Revealed: Aston Villa in concrete move to sign big name by 5pm on Friday
Aston Villa are launching a concrete move to sign Josh King from Bournemouth ahead of Friday's 5pm domestic cut-off.
Sky Sports reported last night that West Ham have had a £13million bid rejected for the Norway international, 28.
A recruitment source has told Football Insider that Villa are still keen on winning the race for King and have been encouraged that he is keen on a move to the Midlands.
Dean Smith's side are readying a major bid of their own for King despite spending around £75million on new players in the main window.
Villa will first need to offload senior stars from their wage bill, with Football Insider revealing last week they are listening to offers for Henri Lansbury, Frederic Guilbert and Anwar El Ghazi.
The battle for King is likely to be one of the headline deals of the short domestic window that closes on 16 October.
Significantly, rival suitors West Brom are no longer in the running after King made it clear he does to want the transfer.
As revealed by Football Insider, the forward has "no interest" in a move to the Hawthorns and is holding out for a transfer to a "bigger club".
Villa fit the bill after two summers of big spending transformed Smith's squad and their 7-2 demolition of Liverpool a week ago grabbed interest around the globe.
King is regarded as very likely to leave Bournemouth by Friday evening.
He has scored 48 goals in 161 Premier League appearances although he was not prolific in attack last season with just six goals and four assists to his name in 26 top-flight games.