Galatasaray vice-president Erden Timur has admitted Nicolò Zaniolo is now edging towards completing a move to Aston Villa.
The winger is set to leave the Turkish champions, months after he joined them from AS Roma in January.
Zaniolo has a €35m release clause and Timur has revealed his side have tried to agree a fee around this figure with Aston Villa. His comments are relayed by TRT Spor.
“A point has been reached for Zaniolo with Aston Villa. It’s now in its final stage,” he said,
“Our goal is to bring it to a price above the €35m release clause depending on options and obligations.
“Zaniolo played very little. When you play too little, you don’t get much interest. When we bought Zaniolo, our aim was to generate returns. You have to think about this business as a business. Otherwise, it is not possible with these incomes.”
It was also stated the Italy international has already made a trip to England to carry out medical tests with Unai Emery’s side.
Journalist Alfredo Pedullà states the attacker has already completed a medical with the Premier League side. He says only the official announcement is now ‘missing’ for Zaniolo to become a new Aston Villa player. This may happen in the next few hours.
Pedullà states the English club will pay a €4m loan fee with the right of redemption set at €27m [€20m fixed plus €7m bonuses], taking the overall fee to €31m. However, Timur has explained that Galatasaray are trying to earn over €35m from this deal.
