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Aston Villa are back in the picture for Kaio Jorge, having already monitored the Cruzeiro striker last year.

The Birmingham club didn’t make their move at the time. West Ham eventually did that in January, although their attempt went nowhere.

Kaio Jorge stayed at Cruzeiro and has continued to make a strong case for another shot at European football. Now Villa have apparently returned to the scene.

Aston Villa monitoring Kaio Jorge again

Bolavip Brazil reports Aston Villa are one of several European clubs keeping an eye on the 24-year-old ahead of the January window.

There’s no offer from Villa yet and no negotiation underway with Cruzeiro. Still, their renewed interest is worth noting given their history.

Aston Villa scouts watched Cruzeiro against Grêmio last year, in a game featuring both Kaio Jorge and Alysson Edward. Villa signed Alysson shortly afterwards, and, interestingly, Kaio appears to have remained on their shortlist.

But a lot has happened since then. He’s once again Cruzeiro’s top scorer this season and remains one of the standout forwards in Brazilian football. He’s also been included in Carlo Ancelotti’s preliminary Brazil squad for their first friendlies after the World Cup.

Plenty of competition if Villa decide to move

Kaio Jorge

Aston Villa aren’t alone this time. Bolavip says Milan and Benfica have already made enquiries. Fiorentina and Bayer Leverkusen are also interested, while Bayern Munich have previously been credited with monitoring him.

Kaio Jorge has continued to justify that interest. He has 17 goals in 40 appearances for Cruzeiro this year, after an excellent 26 goals in 46 games last season.

So they’re all watching a striker who has now scored 43 goals across his last 86 club appearances.

For now, that’s where things stand. The report stresses there’s nothing concrete with any of those clubs. January is presented as the window when a transfer could become a possibility.

Cruzeiro have also prepared themselves for exactly this kind of attention. They recently renewed Kaio Jorge’s contract and have no intention of making things easy for interested clubs.

That leaves Aston Villa with a familiar name on their radar, only now with considerably more competition around him. If their interest turns into something more serious, Cruzeiro are in a strong position to demand a big fee.

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