Whilst the focus for Villa is obviously on player recruitment after a final day Premier League survival against West Ham, there are also likely to be movements the other way.
Villa have been linked to attacking reinforcements in the form of Liverpool striker Divock Origi, Leicester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho and most recently Brentford’s Ollie Watkins.
An eyebrow raiser are reports of Lazio’s hunt for a striker ahead of the new Serie A season. This has been circulated amongst a number of follow-up stories, suggesting that Villa’s Brazilian Wesley is one of two targets the Italian side are interested in.
Wesley has of course been out since sustaining a horror knee injury after a strong challenge during Villa’s New Years Day victory whilst facing Burnley at Turf Moor.
The Brazilian, who struggled initially to adapt to Premier League life was arguably coming into some decent form before being sidelined for the remainder of the season. Whilst Villa certainly needed to polish their attempts to get the ball to him, we saw glimpses of the type of talent to justify a transfer fee paid in the region of £22 million. Lazio may therefore test Villa’s resolve with a £13 million bid.
Few at Villa Park would want anything other than for Wesley to be the man to fire in the goals next term, but equally this is perhaps not a transfer window for sentimentality. We cannot, after-all, risk another season flirting with relegation as a result of impotency up-front.
Though Villa are under no pressure to sell, Lazio’s Director of Football Igli Tare is quoted as having an ongoing interest for a player they have tracked since 2018. Indeed, Villa fought off interest from Arsenal, Newcastle, Everton and Lazio for Wesley’s signature just last summer.
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