Aston Villa with surprise interest in MLS star – ‘First on shortlist’, Monchi handling potential €20m signing

Aston Villa are now the latest Premier League club to get linked to Argentine midfielder Thiago Almada.

It’s the Italian media who reports this chase today, with TuttoMercatoWeb claiming that Unai Emery’s side are making an attempt to sign the 22-year-old.

It’s claimed that Almada is ‘first on the shortlist’ that Monchi has at Aston Villa this summer.

Atlanta United are claimed to be demanding €20m for the transfer, and it’s not yet said whether the Villans would match the request.

In case that doesn’t happen, then Aston Villa reportedly already have an alternative for him, which would be Nicolo Zaniolo.

The Italian star nearly moved to the Premier League in January, when AFC Bournemouth were close to signing him from AS Roma.

He ended up moving to Turkey, bought by Galatasaray, but continues to get linked to clubs from Europe’s top leagues.

Zaniolo would be more expensive that Almada, with a fee of over €30m needed to get him out of the Süper Lig side, but whether Aston Villa would want to pay that remains to be seen.

Among those reports, the German media claims the Villans have an agreement in principle for the signing of Moussa Diaby from Bayer Leverkusen.