Benfica are willing to sell Franco Cervi for £13 million with Aston Villa keen to sign the Argentina international, according to claims made by A Bola.
It almost goes without saying that, if Dean Smith’s Villa are to thrive rather than merely survive in the Premier League, then they need players capable of providing some much needed cutting edge in the final third.
A lack of ruthlessness very nearly cost the Midland giants a place in the top-flight last season and, regardless of whether captain fantastic Jack Grealish takes his ombre locks and wicked right foot elsewhere, reinfrocements are a must.
Fortunately, returning Benfica boss Jorge Jesus has no place in his plans for a four-capped Argentine international who has been strutting his stuff at the Estadio da Luz for four years now.
26-year-old Cervi produced four goals and four assists for the Lisbon giants in 2019/20.
But, with just 19 Primeira Liga starts to his name, he had already started to fall out of favour even before the messianic figure of Jesus descended down on Benfica, returning triumphant from a trophy-laden spell at Flamengo.
A diminutive little winger who exploded onto the scene at Rosario Central amid comparisons with (guess who) Lionel Messi, Cervi is at his best when racing down the left hand side of the attack.
If a rather slight and slender forward can adapt to the rigours of English football, he should be an immediate upgrade on the eternaly inconsistent Anwar El Ghazi and Mahmoud Trezeguet, even if the latter did silence his critics with some crucial goals during the run-in.
A Bola claims that Benfica would sell for £13 million with Cervi’s agent, Alberto Moreno, all-but confirming his departure from the Primeira Liga giants.
“The idea is to sell. Right now, I have two very interested clubs, one from Spain and one from Turkey,” he tells OneFootball.
Now, we can add Aston Villa to that list.
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