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We’ve rounded up the latest Aston Villa news for your early-afternoon read.
Words by Regan Foy | @FindFoy
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Targett Set to Stay at Saints
Aston Villa’s number one left-back target, Matt Targett, is set to be promoted to the first-team at Southampton this season, with the coastline club thought to be prepared to offload Ryan Bertrand amidst interest from Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid.
Targett has been linked with Liverpool and Arsenal this summer too, so it may have been unlikely that he’d join Villa, but either way, it seems like these links are set to stop.
However, Targett could be staying put after all following a claim by the Daily Mail that the Saints would prefer to cash in Ryan Bertrand.
Birmingham Live, 20/06/19, 10:54
Marvelous Offered By Agents
Yesterday we looked at Aston Villa’s interest in Marvelous Nakamba, the Zimbabwean Club Brugge midfielder. According to reports from HLN, the outlet that broke the news of Wesley joining Aston Villa, agents have been offered Marvelous out to a number of clubs.
There’s also a story running that Marvelous fell out with the hierarchy at Brugge, meaning it’s unlikely that Villa will go in for this ‘bad egg’.
Several clubs have enquired about Marvelous Nakamba, defensive midfielder of Club Brugge. Club are willing to sell him at the right price, but are hoping that Nakamba’s fee could rise if he plays a good AFCON. Agents have offered him to Aston Villa.
Kristof Terreur of HLN (Twitter), 20/06/19, 06:00
Phillips Price Hits Peak
HLN are also reporting within the same piece, that Aston Villa are set to be priced out of a move for Leeds United midfielder Kalvin Phillips, with the Sky Bet Championship club asking for around £25,000,000.
Whilst this could be just HLN peddling for a move or more links towards Marvelous Nakamba, it does seem like Phillips won’t be at Villa next season.
Leeds say under no circumstances is the player for sale and that Villa will have to turn their attention elsewhere.
HLN, 20/06/19, 11:51
Related: Dean Smith Preparing Kalvin Phillips Bid ‘In the Next Few Weeks’
Elmohamady says Salah is in “Top Three”
Ahmed Elmohamady, who is currently Egypt captain ahead of the African Cup of Nations, has said in the press today that Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah is in the ‘Top three best players in the world’.
He’s caused a bit of furore with this statement. Egypt are hot favourites to win the AFCON 2019 tournament as they are also hosts.
Salah is now one of the best three players in the world. This is a huge deal for the country and the Egyptian team. Salah being on any team will help it and be a great addition. Everybody anticipates his performance, so this is a positive thing and a good addition for the Egyptian team.
Ahmed Elmohamady (Bleacher Report), 20/06/19, 10:57
Mings Makes Statement on Social Spam
Tyrone Mings has brought the level of spam that he and those close to him have been receiving of late, with ‘#AnnounceMings’ in full force.
Whilst announcing that he’d be visiting his Academy, his staff had to ensure that this was not a transfer announcement, before Mings cleared up on Twitter that it genuinely wasn’t even a hint, before saying that they’d been receiving a number of direct messages about the defender’s future.
“Because the posts were announcing I was attending the academy but due to the ‘announce mings’ DM’s the academy was getting, the staff thought it was best to clarify.”
Tyrone Mings (Twitter), 19/06/19, 23:48
