Villa continue to be busy during the transfer window and have already turned heads with statement signings Philippe Coutinho and Lucas Digne.
There are also strong rumours that the club could also move for Mali and Brighton midfielder Yves Bissouma. Any deal would be bank busting, with a valuation of anywhere between £40m-£50m having been slapped on the player who is currently away at AFCON.
Meanwhile, Steven Gerrard has now had a number of weeks to assess Villa’s squad depth, and a goalkeeping reinforcements appear to be next on the agenda.
ROBIN OLSEN
Embed from Getty ImagesOlsen is currently on loan with Championship side Sheffield United and on the face of it isn’t an obvious choice. The 32 year old stopper was brought in as a replacement after The Blades sold Aaron Ramsdale to Arsenal last summer, but the move hasn’t panned out as might have been hoped.
It appears that Olsen’s fortunes have been mixed at Bramall Lane, arriving at a difficult time for the club under Jokanovic (who was sacked in November), that included a couple of mistakes, falling out of favour and has been injured since before Christmas.
Villa and Olsen have been reported to have agreed personal terms, with his deal with United to terminate before being immediately loaned out by parent club Roma for the rest of the campaign.
Olsen has appeared just 27 times for Roma since 2018, and has also had loans out to Cagliari and Everton. The Swede was back-up to Jordan Pickford at Goodison Park for a whole campaign, appearing 11 times.
The former Malmo ‘keeper has bags of experience on the international arena, having 53 caps for Sweden to his name.
If the move is concluded Olsen wouldn’t realistically be threatening current Villa number 1 and Copa America winner Emi Martinez for the number 1 shirt, but he would provide high level cover in the position. Villa of course lost former England international Tom Heaton to Manchester United following Martinez’s arrival, with Jed Steer the only recognised senior back-up current. at B6.
HIGHLIGHT REEL
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