Aston Villa have reportedly reached a verbal agreement with Luton Town to sign Ross Barkley in a deal said to be worth around £5m.
Barkley, 30, enjoyed an impressive season with the Hatters last year, scoring five goals and providing six assists in 37 appearances across all competitions.
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Although he couldn’t prevent them from dropping back down to the Championship, he showed his quality and experience to emerge as one of their more consistent and top performers across the course of the campaign.
Speculation has linked Villa with a swoop for our former loanee this summer, and now Fabrizio Romano reports that we’ve reached a verbal agreement with Luton to sign Barkley in a deal that is expected to be worth around £5m.
He adds that the formalities of the move have yet to be completed in terms of a medical and agreeing on personal terms which is likely to happen in early July, but there has seemingly been an important breakthrough between the two clubs as talks have produced an agreement.
Should a transfer go through as suggested, it looks to be another astute move from Villa and Emery, as we try to strengthen our squad and ensure that we’re better equipped to deal with another gruelling season next year as we continue to compete on multiple fronts.
Barkley’s experience, technical quality and all-round game will have been meticulously analysed and assessed to determine if he’s a good fit for our squad and the style and structure that Emery is building, and there is a lot of trust in their decision-making and judgement as to this touted swoop to bolster our midfield options.
His previous loan stint with us should help Barkley adapt and settle in quickly if he does indeed complete a move to return to Villa in the coming weeks, and it will hopefully be one of many key signings this summer as we look to improve the squad to not only further establish our Premier League top-four credentials, but also to compete with the top clubs around Europe in the Champions League.