Aston Villa have reportedly had a €35m+ bid for Moussa Diaby rejected by Bayer Leverkusen, but talks between the two clubs are ongoing.
Villa have already confirmed the signings of Youri Tielemans and Pau Torres so far this summer to strengthen our midfield and defence respectively, and now the focus appears to be on bolstering our attacking options for Unai Emery.
READ MORE: What Pau Torres said on his move to Villa and Emery discussions
According to Fabrizio Romano, Villa have had a bid of €35m plus add-ons rejected by Leverkusen, but negotiations are continuing and the deal remains on. He adds that the 24-year-old wants to join us and has agreed terms, but ultimately a deal needs to be reached between the two clubs for the transfer to progress.
Diaby came through the youth ranks at Paris Saint-Germain before moving to Germany in 2019, where he has gone on to score 49 goals and provide 48 assists in 172 appearances for Leverkusen.
Further, he has earned nine caps for France, and it certainly appears as though he has a big future ahead of him and time will tell if his development continues with us.
It’s an area of the squad that was always likely to be addressed this summer, with Villa failing to bring in a desired target in January despite Emery openly revealing to the media that he wanted to add a right-winger to his group.
Diaby would solve that issue with the added bonus of his ability to play across the pitch in the final third, but he is just one of several names that have been paired with a move to join us in recent days.
Time will tell if he could be one of multiple new additions to bolster our attack, as not only do we need to add competition and depth up top to support the likes of Ollie Watkins and Emiliano Buendia, but if exits are expected too perhaps for Philippe Coutinho and Leon Bailey, then there will be a need for a more significant reshuffling of the pack.
It certainly sounds promising as far as Diaby is concerned though, as with the dialogue continuing, Villa will be hopeful of reaching a compromise and edging closer to our third summer signing in the coming days.
