Aston Villa plot ‘lowball’ Euro forward raid, with agitator still causing problems

Aston Villa will reportedly lodge a ‘lowball’ offer for Joao Felix, as Atletico Madrid are struggling to find a suitor, but the Villans will need to ship Jhon Duran out first.

Villa have come on leaps and bounds since Unai Emery took over at the club. He joined with Villa battling relegation part way through his first season, and guided them to seventh.

In his second campaign, they came fourth, and have clearly recruited for the upcoming Champions League campaign, with Ian Maatsen and Amadou Onana among the big-name signings.

A huge name, Felix, has become the main objective of Emery in recent times – he has returned to Atletico Madrid after a loan at Barcelona, but reports suggest he very much does not want to be there.

But with Atletico not finding many suitors for the forward, reports in Spain suggest Villa will attempt to gain his services with a ‘lowball’ offer.

That is dependent on Duran being sold first, though. According to Football Insider, Villa will ‘only be able to’ bring in a new striker if the Colombian is let go.

Villa will make attempts to ship him out given he is causing problems at the club, signalling his desire to leave after failures to sign for Chelsea and West Ham, and making an Irons sign on an Instagram live video when he felt a Hammers move was going to happen.

But they also need to get him off the books for Financial FairPlay reasons, having seemingly come close to breaching regulations earlier in the season.

Before they made some of their early-summer signings, Villa got rid of Tim Iroegbunam, an academy player, as well as letting go of Morgan Sanson and Viljami Sinisalo.

They have since sold Douglas Luiz and Moussa Diaby for relatively large sums, but they have also spent big money, so if they want Felix, Duran has to go.

Which sides now want him is a question after Chelsea and West Ham backed out, but with the forward now having no future at Villa Park, Emery will be eager to get rid so that he can hopefully sign Felix.

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