Is Aston Villa’s Ulloa pursuit doomed as Slimani reportedly negotiates Leicester exit?

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Championship hopefuls Aston Villa had spent the whole January window trying to lure Leonardo Ulloa from Premier League team Leicester City.

It looked more than likely that Islam Slimani would be handed a fresh start in the Premier League before the end of the month.

Reports broke earlier this week that Newcastle United had emerged as the clear front-runners to sign the Leicester City striker but it appears that deal is now in doubt.

The 2016 Premier League champions will let Slimani join a domestic rival for a fee of £20 million. But the Northern Echo report that the Magpies have reservations about breaking their transfer record for a centre-forward with just one league goal to his name all season.

And the Mail is now stating that Slimani could be heading to France instead. Ligue 1 champions Monaco are in talks over a loan deal for the former Sporting Lisbon goal-machine with an agreement said to be close.

This, then, is potentially bad news for Aston Villa.

Because it is clear that Leicester will only let one of their strikers during the January transfer window and Villa’s hopes of signing Leonardo Ulloa on loan for the rest of the season, per The Telegraph, appeared to rest on Slimani staying at the King Power.

Villa, however, were left rather powerless in their pursuit of Ulloa with Financial Fair Play preventing them from making a permanent bid.

And it appears that the long wait could end in disappointment with Slimani’s loan switch to Monaco edging closer. Expect Villa, then, to step up their pursuit of Burnley’s £5 million forgotten man Nahki Wells.

The Birmingham Mail state that Villa see the Burmudan as a back-up to Ulloa and he could now become their Plan A.