UPDATE NEWS : ASTON VILLA REPORTEDLY SHOWING INTEREST IN BARCELONA MIDFIELDER ….

 

Aston Villa are reportedly showing an interest in Barcelona midfielder Franck Kessie, who has struggled at the Nou Camp since the Ivorian joined the club on a free transfer last summer.

According to Mundo Deportivo, Unai Emery’s Villa have shown an interest in the Ivorian midfielder with Barcelona hoping to make an ‘important’ sale this week. All the signs are seemingly pointing to Kessie being the sale of choice for the Spanish giants

Xavi’s Barcelona believe they can extract a ‘significant amount of money’ for the sale of the former AC Milan midfielder. The report also states that, despite clubs from the Serie A taking a keen interest in the midfielder, his next destination seems likely to be the Premier League.

Emery is seemingly interested in the signing of a midfielder having previously been linked by Sky Sports with former Liverpool midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

As well as this, the report states that the midfielder has agreed to a move to the Premier League as he considers his time in Italy as done, following successful periods with AC Milan and Atalanta.

Having already been given vast amounts of money to sign Moussa Diaby and Pau Torres, with Youri Tielemans joining on a free transfer, it seems Villa are ready to back the Spaniard even more.

Kessie may well cost Villa a lot of money with Barcelona keen on balancing the books due to financial fair play. But the report is speaking positively about Villa’s interest, although it does state that more clubs in the Premier League and beyond would be interested in signing the 26-year-old midfielder.

The midfielder scored once and set up just one in a disappointing debut season. It seems Xavi’s preference for a midfield that includes Gavi and Pedri with De Jong at the base of it, means that Kessie can’t get a look in.

The midfielder certainly looked impressive in Italy with 13 goals and four assists in 2020-2021 and, despite the risk it would bring, if Villa were to sign the midfielder, it represents another piece of smart business by Emery’s men.