Al-Nassr’s transfer ban provides a major boost to Aston Villa’s hopes of luring Moussa Diaby to the Premier League as Bayer Leverkusen hold out for £50 million.
It’s probably safe to say that things haven’t really worked out for Cristiano Ronaldo in Saudi Arabia. And with his Al-Nassr outfit now placed under a transfer ban by FIFA due to their ‘outstanding debts’, Ronaldo’s side are now at risk of being left behind as their league rivals lure the likes of Karim Benzema, Ruben Neves and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic to the Middle East.
Al-Nassr, German publication Kicker explain, were planning to stump up a considerable sum for Moussa Diaby. Now, with the Riyadh-based outfit out of the race, Aston Villa’s hopes of adding the spring-heeled France international to their increasingly impressive squad have received a considerable – and very timely – boost.
Aston Villa must pay record fee for Moussa Diaby
Aston Villa, Kicker add, failed with a bid below the £30 million mark in midweek. Leverkusen want £20 million more. But the fact that negotiations are continuing suggests that Aston Villa believe a compromise can be reached.
“Diaby wants the move,” Fabrizio Romano writes on Twitter. “He already said yes to Villa, and Leverkusen are aware of that.”
Like Pau Torres and Youri Tielemans – Aston Villa’s first two signings of the window – Diaby perhaps falls just shy of the ‘world-class’ bracket, but he can still smash through that particular glass ceiling with the right coach and at the right club.
And, in Unai Emery, Villa finally have a genuinely elite-level tactician capable of making good on the club’s big-spending ways.
After Nico Williams agreed to sign a new deal at Athletic Bilbao, Diaby would be the goalscoring wide forward Villa have been looking for since the turn of the year. A devastating dribbler and almost unstoppable in transition; Diaby scored 14 goals and set up 11 more for Leverkusen in 2022/23.
Aston Villa, meanwhile, missed out on Manor Solomon before his move to Tottenham Hotspur.
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