The five sensational strikers Aston Villa could sign to replace Durán - including £42m Chelsea gem

All of a sudden, Aston Villa have a problem up front. Having spent the season rotating two strikers who were both hugely impressive in front of goal, Unai Emery faces a shortage of resources, with Jhon Durán undergoing a medical ahead of a lucrative transfer to Saudi Arabian side Al Nassr and Ollie Watkins the subject of a bid from Arsenal. How Emery and sporting director Monchi handle the next few days could have a huge impact on Villa’s success – or lack of it – moving forward.

Durán, who boasts one of the highest goals per game ratios in the Premier League, is all but gone. Villa will make a tidy profit on a deal reportedly worth at least £65m and the Colombian will become a very wealthy young man, but it will leave Villa with Watkins as their only recognised senior striker – and it remains unclear whether Arsenal will return with a second bid after an opening offer of £60m was rebuffed.

Emery will almost certainly not want to lose Watkins, who remained the first-choice centre-forward despite Durán’s remarkable goal-scoring form, but there is always the chance that the England striker decides to push for a move and that the Gunners return with a rather more palatable bid. If Watkins leave, Villa will be out of strikers unless they sign someone, and even if he stays put Villa will need to find someone who can back him up when required. There are too many matches in the schedule for the club to rely on one man alone.

Morgan Rogers is probably the next best option in the current squad, and his growing confidence in front of goal was neatly demonstrated by a Champions League hat-trick against Celtic – but he is a regular starter in his own right in a supporting role, and using him in place of Watkins occasionally would not solve the issue of how to keep the front line fresh as the fixtures mount up.

A few rumours about prospective signings are already mounting up, and there are forwards likely to be available on the transfer market who could provide a potential solution – we’ve looked at the case for a few candidates below to see how they would fit into Emery’s scheme and whether they could be the solution to a puzzle nobody at Villa will have anticipated the need to solve.

Mathys Tel

Fabrizio Romano has wasted no time connecting Villa with a move for the lavishly talented teenage forward, who looks likely to leave Bayern Munich in the search for more game time than he has been getting under Vincent Kompany. He will likely leave Bavaria on an initial loan deal with a purchase option, and it would represent a major coup if Villa could persuade him to move to the Midlands.

Tel can play both on the left wing and as a striker, and thrives when given opportunities to get in behind the defence – while he still needs to develop his ability to work through deep-set opposing defences, his pace, exceptional close control and lethal finishing mean he should be superbly well suited to the Watkins role, playing high up the pitch and off the shoulder of the last man.

The 19-year-old’s ceiling is stratospherically high, and he could be a transformational player in the long run. The only concern is that getting hold of him may be hard – Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Manchester United are all alleged to hold an interest, and the chance to sign one of Europe’s top prospects will likely entice plenty of other clubs as well. A near-perfect signing, but one that will be hard to pull off.

Baris Alper Yilmaz

Reports in the Turkish media, relayed via Sport Witness, claim that Villa are looking at 24-year-old forward Yilmaz, who has scored 10 goals in 20 league games for Galatasaray this season. Nottingham Forest and West Ham are also interested, with a bid of around £25m from the Hammers allegedly rebuffed already.

One issue with signing Yilmaz is that he is primarily used as a winger, although he has occasionally operated as a centre-forward for both his club and country – and another is that Galatasaray seem to want to hold on to him until the summer. This may be a deal that Villa struggle to get done unless they’re prepared to pay over the odds.

He does have plenty of qualities which suggest that he could do well in a Watkins-style role, however – he’s quick, a fine dribbler who knows how to beat his man and exploit space, and an excellent, composed finisher who, like Tel, is better suited to playing in more advanced areas as he doesn’t always keep control of the ball as well he could.

João Félix

It’s only been six months since the Portuguese forward joined Chelsea on a permanent deal worth an initial £42m, but Enzo Maresca already seems to have grown frustrated with the 25-year-old’s output and there have been reports that Villa could look into a bid for a player who has struggled to live up to early hype.

While solid details of any potential bid are few and far between, Félix is not likely to provide a direct solution to the departure of Durán or Watkins – he is not a natural goalscorer and is at his best out wide or in the number ten role, playing in tight spaces and playing quick interchanges. His track record in front of goal since leaving Benfica has been consistently unimpressive.

He could, however, create enough strength in depth behind the striker that it frees up Rogers to become a striker on a more regular basis without running into exhaustion issues – but making this the solution would rely on Rogers proving that he can play as a striker on a regular basis.

Ricardo Pepi & Mateo Retegui

The 22-year-old American striker is already the subject of interest from West Ham, who reportedly had a loan bid with an obligation to buy worth £21m turned down, with Pepi’s club PSV disinterested in selling – but the Durán money could give Villa the financial strength to strongarm the Dutch side into accepting an offer.

Pepi has an impressive goalscoring record with PSV, bagging 17 goals in 28 games this season, and is a fine technician who excels in tight spaces with players close to him. He doesn’t have a particularly impressive burst of acceleration, however, and can struggle to exploit high lines, which makes him a very different sort of forward than Watkins.

Another player that Villa have been linked with is Atalanta and Italy striker Mateo Retegui, who has been in sensational form this season, scoring 19 goals already in Serie A and the Champions League. A lethal finisher who loves to attack space behind the defence, he would be a great fit for Emery’s style of play but given that his current side only signed him last summer, it seems unlikely that anything other than a colossal bid could persuade Atalanta to consider parting ways. Pepi and Retegui are both players that Villa would likely have to overpay for.