Aston Villa ‘would be willing’ to pay €30m for signing – ‘First offer’ said to have been received

Aston Villa ‘would be willing’ to pay as much as €30m for Real Madrid midfielder Dani Ceballos in the January transfer window.

That’s according to Fichajes, who say the Spaniard could make a return to the Premier League after his loan spell at Arsenal.

They report that Aston Villa have been ‘clearly showing’ an interest in signing Ceballos ‘for some time’ and, if he is made available by Real Madrid in January, they could make their move.

Such is their interest they would be willing to pay up to €30m for him, the belief being that he could decide to move on after finding his playing time at the Bernabeu despite signing a new contract in the summer.

Aston Villa’s interest seems to come via Monchi and Unai Emery, the latter having ‘maintained contact’ with the player and insisting he would play an important role at Villa Park under him.

Such a figure would allow Real Madrid to recover their investment on a player who has shown the quality but never established himself as a key player under a succession of managers.

Aston Villa are now seemingly ready to offer him the chance to shine somewhere else, even despite a midfield and forward line already packed with talent.

Fichajes say Real Madrid have received the ‘first offer’ for the transfer, but at the best it feels like that would be via intermediaries.