Not Folarin Balogun! Aston Villa transfer prediction sees eye-catching goalkeeper preferred to USMNT striker as Stan Collymore casts an eye over World Cup talent

England international playmaker Morgan Rogers is said to be attracting plenty of admiring glances, with a record-breaking £130 million ($174m) move to Premier League champions Arsenal being speculated on. A sale may have to be considered with Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) being factored into the equation.

Departures will give Emery and Co some money to spend, with it important to reinforce a squad that brought a 30-year wait for tangible success to a close last season when savouring Europa League glory.

Villa are short on natural strikers, with Ollie Watkins often left ploughing a lone furrow in that department. Competition for the 30-year-old may be sought in the current window, with Balogun among those said to be under consideration.

The Arsenal academy graduate hit 19 goals for Ligue 1 side Monaco in the 2026-27 campaign, before heading to a home World Cup with the USMNT and finding the target on three occasions at that event - while also picking up a controversial red card that ultimately saw his proposed ban suspended following supposed political intervention.

Collymore is not convinced that the 25-year-old frontman is what Villa needs. He wants to see additions made on the flanks, while also suggesting that highly-rated Japan international goalkeeper Zion Suzuki could be targeted to take over from World Cup winner Emi Martinez between the sticks.

Asked about a potential move to bring Balogun back to English football, ex-Villa striker Collymore - speaking in association with BetTOM - told GOAL: “I'm always sceptical of World Cup players because it's kind of like they've been there for a four-year cycle for their countries and playing for various teams.

“I was chatting to a couple of friends about the goalkeepers - the DR Congo goalkeeper that did very well - and the World Cup is a sort of shop window, but it still is only two, three, four games whereby you're kind of proving yourself on a stage. I'm sure that Unai Emery and the staff at Aston Villa will be looking at players that have done the business over a number of years and Balogun wouldn't necessarily fit into that.

“I'm sure that Villa will be linked with players that have done well in the World Cup. I know that Suzuki, the Japanese goalkeeper, he's a different kettle of fish because not only is he his country's number one, but he's a burgeoning young goalkeeper in club football - so he would make sense.

“Balogun? Not so sure. The one player actually that I think has done well is Brian Brobbey. I know that he's already at Sunderland, he's under contract etc etc. He's probably the best non-goal scoring striker that I've seen for quite some time because he occupies defenders, he turns them, he twists them.

“But I think that with Brobbey you would need a system that plays him alongside a central striker, and Villa don't do that - effectively a 4-3-3. I think that it's going to be narrowed down to, yes, if Morgan Rogers goes, somebody that can play in an advanced central midfield position, but I think that their priorities have been known for quite some time.

“If the goalkeeper ends up going, Emi Martinez - he might end up winning the World Cup again and might say there's the time I need to go - that would be one. There'd be room with Suzuki.

“But I think with Villa it's wide pace to get the best out of balls into the box to Ollie Watkins. Ollie will be in a Villa shirt for another two, three, four years, so I think the priority will be getting good service to him - which wasn't always the case last season.”

Watkins scored 21 goals for Villa last season across 55 appearances in all competitions and has been a model of consistency following his then club-record £28m ($37m) move to Villa Park from Brentford in 2020.

Emery may decide that he does not need a Balogun type to come in alongside his proven No.11, but the American forward should expect to attract offers from somewhere after proving himself in France and on world football’s grandest international stage.