Aston Villa take giant leap towards £18.2m striker signing as stepping stone £11.2m transfer goes through | OneFootball

Aston Villa have received the green light to finalise the signing of striker Tammy Abraham after a deal worth £11.2m was finalised first, while TEAMtalk can reveal that Unai Emery is also closing on an agreement to bring a popular midfielder back to Villa Park.

The Spanish tactician has Aston Villa well entrenched in the Premier League title battle and with a little more consistency, could yet cause the biggest shock in the title race since Leicester City stunned the footballing world a decade ago. Since then, only three sides have won the trophy, with Manchester City (six title wins), Liverpool (twice) and Chelsea (once) all enjoying success.

However, with Villa now just four points off the summit, Emery is ready to make a couple of January signings to reinforce his squad as they look to go deep in Europe and cause a stir on the domestic front.

Indeed, we brought you news over the weekend of how Villa had won the race to sign Abraham, after the striker rejected interest from a host of Premier League clubs to force through a permanent return to Villa Park after four and a half years away from the English game.

The 11-times capped England striker initially left Chelsea back in August 2021 to join Roma in a £34m (€40m) deal. But having dropped down Roma’s pecking order, Abraham, who played on loan with AC Milan last season, was midway through a similar stint in Turkey, where he had scored 13 times in 26 appearances so far.

Now it has been confirmed that the Turkish side have activated their £11.2m option to turn Abraham’s loan into a permanent deal, though his time in Istanbul is set to end prematurely with the Super Lig side now having struck an agreement to sell him on to Villa for a pretty sizeable profit.

To help smooth things over with Besiktas, Villa are expected to let defender Yasin Ozcan join the Turkish side on loan, clearing the final hurdle in negotiations.

However, the arrival of Abraham may not be the only star set for a return to Villa Park before the transfer shuts…

Villa also ready to re-sign Douglas Luiz

In addition to Abraham, we can also exclusively reveal that Villa are closing in on the return to the club of Douglas Luiz after nudging ahead of Chelsea in negotiations.

The Brazil star was sold to Juventus in June 2024 for a €50m fee but has never hit the same heights in Serie A as he did in the Premier League, where he was regarded as one of the division’s top all-round midfielders.

A loan spell over the first half of this season with Nottingham Forest has failed to recapture his best and, with the Tricky Trees ready to cancel that deal, Luiz has been in talks with a number of suitors ahead of his next move.

Talks with both Vasco da Gama and Chelsea had been held and the latter had looked set for a surprise move to bring the star to Stamford Bridge as midfield cover for the rest of the season.

However, our reporter Graeme Bailey can now confirm that Luiz is heading to Villa Park after Emery personally held talks with the 27-year-old, with Luiz now favouring a return to the Second City in one of the window’s most intriguing homecomings.

A source with knowledge of the deal, spoke to us and said: “Douglas is very excited about what is next, Chelsea is very interesting, but he loves Villa, he loves Unai, and the chance to be part of that situation again is very tempting.”

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Meanwhile, fresh reports from Italy claim that Serie A giants Inter Milan have decided that Emiliano Martinez, who was very much on their radar, ‘does not have the characteristics they are looking for’, with a move for a Premier League rival now much more likely.

Despite that, TEAMtalk sources can confirm the names of two high-calibre options Emery has been looking at as a replacement.