Aston Villa are reportedly still in talks with Bayern Munich over a loan deal for midfielder Joao Palhinha.
Villa suffered a major blow earlier this month as Amadou Onana sustained a serious knee injury during the World Cup, which in turn will force him to miss most, if not all, of the upcoming season.
As a result, Unai Emery will want to fill that void this summer and ensure that he has enough quality competition and cover to compete across multiple fronts, and it appears as though we have set our sights on his preferred solution.
Subscribe to Talk Villa+ below for ad-free weekly newsletters, exclusive articles and much more sent directly to you. The TalkVilla podcast is also now available, have a listen, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or YouTube. UTV!
According to BirminghamLive’s John Townley, despite reports suggesting otherwise, Palhinha isn’t travelling to Birmingham on Saturday to complete his loan move from Bayern, as talks are ongoing between the two clubs to find an agreement.
The 31-year-old would be a sensible addition to our squad as he boasts plenty of experience at the top level after spells with Sporting, Fulham, Bayern and Tottenham.
He would also undoubtedly tick the right boxes to replace Onana for a season with his defensive qualities, physicality, tenacity and ability to stamp his mark on a midfield battle, but after a couple of run-ins with Villa players last season, it could be an interesting first meeting with the squad if he completes a move.
It’s already a busy transfer window for Villa with Youri Tielemans having departed, while Lucas Digne is expected to follow with speculation building over other key members of our squad.
In turn, we continue to be linked with signings of our own to try and improve the squad in this window, and in addition to Palhinha, Johan Manzambi has already arrived from Freiburg while Joao Gomes is set to follow from Wolves imminently.
It’s likely that that will be far from the end of our business, but Palhinha appears to be a priority as we continue to bolster our midfield ranks.