AZ Alkmaar's Bendeguz Kovacs has joined the transfer agenda of several European clubs, including Aston Villa.
This is as of Thursday's edition gazzetta dello sportWho has a brief update on Aston Villa.
The Italian newspaper have covered their interest in 18-year-old Unai Emery in a report focusing on Atalanta's plans to reshape their squad.
La Dea suffered a humiliating 6-1 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League. The return leg will take place at the Allianz Arena on 18 March.
The Serie A team is almost out of Europe and has to focus on domestic competitions. They are in the Coppa Italia semi-finals and will face Lazio in the second leg next month. The first leg ended in a goalless draw.
Meanwhile, Atalanta are already focusing on Rafael Palladino's squad for next season. Kovacs is on his target list for the summer.
Aston Villa in the mix for youngsters
Palladino's team are not alone as the Hungary U19 international is being followed by other clubs.
These include Aston Villa Borussia Dortmund and Sporting, and they have joined Atalanta in the search for a striker.
He is a fan of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who represented several clubs during his playing career, including Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United and AC Milan. In fact, 'Ibrahimovic is his idol'.
Ibrahimovic scored 496 goals and 205 assists in 827 matches in his senior club career between 1999 and 2023. He won league titles with Ajax, Inter Milan, Barcelona, AC Milan, PSG and the Europa League and the EFL Cup with Manchester United.
Kovacs seems to have the potential to explode and will dream of having a similar illustrious career as the Swede.
The Eredivisie side signed him on a free transfer in July 2025 and initially included him in their U19 squad. Kovacs forced his way into the AZ Alkmaar U21 squad in January, but has yet to make his senior debut.
AZ Alkmaar's initial plan was to promote him to the first team, but they could sell him in the summer for €5m. If Aston Villa sign him, it will likely be for their reserve team initially.
COVAX statistics, contracts and agent information
The young striker's contract is till 2028 transfer market No mention of its value yet.
He has scored 10 goals in 21 matches for Ajax U19 and 15 goals in 18 matches for AZ Alkmaar U19. Kovacs has continued his good form with the U21s and has scored five goals in seven matches so far.
It seems that Kovacs' prospects are high and that may be one reason why Spanish agency LeaderBrock Sports is representing him. His client list includes Barcelona's Pedri and Ferran Torres and Atletico Madrid's Rodrigo Mendoza.
