Nicolo Zaniolo is reportedly pushing to join Aston Villa, but an agreement with Galatasaray over an initial loan move has yet to be reached.
As per Fabrizio Romano last week, Villa have made an official offer to the Turkish giants for the 24-year-old on an initial loan move for a €3m fee, but with a €20m option to buy included in the agreement plus €7m in possible add-ons.
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That in turn could make the entire deal worth a total of €30m if Villa chose to sign Zaniolo on a permanent basis next summer and those bonuses were triggered, but it was added there was frustration on our side given we were still awaiting an answer.
Zaniolo joined Galatasaray in February and scored five goals and provided one assist in 12 appearances.
Prior to that, he impressed at Roma and has 13 caps for Italy, and while there is some concern over his injury history having suffered two serious knee issues around three years ago, there is no doubt over his ability and potential moving forward.
With his technical quality, physicality, height and the decisive edge he can offer in the final third, he would be a top addition to Unai Emery’s squad, but there has seemingly yet to be a breakthrough in talks over a move.
According to Romano in his latest update, Zaniolo is insisting on joining us, and it’s added that Villa hope to conclude the deal at some point this week to bring in an important reinforcement.
Time will tell though if our offer will ultimately be accepted or if we’ll have to make an improved bid, but it’s clear that Zaniolo is a priority for us to strengthen our attacking options, and we appear to be his top choice.
It’s likely that the Italian international would have been a target even prior to Emiliano Buendia’s injury setback last week, but with the Argentine playmaker expected to miss a significant part, if not all, of this season now, there is arguably a need for Villa to bring in more than one new signing in that area to ensure we have enough to compete across multiple fronts this season.
