Aston Villa are seemingly closing in on the signing of Morgan Sanson, with Sky Sports revealing that a deal has been agreed with Marseille for the 26-year-old, who will cost £14m + £1.5m in add-ons.
Villa’s initial bid was rejected and called “pathetic” by Marseille manager Andre Villas-Boas, but they moved quickly to match the Ligue 1 club’s demands and are now close to their first acquisition of the January transfer window, with Dean Smith saying “hopefully that is done soon”.
The manager has all but replaced Conor Hourihane, who was loaned out to Swansea City for the remainder of the season and may be sold permanently this summer after falling down the pecking order.
In quotes reported by Sky Sports, Smith gave an update on the status of the Sanson deal, saying: “I have not spoken to our sporting director and there is obviously an inbound player and hopefully that is done soon.”
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This season, Sanson has had a hand in five goals from 10 Ligue 1 starts, created one chance every 64 minutes and made a tackle or interception every 28 minutes (WhoScored).
He has made 157 appearances in all competitions for Marseille, joining the Ligue 1 outfit from Montpellier in 2017, but he is now set to realise his dream of playing in the Premier League.
As illustrated by the statistics above, Sanson is a composed player who can turn over possession and has an eye for goal, so he is an all-round midfielder who should quickly push Douglas Luiz, John McGinn and Ross Barkley for a starting place upon joining Aston Villa.
