Aston Villa ‘accelerate’ for signing – Contact initiated with player’s entourage

Aston Villa have been keeping an eye on the progress of Bordeaux’s Mehdi Zerkane and are edging ahead with an effort to sign him this summer, report L’Equipe.

The French newspaper states the Premier League club ‘accelerate’ for the transfer, after they’ve had the player on their agenda for several months. Aston Villa have been impressed with what they’ve seen from Zerkane so far, and would ‘like to attract’ the 21-year-old attacker to Birmingham in the next window.

There’s a chance the final decision was made at the weekend, with Villa having a representative watch Zerkane in Bordeaux’s 3-0 win over Lens, in which he scored a goal despite not playing the whole match.

Aston Villa have already initiated contact with the player’s entourage, according to the L’Equipe report, and the next steps are now expected. A first offer from the English club could arrive at the end of the season, and there’s no indication from the French newspaper of how much the transfer will cost.