Have Aston Villa missed out on Leonardo Ulloa again as Crystal Palace plot deal?

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Crystal Palace and Brighton will offer Leicester City’s Leo Ulloa Premier League football, leaving Championship giants Aston Villa in the cold.

Steve Bruce has tried and failed to lure Leonardo Ulloa to Villa Park in the last two transfer windows. And it appears that it could be third time unlucky.

Leicester City’s Argentine centre-forward was once again Bruce’s top target this month, with the Birmingham Mail reporting that Aston Villa were hoping to strike a deal to bring the 31-year-old in on loan.

But with almost three quarters of the January transfer window done and dusted, Ulloa is still not a Villa player. And now, he might never be.

Because it seems that bitter rivals Crystal Palace and Brighton are now going head-to-head to sign the target man. with the rather substantial advantage of being able to offer Premier League football.

The Mail reports that Brighton are hoping to bring Ulloa back to The Amex, where he started his career in English football after moving to the South Coast from Almeria. Ulloa scored 23 goals in 50 Championship goals for Brighton to earn that £8 million move to Leicester in 2014.

And The Sun (21^st January, page 63) reports that Crystal Palace are also closing in on a deal to bring the striker to Selhurst Park to provide some much needed support for the struggling Christian Benteke.

Ulloa has played just 19 minutes of Premier League football all season.

Villa were always up against it, with Financial Fair Play meaning they could not afford to sign Ulloa permanently. But this will not lessen the disappointment with Bruce set to miss out on his primary target for the third time.