£52m 'superstar' wants to join Aston Villa and play for Emery

Aston Villa have been heavily linked with Moussa Diaby in recent weeks.

And over the past few days, speculation linking the Villans and the France forward has intensified.

According to Florian Plettenberg, Villa have submitted an offer worth €50m (£43m) for Diaby.

However, Leverkusen have apparently rejected it, and are expecting a third bid worth €60m (around £52m) from the Villans.

In addition, the Villa Park outfit is reportedly up against Saudi Pro League club Al-Nassr in pursuit of the 24-year-old.

Fabrizio Romano has provided an update on the state of play involving Villa, Leverkusen and Diaby on GiveMeSport.

He claims that the Bundesliga outfit wants “way more” than €35m (£30.1m) plus add-ons, Villa’s first offer.

However, Romano also said Leverkusen are aware of Diaby’s “desire” to join the Villans and play for Unai Emery.

“The priority (for Villa) remains Moussa Diaby,” he wrote.

“Their opening proposal was €35m plus add-ons, not €45m, €35m plus add-ons. And the answer from Bayer Leverkusen was no.

“They want way more than that, but they’re also aware of the desire of the player to make his move to the Premier League and join Unai Emery.”

Our view

It’s good to hear that Diaby is keen on joining the Villans and playing for Emery, one of the best managers around.

However, Villa have to up their offer if they are to convince Leverkusen to sell the prospective ‘superstar‘.

The Villans are running out of time, especially when it has been reported that Diaby has accepted Al Nassr’s offer.

Let’s see what happens with a potential third bid from Villa, and they’ll no doubt be ready to look at other targets too.

There have been reports suggesting Rennes ace Jeremy Doku is also on the Villans radar in case they pull the plug on the Diaby move.