AZ Alkmaar’s Bendegúz Kovács has ended up on the transfer agenda of several European clubs, including Aston Villa.
That’s according to Thursday’s edition of Gazzetta dello Sport, who have a short update on Aston Villa.
The Italian newspaper covers Unai Emery’s side interest in the 18-year-old in a report focusing on Atalanta’s plans to reshape their squad.
La Dea suffered a 6-1 humiliating defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League. The return leg will take place at the Allianz Arena on March 18th.
The Serie A side are almost out of Europe and have domestic competitions to focus on. They are in the Coppa Italia semi-final and face Lazio in the second leg next month. The first leg ended in a goalless draw.
Meanwhile, Atalanta are already focusing on Raffaele Palladino’s squad for next season. Kovács is in their target list for the summer.
Aston Villa in mix for youngster
Palladino’s side aren’t alone as the Hungary U19 international is also being pursued by other clubs.
This includes Aston Villa Borussia Dortmund and Sporting, and they join Atalanta in the chase for the striker.
He is a fan of Zlatan Ibrahimović, who represented several clubs, including Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United and AC Milan during his playing career. In fact, ‘Ibrahimović is his idol’.
Ibrahimović managed 496 goals and 205 assists from 827 matches across 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.
Kovács seems to have the potential to explode and would dream to have a career as illustrious as the Swede.
The Eredivisie side signed him on a free transfer in July 2025 and initially included him in their U19 side. Kovács made his way into AZ Alkmaar U21 squad in January but is yet to make his senior debut.
AZ Alkmaar’s initial plan was to promote him to the first team, but they could sell him for €5m in the summer. If Aston Villa were to sign him, it’ll likely initially be for their reserve team.
Kovács’ stats, contract and agent info
The young striker has a contract until 2028 and Transfermarkt make no mention of his value yet.
He’s managed 10 goals from 21 matches for Ajax U19 and 15 goals from 18 matches for AZ Alkmaar U19. Kovács has continued his good run with the U21s, scoring five goals from seven matches so far.
Kovács seems to have a high ceiling, and that could be one of the reasons Spanish agency Leaderbrock Sports are representing him. Their client list includes Barcelona’s Pedri and Ferran Torres, and Atlético Madrid’s Rodrigo Mendoza.
