In this piece, I suggest an exciting option who has been linked with a big move already this summer with Arsenal and Rennes both keen. That player is Yaser Asprilla, who is thought to be available for £25m.
Asprilla is a 20-year-old left-footed right winger who joined Watford in 2021. As soon as he joined, the inevitable question was whether he could replicate the success of former Newcastle forward Faustino Asprilla. Yaser joined Watford as a very confident teenager full belief in his abilities. He started his career at Envigado, where the likes of James Rodriguez, Mateus Uribe and many other talents have come from.
During his youth days, Asprilla would play as a No.10 due to his ability to find space between the lines. When making the step up to senior football though, they knew he may struggle physically when receiving the ball in crowded central areas, so instead he started playing out on the right and this suited him a lot. He was able to take advantage of his brilliant ball carrying ability and allowed him to arrive in central areas when opting to cut inside on his left.
Asprilla offers versatility. He’s at his best on the right but can also play as No.10, has had game time off the left and as a centre forward during his youth days. Asprilla loves to link play and is an excellent passer via through balls. He is a good carrier of the ball, a dangerous dribbler and great at resisting pressure centrally. The Colombian tracks back diligently too, is quite smart in his pressing movements, will curve his runs and block lanes.
He is also good at unlocking low blocks. One movement he does that I love is he will start a dummy run then quickly drop to receive the ball, which creates space for his teammate to run into before he threads a through ball into said runner. Foden does this a lot as well, both players are quite similar in terms of their profile.
Asprilla has only got 31 goal contributions across his entire career, although he was involved in 14 goals (six goals and eight assists) last season for Watford, showing real signs of improvement in terms of his output. The youngster also has two goals in six appearances for Colombia’s senior side after three goals in four games for their U20s. He has quite a slight frame, so may need to fill out and build his strength to work in a high-intensity Eddie Howe side.
In conclusion, I believe Yaser Asprilla would be a smart buy if we sign Guehi, struggle to sell and are left with limited funds to sign a new right-winger.
He would massively improve the technical levels of our squad and offer versatility in forward areas. As things stan, he may not be the correct physical profile for our squad, but it would be great to see us bring in another exciting young winger with potential to reach the top after we cashed in on Yankuba Minteh at the end of June.
We may opt against a deal like this given our need for more of a proven goalscorer offering an immediate upgrade on Almiron or Murphy, but he could be Minteh mark two and a great investment.
