Villa wants to make sure he’s theirs since they think he could be a future diamond.
According to recent sources, Aston Villa is looking to defeat Liverpool in the competition to recruit a 22-year-old rising star this summer.
Aston Villa will return to the Champions League.
With one more victory, Unai Emery’s team will mathematically guarantee themselves a spot in the Champions League the next year as they enter the closing stages of the Premier League season.
With seven points more than Tottenham in fifth place, Spurs would need to win their final three games while Villa would need to draw and lose theirs in order for the roles to be reversed. However, with Ange Postecoglou’s team in fantastic form and still having Manchester City visit north London, Villa’s place in the top four is all but guaranteed.
Next season promises more top-tier football in Europe, therefore Villa will probably be busy adding players to their roster in order to prepare for a multi-front battle. Mario Hermoso, a free agent who will shortly become available, looks like he could be Villa’s first acquisition. However, they are also considering adding someone else to their roster.
Villa is looking for young talent.
It has already been revealed that Bradley Locko, a 22-year-old breakout star who plays for Ligue 1 team Brest, is being pursued by several teams, including Emery’s team.
The defender, who mainly plays left back, was only a regular member of the team in the summer of 2023 after spending the previous season on loan with Brest. In spite of this, he has emerged as a major player in 2023–24, starting all 32 of Brest’s Ligue 1 matches and recording three assists.
His performances have enabled them to put together a run of form that, should they win one of their next two games—a home match against Reims and a trip to Toulouse—could see them qualify for football in the Champions League the following season. Both teams are now mired in midtable.
With the team having played in second division football as recently as 2019 and never having placed better than 11th in Ligue 1 before to this, it would be a tremendous shock. And no one has overlooked Locko’s form. Football Insider reports that Liverpool, Aston Villa and West Ham are all “considering bids” for the defender, who has captured their attention.
This is because the fullback, who averages over three tackles each game for the French team, has “huge potential” according to the three, despite the fact that he is already excellent. According to Transfermarkt, he is valued at approximately 10 million euros and has a contract that expires in 2027.
In the event that a bidding battle breaks out for his signature, Brest might achieve a record sale—currently valued at the 15 million euros they paid Lyon for Romain Faivre in 2021. Villa, for their part, will be trying to get him for a lot less.
