw attention from scouts tracking defensive reinforcements.
Those performances reinforced the image that first formed during his time at Manchester United: a full-back who relishes isolation duels, times his tackles cleanly and rarely gets beaten on the outside.
Before his move to West Ham, Wan-Bissaka built his reputation at Old Trafford, where he became one of Europe’s most reliable one-on-one defenders. Over five seasons with United, he amassed 190 appearances and played a central role in squads that lifted the EFL Cup in 2022-23 and the FA Cup in 2023-24.
That pedigree, combined with his age and defensive profile, explains why Emery and Villa’s recruitment team keep coming back to his name. If Villa want to turn a Champions League return into something more sustained, this is exactly the type of battle-hardened defender they may need to drag them through the next stage of their rise.
