Aston Villa are reportedly closing in on the signing of LASK defender Modou Keba Cisse in a deal worth around £4m.
The 19-year-old joined the Austrian outfit in January and has gone on to make 15 appearances at senior level for them as a natural centre-half with the ability to play as a defensive midfielder too.
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It appears as though he’s certainly caught the attention of Villa, as the Express and Star report that we are expected to secure a deal to sign the talented youngster for a fee of around £4m, while he will return to LASK on loan for the upcoming campaign.
While Cisse has evidently shown enough potential and talent to earn his move to Villa, it’s a sensible touted strategy to allow him to continue to improve and develop in surroundings he already knows well, and hopefully he’ll join up with Unai Emery and his coaching staff next summer better prepared for the next chapter of his career.
It’s another intriguing addition from the club though as we continue to target talented youngsters with a lot of upside both in terms of talent and value, and so it will be fascinating to see if Cisse is one of the players capable of making a breakthrough in the Villa first-team further down the line, or if he’ll ultimately follow a different path and be sold on for a profit in the future.
Either way, it’s an important part of our larger transfer strategy given we’ve already seen Villa move to sign the likes of Zepiqueno Redmond and Yasin Ozcan this summer, albeit we’ll hopefully strike the necessary balance in the coming weeks of adding players who can make an impact in the more immediate future and help Emery and the current squad become more competitive for the season ahead.
For Cisse though, he’ll hope to continue to play a prominent role at LASK next season, impress Emery and earn a spot in his plans moving forward, provided that his touted switch to Villa goes ahead.
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