Sources: Brentford on the verge of signing £3m Aston Villa target

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• EXCLUSIVE from Graeme Bailey

Brentford are poised to beat the likes of Nottingham Forest and Celtic in the race to sign Elfsborg goalkeeper Hakon Valdimarsson.

HITC understands Brentford have won the race to land highly-rated Icelandic goalkeeper Hakon Valdimarsson.

Brentford have seen off interest from Aston Villa, who made a bid for the 22-year-old earlier this month.

HITC understands that Nottingham Forest, Sheffield United, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Celtic were also keen but Valdimarsson is now heading to West London.

Brentford have agreed a deal worth around £3m with Swedish club Elfsborg to bring in Valdimarsson and his arrival is now imminent.

Who is Brentford target Hakon Valdimarsson?

Valdimarsson’s story is an incredible one as he made the change from being an outfield player to playing as a goalkeeper fairly late.

The 22-year-old was an outfield player in the KR ranks over in Iceland before switching to play in goal upon joining Grotta in 2015.

Valdimarsson continued to play outfield at times though, even as late as 2017, so his rise to becoming a promising goalkeeper is a fascinating one.

After 84 first-team games for Grotta, Valdimarsson was snapped up by Swedish side Elfsborg in 2021.

Valdimarsson has gone from strength to strength in Sweden, turning in consistently excellent performances.

Valdimarsson even won the Goalkeeper of the Year in the Allsvenskan last year and he has now picked up five caps for Iceland.

A strong shot-stopper who is unsurprisingly comfortable with the ball at his feet given his outfield development, Valdimarsson is developing into a top goalkeeper.

Brentford are now pouncing to land Valdimarsson, seeing him as great competition for Mark Flekken moving forward.

The Bees also have Albanian international Thomas Strakosha in their ranks, so unless he leaves – which is a strong possibility given his lack of playing time – then Vladimarsson will face a battle for first-team action.

Forest, Sheffield United, Wolves and Celtic will be disappointed to miss out but Valdimarsson is seemingly backing himself to become a star in West London.