Aston Villa are reportedly in talks over the signing of free agent Leon Goretzka to bolster our midfield options.
The 31-year-old is currently without a club after leaving Bayern Munich earlier this summer, but it remains to be seen just how long he is available as a free agent given the experience and quality that he’s capable of bringing to a team.
Goretzka has enjoyed previous spells with Bochum, Schalke and Bayern, scoring 51 goals and providing 53 assists in 312 appearances for the latter while he’s also earned 73 caps for Germany.
READ MORE: Time arrives for Unai Emery’s Aston Villa 2.0
WATCH: Why George Hemmings and Brian Madjo look like future Villa stars
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!
The Bundesliga giants and the midfielder agreed on parting ways this summer having seen his contract run down at a time when he fell down the pecking order under Vincent Kompany, and now according to Matteo Moretto, Villa are in negotiations with his camp over a potential deal to bring him to the Premier League.
It’s unclear what terms have been offered in relation to the length of any contract, but it’s certainly an area in which Villa need to act as we’ve not only sold Youri Tielemans this summer, but Amadou Onana could miss the entire campaign due to injury.
Although we have signed Joao Gomes and he looks as though he could potentially build a really important partnership with Boubacar Kamara in the heart of our midfield, competition and depth will be needed as we look to compete across multiple fronts, and so time will tell if an agreement can be reached with Goretzka to provide us with that injection of experience, leadership and quality.
It would be a departure from the transfer strategy that we’ve largely adopted in this window given the focus on reducing our wage bill and the average age of the squad, but a balance surely is needed in order to help us compete in the short term too, and while it could be a relatively short deal if it’s merely cover for Onana, it could be a really sensible swoop from Villa to bolster our midfield ranks.