Where Do Aston Villa Stand In Regards to a Number of Loan Deals?

Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce is hoping to bring a few new faces into the club before the transfer window slams shut in an hour. 

After bringing in Scottish midfielder John McGinn in from Hibernian yesterday, it was widely reported that Bristol City defender Joe Bryan was due to be announced today, before Fulham hi-jacked the deal and the defender signed for the Premier League side. 

Other than the left-back position, Villa would be sure to try and solidify the striker position. Villa strikers Scott Hogan and Keinan Davis are sidelined with groin injuries and there has not been a timetable for their return. This leaves the Claret & Blue with only Jonathan Kodjia and youngster Rushian Hepburn-Murphy as the sole strikers for Steve Bruce’s squad. 

Today there were reports circulating that Julio Tavares from French side Dijon may be purchased by Villa, with the Midlands club offering somewhere in the region of £2.5 million for the Cape Verde striker – but the window has now passed meaning that this deal can’t be made. 

There has been no transfer news up to this point on Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham, but it seems a multitude of clubs would be thrilled to have the talented 20-year old in their set-up for the season. Abraham is known to be on Steve Bruce’s radar, but the youngster is thought to want to fight for his place at Chelsea.

There have been other targets that Villa had in mind that ultimately joined other clubs in the past few days. Manchester City man Lukas Nmecha has joined Preston North End on loan after being linked with Aston Villa. West Ham striker Jordan Hugill joined Middlesbrough as well. 

Watford forward Isaac Success has also been linked with a move to Aston Villa from Watford, but it is now understood that Watford may not want to let the player go as they failed to sign a forward before the window closed. 

Success is able to play striker and left-wing, which would greatly help Aston Villa solidify some depth problems. Success was purchased by Watford from Spanish side Granada in 2016 and showed flashes of brilliance before his move to England. Watford would loan Success to Malaga after underachieving at his new club. Malaga would go on to finish dead last on the table, with Success making nine appearances and mustering only a single assist. This would be a far cry from the six goals and five assists Success had in La Liga in 2015/16. If Villa are to secure his the services of Success, he will have some proving to do with the Aston Villa faithful.

There are also rumours that Aston Villa are still looking at Robert Snodgrass and Liverpool’s Sheyi Ojo for competition on the wings.

So, it seems that it might be back to the drawing board for Steve Bruce and Aston Villa in regards to the loan market – but with another 22 days left to secure loan deals, there’s bound to be a flurry of rumours coming in quick succession.