How good is Jacob Ramsey? Aston Villa's midfield star wanted by Bayern and Tottenham

With a good chance of competing for two cup competitions between now and May and sitting comfortably in fourth place in the Premier League, few clubs in the English top-flight look as on-form as Unai Emery’s Aston Villa side. And to no great surprise, the Birmingham club have opted to enjoy a rather quiet January transfer window, making no major signings aside from a €7.5 million deal for young Red Star prospect Kosta Nedeljkovic, who will arrive at the end of the season. Emery and the club’s hierarchy seem content with the players they have. 

However, the January window has a habit of throwing up some unexpected deals and surprises. And while Villa may be resting easy at this moment in time, the club may find themselves having to wrestle with the prospect of losing key players if bigger clubs with deeper pockets get active in the remaining days of the window. And one such player that could cause all sorts of drama before the end of the window is none other than young midfielder Jacob Ramsey. 

Who wants to sign Jacob Ramsey?

With the transfer window approaching its conclusion this week, speculation has grown and grown over the player’s future at Villa. According to the Athletic, Ramsey has already been the subject of an approach from Newcastle. The publication also claims that both Tottenham Hotspur and Bayern Munich are among the clubs that have kept an eye on Ramsey’s rise both for his club and the England U21 side, with Villa potentially considering the prospect of selling the young player for a big offer in order to comply with profit and sustainability rules in the Premier League. 

However, one club has already pushed back on such suggestions. In a press conference on Monday, Newcastle manager Eddie Howe was quick to dismiss any idea of the club signing Ramsey. "That's incorrect,” was Howe’s abrupt answer when asked directly about the Ramsey links, before pointing to Newcastle’s financial situation dictating that they must sell players before they can invest a lot of money on new ones. "It's a complex situation, I don't think anything is clear cut. All eventualities could happen. Probably what we won't do is bring a player in without losing one the other way. All other options could still happen."

How good is Jacob Ramsey?

Ramsey first caught the attention of most clubs in English football through his impressive performances for Villa at youth level. In 38 games for the club’s U18 side, Ramsey developed into an exciting attacking midfielder and bagged 16 goals and four assists. He then repeated the trick when he made the step up to the U23 side, where he bagged eight goals and seven assists in 27 games. As a result, the young midfielder was promptly promoted to the first team and made his first senior start for the club he joined at the age of six in September 2020, at just 19 years of age. 

Since then, Ramsey has gone from strength to strength as an exciting, young Premier League prospect. In his first full season as a Villa starter, the England talent bagged six goals and one assists in 34 league games, averaging 0.25 goals and assists per 90 minutes of football. In the next league campaign, Ramsey picked up six goals and seven assists in 35 league appearances, almost doubling his average goal contributions to 0.44 goals per 90 as an impressive attacking midfielder. Despite his young age, there's no doubt that Ramsey is developing into a player that thrives when allowed to dribble into the opposing box to get into goal-scoring situations or where he can set up chances for team mates. Couple that with some decent defensive tendencies and there's every reason to believe Ramsey could become a fantastic Premier League No.10 or box-to-box midfielder. 

Unfortunately, a foot injury has limited Ramsey’s game time for Villa this season, having made just 10 league appearances and just four starts for the club in the Premier League this season. But there’s little doubt that once he’s back to full fitness he’ll be back amongst the goals and assists for Emery’s side.