Aston Villa made £16m bid in 2020, now they could reportedly sign target for free

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Have Aston Villa already pulled off the summer’s best signing?

In Emi Buendia, Dean Smith is getting his mitts on arguably the greatest footballer to set foot in the second tier of English football, a chance-creating machine gun who inspired Norwich City to the Championship title, mustering 15 goals and even more assists.

The Buendia-Jack Grealish partnership is mouth-watering – Ollie Watkins could be forgiven for not sleeping a wink until early August.

But while the diminutive Argentina international may be worth every penny of his record-breaking £33 million fee, reports coming out of Scandinavia suggest Aston Villa have lined up another deal that – from a financial perspective at least – looks even more inspired.

Aston Villa could add King to multi-talented squad

As recently as September 2020, the Midlands giants launched a £16 million bid for Josh King. Bournemouth turned it down, however, demanding closer to £20 million for the Norway international (Telegraph).

Nine months on, however, and Aston Villa could sign the same player for nothing (VG).

King is now a free agent after Everton decided against extending his short-term stay at Goodison Park. And while the one-time Manchester United youngster would arrive at Villa Park having failed to score in 11 games under Carlo Ancelotti, some context is required.

Each of King’s 11 appearances came from the bench. And, when you’re averaging 12 minutes on the pitch per game, how can you hope to make a lasting impression?

Given the 29-year-old is capable of playing anywhere across the front line – through the middle or out wide – King would bring valuable versatility to Villa Park alongside an impressive Premier League record.

He scored 12 times in the top flight as recently as 2018/19.

So while King is unlikely to make a dent in the column inches dedicated to Buendia’s imminent arrival, signing a proven Premier League goalscorer on a free – less than a year after seeing a £16 million bid turned down – feels like another inspired piece of business from a club that’s making the transfer market look like child’s play.