Aston Villa ready to sign ‘next Luka Modric’ as mega double exit on cards
Unai Emery will be doing all he can to make his Aston Villa squad capable of bouncing back into the Champions League next year.
However, most of the transfer headlines surrounding the Villains are about exits, with the possible need to sell players before 30 June to avoid falling foul of PSR.
However, that hasn’t stopped Emery from also searching for players to improve his first-team squad.
Aston Villa linked with ‘next Luka Modric’
Emery is interested in signing Brazilian midfielder Gabriel Sara from Galatasaray.
Sara was signed from Norwich City for an estimated £15.3million last summer. He has slotted in well, making 43 appearances last season.
Footmercato reports that it would take a bid of around £17m to persuade the Turkish club to sell.
Galatasaray have shown interest in signing Villa stars Emi Martinez and Lucas Digne, so there is a potential for a swap deal, although there have been no official discussions about this happening.
Sara scored twice and registered nine assists for Galatasaray last season, and is listed as a similar player to Real Madrid star Luka Modric on FBRef.
Big few days ahead for Aston Villa
The PSR deadline of 30 June is important to Aston Villa.
If they don’t sell a player or two before this date, they could be in real danger of breaching profit and sustainability rules, and could face a points deduction as a result.
Needless to say, that would harm their efforts to finish in the top five next season and qualify for the Champions League.
Villa fans are bracing themselves to lose a big name in the coming days, with most likely happy to see the back of June, and focus on incomings from July.
| Appearances | Minutes Played | Goals | Assists |
| 43 | 3357 | 2 | 9 |
Sara isn’t the most exciting name they’ve been linked with, given that two years ago, he was playing Championship football with Norwich.
He may have been dubbed the next possible Modric, but he hasn’t shown signs of reaching those levels yet and would likely be seen as an underwhelming replacement for the likes of Marco Asensio.
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