Aston Villa have made Joao Felix one of their top transfer targets for this summer, with Unai Emery determined to add the Portuguese forward to his options.
Villa may find this a difficult deal to get done, however, with Atletico Madrid likely to ask for huge money to sell the former Chelsea and Barcelona loanee, with Villa planning an offer worth around €60m to test their resolve, CaughtOffside understands.
Emery could make Felix a star player in his Villa side, though the 24-year-old surely has no long-term future at Atletico, where he’s largely seen as having failed to live up to his potential.
Felix also struggled to make much of an impact in loan spells at Chelsea and Barca, so it remains to be seen if Villa would really be well advised to keep pursuing him so strongly.
Still, that is currently understood to be their plan, with the feeling being that Atletico may need to be flexible with their demands if they are realistically going to sell and finally get this unwanted player off their books.
Felix transfer may not be all Villa have planned
While Felix is one of Villa’s priorities, it seems the Midlands outfit also have one eye on Tottenham’s Giovani Lo Celso as a possible addition to come in as a squad player, sources have informed CaughtOffside.
The Argentine, who is also being tracked by Real Betis, is expected to be available for a cut-price fee of around €16m, and it remains to be seen if AVFC will step up their pursuit of him.
Lo Celso has struggled to impress at Spurs, so it makes sense that he’s now available on the market.
If Villa could land Felix as a starter and Lo Celso as squad depth, that could be truly superb business by the club as they look to build on last season’s success of finishing in the top four.