Nicolo Zaniolo will reportedly undergo his Aston Villa medical on Wednesday to edge closer to completing his initial loan move from Galatasaray.
The 24-year-old joined the Turkish giants in February and went on to enjoy a positive, albeit brief, stint at the club, scoring five goals and providing one assist in 12 appearances.
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That followed on from an impressive spell at Roma where he emerged as one of the top talents in Europe, and although he suffered two serious knee injuries around three years ago during his time in the Italian capital, he has seemingly put those behind him to feature in 70 games over the past two seasons.
As per Fabrizio Romano, the Italian international is set to join us on loan initially with an option to buy inserted in the agreement, and if we do choose to make his stay permanent, the total transfer could cost us around €27m.
Further, he has also reported that Zaniolo will arrive in Birmingham on Wednesday to undergo his medical and complete the formalities of his switch to Villa, while reiterating that Unai Emery has seemingly been influential in making this deal happen in terms of convincing him over a move by holding direct talks.
Should Zaniolo be able to stay healthy and fully fit this season, he has the attributes and potential to be a key figure for us with his strength, speed, tenacity, technical ability and a decisive touch in the final third. In turn, he could be an exciting signing, one that hopefully plays a crucial role in helping us get to the next level.
Villa were dealt a major blow last week after Emiliano Buendia suffered a significant knee injury in training, and the expectation is that the Argentine playmaker will now miss most, if not all, of the season as a result.
While we could yet decide to bring in more than one reinforcement for that area of the squad in the coming weeks, it’s clear that should Zaniolo now complete his move to join us, he will play a fundamental role for Emery.
Based on the reports above, it shouldn’t be too much longer until we see him unveiled officially by the club, as it certainly sounds as though the respective agreements are in place, and it’s now just about completing all the final details to make it a done deal.
