Aston Villa completed their 2022/23 campaign with a 2-1 win over Brighton and Hove Albion to secure a seventh-placed finish in the Premier League table.
The Villans will now be competing in the Europa Conference League next season and Unai Emery could use the lure of European football to make improvements to his squad in the summer transfer window.
Earlier this month, the Daily Mail reported that Villa and Tottenham Hotspur are both interested in signing Leicester City forward Harvey Barnes in the coming weeks.
The Foxes were relegated to the Championship on Sunday as their 2-1 win over West Ham United was not enough to keep them up, due to Everton beating Bournemouth, and Emery could take advantage of that by swooping to sign the former England U21 international to bolster his roster.
How did Harvey Barnes perform this season?
He enjoyed a strong campaign with Leicester in spite of their struggles and eventual relegation down to the second tier and could form an exciting partnership with current Villa star Ollie Watkins.
Barnes plundered 13 goals in 34 Premier League appearances in 22/23 and this was a significant improvement on the six goals in 32 matches he managed in the previous year.
The maestro ranks in the top 6% of players in his position in the Men's Big Five Leagues and European competitions over the last 365 days for non-penalty goals per 90 (0.43) and scored his 13 goals from 8.9xG, which means the ace was efficient in front of goal as he outperformed the level of chances his teammates provided him with.
Meanwhile, Watkins was the only Villa player to find the back of the net more than six times in the division, with 15, and this suggests that the Leicester ace could provide a much-needed goal threat from out wide next term.
Barnes, who was once hailed as "exciting" by ex-boss Darren Moore, also has the potential to be a creator for the team. Since the start of last season, the 25-year-old created 13 'big chances' and registered 11 assists in the top-flight, whereas no Villa player provided more than seven assists in 22/23 or six in 21/22.
This suggests that the ex-West Brom loanee could create chances for the clinical and ruthless Watkins to continue firing into the back of the net on a regular basis.
Therefore, the pair could be a dream duo as they are both proven goalscorers in the top flight who could cause major issues for the opposition week-in-week-out, whilst Barnes could also open up opposition defences with his creativity if Emery can get the best out of the £35k-per-week whiz.
