Aston Villa are preparing a £13 million bid for Borussia Dortmund ace Thomas Delaney as the Premier League giants chase a defensive midfielder, as reported by Homme du Match.
It was like night and day, chalk and cheese, a 3-1 defeat on one hand, a comfortable 2-0 win on the other.
Without Olympic gold medallist Douglas Luiz to hold the fort in the centre of the park, Aston Villa began the new campaign with a humbling defeat at newly promoted Watford.
Their defeat on the midfield battleground wasn’t so much a loss as a massacre, Juraj Kucka and Peter Etebo flattening everything in their path.
And it’s no coincidence that, with Luiz back in the side, Villa looked far better when Newcastle came to town on Saturday. The visitors managed just one shot on target as Dean Smith’s belligerent, battling Brazilian kept Allan Saint-Maximin and co at arms’ length.
Clearly, a Villa side with Luiz is far better than a Villa side without.
And it seems their over-reliance on the former Manchester City youngster has led the Midlands giants to make a number six their top priority heading into the final week of the transfer window.
Thomas Delaney could do the donkey work in Aston Villa’s midfield
Aston Villa have already seen a £10 million bid rejected by Ligue 1 outfit Lens for the tough-tackling Cheick Doucoure and, according to Homme du Match, have now turned their attention to a man at the other end of his career.
Delaney, the soon-to-be 30-year-old Denmark international, has fallen behind Jude Bellingham and the rejuvenated Mo Dahoud in Dortmund’s pecking order and would consider a fresh start away from Germany.
It’s understood Villa will test the water with an opening bid in the region of £13 million – an offer Dortmund would surely consider given the ageing Delaney is due to become a free agent in 2022.
The former Wolfsburg enforcer has also been linked with Crystal Palace, Southampton and La Liga outfit Sevilla.
“Thomas is an exceptional kind of player,” Dortmund teammate Marco Reus once said.
“He’s the kind of player we’ve been missing in the past. You need a player like (Delaney) in the niggly games. He sweeps up and gets the game going again in the other direction. Thomas can be a really important player.”
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