Report: Aston Villa favourites to sign Evian midfielder Yeltsin Tejeda

Follow us on Google Discover

The Costa Rica international has also been linked with Spanish side Getafe after Evian were relegated to the French third tier.

Aston Villa are leading the race to sign Evian’s Costa Rican midfielder Yeltsin Tejeda, according to Le Dauphiné Libéré.

Tejeda, 24, joined Evian from his childhood club Saprissa in August 2014 after helping Costa Rica reach the World Cup quarter-finals in Brazil earlier that summer and has since made 55 total appearances for the French side, recording one goal and three assists.

The defensive midfielder has impressed during his two seasons with the Rhône-Alpes-based club but still proved unable to prevent them from suffering back-to-back relegations, leaving them facing third-tier football this coming campaign.

He is now expected to be on the move this summer, with his agent, Joaquim Batica, confirming back in April that he was starting to work on securing the 35-times capped international a fresh start elsewhere in Europe.

“Yeltsin’s team has had a difficult season, focused on safety,” Batica told teletica.com prior to Evian’s relegation. “He will probably have to change clubs and I’m working on it.”

According to Le Dauphiné’s report, Tejeda has been attracting serious interest from Getafe, who were relegated to the Spanish second division last season after finishing in 19^th place in La Liga, but the front-runners for his signature are now believed to be Villa after Roberto Di Matteo’s appointment as manager.

The tough-tackling Costa Rican, who was linked with the likes of Everton and Sunderland following the 2014 World Cup [h/t Sky Sports], still has another two seasons left on his Evian contract, but the indications are that he should be available for a cut-price fee.

Largely comparable to Villa’s Carlos Sanchez in playing style, the pair incidentally met in the group stages of the Copa America Centenario earlier this month when Costa Rica bowed out of the tournament with a 3-2 win over Colombia, but what his potential arrival in B6 would mean for his veteran counterpart’s claret and blue future remains to be seen.