Celtic legend Stiliyan Petrov has highlighted two players from his former club that he believes Aston Villa should target for a potential transfer.
The ex-Bulgarian midfielder, who enjoyed a successful seven-year spell at Celtic Park from 1999 to 2006, has praised Japanese forwards Kyogo Furuhashi and Daizen Maeda, stating that they possess the talent to excel in the English Premier League.
Petrov firmly believes that both players would seamlessly integrate into the style of football implemented by Villa manager Unai Emery. However, he acknowledged that there are several other Celtic players who could also thrive at Villa Park.
Speaking to Gambling.com, Petrov said: “In the Champions League, I believe that you need wingers. It seems like at the moment in Unai Emery’s system and style of play, he avoids playing with wingers; he plays with a narrow midfield with typical midfielders. So in the later stages in the Champions League, we’ll see if that will still be successful.”
He continued, “I’d like to see more creative and exciting wingers because this is what it’s all about. You can see that all the big teams play with wingers and play with width. At the moment, we see a completely different style from Unai Emery, but it seems like he’s working for him so far.”
When pressed on which Celtic players would fit well at Villa, Petrov was enthusiastic.
“There’s not one, there’s quite a few (players that would fit in at Aston Villa from Celtic’s team). Listen, Celtic at the moment are performing really well, but I would like to see probably two players, Maeda or Kyogo.”
Petrov went on to extol Maeda’s virtues: “Maeda with his pace, his energy, his ability to push full-backs and to press, it’s incredible. Probably one of the best I’ve seen in football. And Kyogo is just a classy player, a great striker with so much ability, really clever and the main thing is he scores goals.”
With Celtic currently in good form, it’s clear that Petrov believes both players have the potential to make a significant impact should they make the move to Villa Park.