Reported Aston Villa target Charlie Austin would be more valuable to Crystal Palace

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Charlie Austin is reportedly attracting the interest of Premier League duo Aston Villa and Crystal Palace.

Crystal Palace and Aston Villa are chasing the services of Southampton striker Charlie Austin, who would be a valuable asset to whichever team he joins this summer, but out of the two, who needs him most?

The Sun have claimed that both Palace and Villa are keen on the £8 million player, as they face a four-way battle for his signature this summer.

Following their promotion to the Premier League, Villa have already made their mark on the transfer market when they announced [Villa’s official Twitter account] at the start of June that they have secured the services of Club Brugge forward Wesley for a club-record fee.

Now, it seems they could be looking for more depth in the attacking department, and rightly so, but Austin would be more valuable to Palace, especially given what can transpire at the club this summer.

The London club have already sold right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka to Manchester United, and things could get worse if key man Wilfried Zaha leaves the club this summer also.

As previously reported by the Daily Mail Palace will demand £100 million for their hitman, who is attracting interest from Europa League-bound Arsenal.

Whilst someone like Wan-Bissaka isn’t an out-and-out goal threat for Palace, Roy Hodgson has still lost attacking intent in the final third with his departure, and he will not want to lose an even more valuable asset in Zaha.

If that were to happen then a signing like Austin would be important to a team like Palace. By no means would he fill his shoes, they’d probably need a number of signings just to cover him, but the experienced man can score vital goals.

Villa have purchased their big-money signing, whilst Palace don’t have any real threat up front with Christian Benteke fading and Conor Wickham yet to discover his form after returning from a long-term injury earlier this year.

With Zaha in the side Palace already need more power and threat up top, and if he leaves then they’ll need every inch of whatever they are going to get because their Premier League status will be on the line.