Hang on a minute…weren’t Villa meant to revamp their 17 points squad of last season, to make a serious fist of promotion from the Championship at the first attempt? It’s certainly been quiet on the transfer report front compared to recent seasons.
Worried? Well, in just over a week’s time, the new season kicks off and from the evidence of preseason so far, it doesn’t look like too much has changed.
Does this mean they’ll be a busy week ahead in the transfer market? Hmmm. Well, these are the clues that have been floating around the press at potential activity to come…
Right-Back Priorities
A new right-back is on every Villa fans wish list as Micah Richards looks to be leaving at some point and the merits of Alan Hutton polarises Villa fans. We definitely need a fresh option with quality going forward, as early hints have shown Roberto Di Matteo prefers his full-backs to bomb on. This week, the Express and Star have reported that Villa are looking into a Premier League champion in Ritchie De Laet from Leicester.
The Belgian-born right-back helped Middlesbrough to promotion last year while on loan, as they finished second. De Laet is potentially a good buy with pace to burn and with Leicester keen to sell the 27-year-old, it’s possible Villa could grab him on the cheap as well.
There hasn’t been any approaches by Villa for the player as of yet, but apparently Roberto Di Matteo seems keen on him.
McCormack News
We’ve been linked with McCormack all summer and the reports have intensified after Di Matteo confirmed that we’re pursuing a striker. No matter what week you read an article that’s published about McCormack, they all seem to resonate the same message, we’re interested and so are several other rival clubs (mostly our fellow relegated clubs, Norwich and Newcastle) with £10-15 million apparently being the estimated figure that Fulham want.
However, this week Sky Sports have reported that Norwich City look the most likely to sign the Scottish goalscorer, as they’ve put in a bid of £10million.
The reports about McCormack are getting tedious, but bar a late bid, the striker looks to be moving to Carrow Road. At least it’ll put the rumours and reports to bed, so Villa and likewise journalists, can turn their interests elsewhere.
Nantes Player Linked
After playing Nantes in a pre-season friendly and Jordan Veretout being completely unimpressive on his return to his old club, we were linked with one of their attacking players.
According to L’Equipe; Villa, Leeds, Wolves and Brighton are all interested in Yacine Bammou, the FC Nantes’ striker had a fairly disappointing season with the French club looking to offload him.
Doesn’t quite sound like a game changer for Villa.
Marseille Miss Out
Again our newly found French friends at L’Equipe, who since Tim Sherwood and Paddy Riley combined to sign several French league players, have helped us with their reports about those very same players leaving the club. This time round, Jordan Veretout was looking to leave this summer but apparently a loan move to Marseille has completely stalled and is now dead in the water.
However, that doesn’t mean that the interest in our French midfielder has stalled as Real Betis are now reportedly seeking the 23-year-old.
Guzan Going (Update)
Fresh Reports have arrived today confirming earlier speculation that Brad Guzan is likely to leave Villa on a free this week, with some papers even saying that the deal could be wrapped up so quickly that he could feature in the friendly for Middlesbrough against Villa this Saturday. That would certainly add an extra element of fun to the friendly at Villa Park.
UTV
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