'One of the best' - Celtic duo touted for Aston Villa transfer as former hero makes his case to Unai Emery

Ex-Celtic favourite Stiliyan Petrov has told his former club Aston Villa to raid the Scottish Premiership in the January window in order to further strengthen their squad.

The English Premier League (EPL) outfit have had an excellent start to the new season and secured a breath-taking victory against Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich in midweek, with John Duran’s 79th minute strike handing them a memorable 1-0 win at Villa Park.

Unai Emery’s side have had the perfect start to their debut Champions League campaign, with the win over Bayern Munich adding to their commanding 3-0 win over Swiss outfit Young Boys a fortnight ago. Domestically they are performing well too, and currently sit in fifth position in the EPL, having won four of their first six games.

After their encouraging start to the campaign, former Celtic and Villa midfielder Petrov believes they should look north of the border in January to add further quality to their squad, namechecking two ‘incredible’ Celtic stars as players he believes would fit perfectly into the Villa squad.

Former Celtic star Stiliyan Petrov in action against AC Milan. | Getty Images

When asked which Celtic players he believes could add to Emery’s team, he told Gambling.com: “Listen, Celtic at the moment are performing really well, but I would like to see probably two players, [Daizen] Maeda or Kyogo [Furuhashi].

"I think they'd suit every team. 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. Kyogo is just a classy player, a great striker with so much ability, really clever and the main thing is he score goals.

“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 stage in the Champions League we'll see if that will still be successful.

“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. And at the moment we see a completely different style from Unai Emery, but it seems like it’s working for him so far."