Aston Villa continue to make headlines ahead of the summer transfer window with Tom Heaton and Emiliano Buendia updates emerging on Tuesday.
Dean Smith will hope to strengthen his squad this summer to help his side build on their 11th-place finish in the Premier League this past season, while he’ll potentially have to bid farewell to certain players too.
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Neil Taylor and Ahmed Elmohamady are out of contract next month and Ross Barkley’s loan spell comes to an end, and so there will be holes in the squad that need to be addressed ahead of next season as well as improving in other areas too.
Heaton set for Villa exit
As per The Mirror, Heaton is expected to leave Villa Park this summer too with the veteran goalkeeper set to see his current contract with us expire next month.
The report notes that he has now agreed a move to Man Utd, where he will likely provide competition and depth behind David De Gea and Dean Henderson.
The 35-year-old was an important member of the Villa squad, with his quality and experience providing a real boost after his arrival from Burnley as he provided reliability and stability between the posts.
However, following a serious knee injury and the signing of Emiliano Martinez last summer, he would likely have found playing time hard to come by at Villa and so a late chance to be part of a trophy-winning side at United is a fair move for him at this stage of his career.
For Villa, it is likely to mean that we will look to bring in another shot-stopper to provide depth behind Martinez.
Villa ready to make Buendia offer
Elsewhere, The Telegraph report that Villa are set for a transfer scrap with Arsenal over Buendia this summer, as the Argentine is expected to leave Norwich City despite their promotion to the Premier League.
It’s added that it’s likely to cost up to £40m to prise him away from Carrow Road, but Villa are understood to be preparing an offer and so it remains to be seen if we can fend off Arsenal, agree terms with Norwich and bring Buendia to Villa Park this summer.
The 24-year-old enjoyed a fine season last year, scoring 15 goals and providing 17 assists in 41 appearances.
Coupled with a breakthrough at international level, he is seemingly going from strength to strength at this stage of his career and so time will tell if Villa land a major signing to bolster out attacking options ahead of next season.