Aston Villa have reportedly reached a verbal agreement with midfielder Leon Goretzka as he looks set to join us on a free transfer.
The 31-year-old is currently a free agent after leaving Bayern Munich earlier this summer following his contract expiring, and with our need to bolster our midfield options this summer, it looks as though we’ve found an excellent solution.
Goretzka joined Bayern in 2018 after spells with Bochum and Schalke, going on to make 312 appearances for the Bavarian giants and scoring 51 goals and providing 53 assists in those outings. Further, he has 15 goals in 73 caps for Germany, and so there is no doubt over his experience and pedigree at the top level.
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According to Fabrizio Romano, Villa have now reached a verbal agreement with the German international with Unai Emery said to have had a direct call with him to discuss the switch, and the plan now is for him to travel to England in order to undergo his medical and complete the formalities of his move in the coming week with the documents ready.
Following the departure of Youri Tielemans and the injury sustained by Amadou Onana, Villa moved to sign Joao Gomes early in the summer transfer window, but it was felt that more was needed in that department to ensure we had enough quality and competition to compete at the top level and across multiple fronts.
With his experience, leadership and ability, Goretzka ticks a lot of important boxes given we’ve signed a number of talented young players so far this summer, and so Emery will no doubt relish working with him as one of the new leading figures in his squad.
It’s hoped that the deal now goes through without any late issues and we may well see Goretzka in action next weekend against Arsenal, but it’s another important addition in a busy summer window, with Goretzka following Gomes, Johan Manzambi, Alejandro Garnacho, Matteo Ruggeri, Zion Suzuki and Aaron Wan-Bissaka in arriving to reinforce the squad and hopefully address what was needed in order to make this another successful season and beyond.
