Alysson following Morgan Rogers footsteps as Aston Villa's gamble £10m pays off

When Alysson arrived at Aston Villa in a £10.4m deal from Gremio in January, the scouting report described a raw, but very talented player with incredible potential.

After a slow start to his Villa career, the Brazilian has now broken into Unai Emery’s first team and his influence seems to be growing week by week.

Alysson was not a well-known prospect when Villa signed him, but it only took a few compilation videos to see the vision behind the signing.

He looked eerily reminiscent of Morgan Rogers in terms of size, being unusually tall (6’0”) and long-legged for a wide player, and possessed the same powerful running ability, as well as the flicks and tricks one might expect from a Brazilian winger.

For the price, it was a worthwhile gamble to make and was not dissimilar to the bet Emery made on Rogers when signing him in a deal worth up to £15m from Middlesbrough two years earlier. Rogers was 21 at that time, two years older than Alysson was upon his arrival at Villa Park.

Alysson’s start to life in Birmingham was complicated by the fact the Brazilian season runs by calendar year, meaning he had just completed a full campaign and had no rest before joining Villa.

Through a combination of nagging injuries and potentially general burnout, he was unavailable for most of his first half-season, leading to frustration from fans, especially as Villa lacked dynamism for long stretches of the campaign before kicking into gear in the last month or two.

He entered this season as something of an unknown quantity in the forward positions, with no one really knowing how much he would factor into the equation as Emery searched for his best team.

Villa spent heavily in attack on Ibrahim Mbaye, Johan Manzambi and Alejandro Garnacho, and Alysson also had to compete with trusted holdovers like John McGinn and Emi Buendia.

It has taken time, but Alysson now seems to have got himself ahead of many of those players in Emery's thinking.

The 20-year-old has started five of Villa’s last seven games, only missing the Carabao Cup game against Bournemouth – which was probably a case of resting him rather than dropping him – and Barcelona, where Buendia was preferred likely due to his defensive discipline.

Alysson scored his first goal for the club back in September against Nottingham Forest, and that seems to have really kickstarted his Villa career. He netted again in the 4-4 draw with Manchester United.

Perhaps the biggest area he needed to improve on when he arrived was his decision making and end product, having only scored once and provided two assists in 31 appearances (21 starts) for Gremio in the 2025 season.

Admittedly he can still look a bit scruffy in front of goal, but he already has two goals and an assist for Villa across the Premier League and Champions League this term, and has also won two penalties.

He has the top speed of any Villa player this season at 22 mph, and his directness from the right wing has been a real weapon.

Perhaps the biggest reason why Alysson has been able to earn Emery’s trust is his positional sense and defensive contribution. He is ahead of Mbaye and Garnacho in that department right now, which is understandable as he has more time in the system.

He is second on the team in interceptions per 90 minutes with 1.6, behind only Aaron Wan-Bissaka. At the moment he is providing an ideal half way house between the discipline of Buendia and the quality of Mbaye.

As he approaches a year at the club, Alysson looks like another transfer success story and has a bright future ahead of him.