Aston Villa have reportedly ‘advanced with approaches’ to understand what it could take to sign Sporting ace Pedro Goncalves this summer.
The 24-year-old has enjoyed another excellent season with the Portuguese giants, scoring 20 goals and providing 15 assists in 51 appearances across all competitions.
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This isn’t the first time that speculation has paired Villa with an interest in the talented, creative playmaker, but according to A Bola, we are insistent on Goncalves and have ‘advanced with approaches’ to better understand what it would take to prise him away from Sporting this summer.
It’s added that he has an €80m release clause in his current contract, and so it remains to be seen if Villa can negotiate a lower fee or if that is indeed the asking price, and in turn if that is enough to force us to look elsewhere or not as we have yet to launch an official offer.
While Emiliano Buendia was a trusted option for Unai Emery this past season, question marks surely remain over Philippe Coutinho’s future at the club given his limited impact and unreliability last year due to injuries.
Further, it remains to be seen if the likes of Bertrand Traore and Leon Bailey have long-term places in our plans, and so adding creativity, technical quality and a goal threat in the final third will likely be a priority for Villa in the coming months.
Goncalves undoubtedly ticks a lot of the right boxes and having proven his ability at Sporting for a number of seasons now, coupled with his breakthrough at international level with two caps to his name, it feels as though he is now ready for the next step in his career.
With Emery wanting to control games more and dominate possession as he looks to continue to develop a style of play and the mentality of a top side on the pitch, Goncalves would certainly help with that given his technical ability and composure on the ball.
In turn, it’s hoped that our touted interest and approach ultimately progresses and develops into a formal bid being submitted that satisfies Sporting’s demands for their star man.
