Everyone at Dijon is desperate to keep Mounir Chouiar for at least one more season as the young winger enters the sights of Aston Villa, sporting director Peguy Luyindula has told L’Equipe.
If Villa fans were hoping that Jack Grealish would commit his entire career to his boyhood club, and become something of a modern-day version of Matt Le Tissier in the process, it seems they are about to be disappointed.
As Connor Hourihane himself admitted, the fleet-footed play-maker has outgrown life at the bottom end of the Premier League table. The smart money is on a big-money move to Manchester United, with Aston Villa facing up to the prospect of having to replace the seemingly irreplaceable.
But, another skilful attacking midfielder who loves to drift in from the left and wreak havoc, Chouiar at least shares a few similarities with Dean Smith’s talismanic number ten.
As France Football points out, one of the rising stars of Ligue 1 is on Villa’s radar and, even in a market hit hard by the global health crisis, his £9 million price-tag feels like a bargain.
Convincing Dijon to cash in on their star man, however, may be easier said than done.
“There is no discussion (around his departure). I appreciate him very much,” says former France, PSG and Lyon striker Luyindula.
“Everyone wants to keep him.”
To say Chouiar has ‘cut the mustard’ at Dijon would be an understatement. Eight goals from 28 games is an impressive tally for a young attacker who has only scratched the surface of his potential.
And if Villa do lose Grealish, they will not be short of funds with which to reinvest.
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