Sources: Aston Villa set sights on £20m+ January signing

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Published on:

20 Sep 2019, 6:53 am

By Wayne Veysey and Pete O'Rourke

Aston Villa are ready to set aside £20million-plus for a new striker in the January window, Football Insider has learned.

The Midlands giants spent nearly £150million on 12 new signings over the summer but only one orthodox forward arrived in Wesley Moraes.

A Villa source has told Football Insider that Dean Smith and the club hierarchy recognise the team is short of firepower and plan to concentrate on adding a new centre-forward to their ranks in the midwinter window.

Villa did try and add to capture of Wesley, signed for £22million from Club Brugges, but were put off by escalating asking prices late in the window.

The Premier League new boys tabled offers for Neal Maupay but stepped aside when Brentford demanded £20million, the price that Brighton paid to seal a deal shortly before the window shut last month.

Villa also held talks with RB Leipzig about signing striker Jean-Kevin Augustin but he subsequently joined Monaco on a loan deal that includes an option to buy.

Villa have scored just four goals from their five Premier League matches this season and are 18th in the table, one place above the relegation zone.

In other Aston Villa news, it can be REVEALED that Dean Smith has given the green light for the club to sell one of his signings.

Aston Villa