Aston Villa look set to continue their ambitious rebuild following the departure of club captain Jack Grealish, who joined Manchester City last summer in a deal worth £100m.
Having already signed the likes of Danny Ings, Emi Buendia, Leon Bailey, Lucas Digne and Philippe Coutinho, the latest transfer target to reportedly emerge on the Villians’ radar is AC Milan defensive midfielder Franck Kessie.
That’s according to a recent report from Spanish outlet Fichajes, who claims the Premier League giants have entered the race to sign the highly-rated midfielder on a free transfer.
Kessie, 25, will be out of contract at the San Siro at the end of the season, and despite being with the Rossoneri since 2017, now looks set to move on following months of speculation.
Discussing the possibility of fans seeing Kessie depart the club for free in the summer recently, manager Stefano Pioli admitted there are no guarantees the Ivorian will commit his future to the club.
“He can play in many roles. On Saturday I put him on the frontline to limit Brozovic. In the defensive phase he did well, while in the attacking phase we didn’t have a smooth manoeuvre,” he said (via MilanNews).
“Diaz entered well, we needed more brilliance and he gave it to us. Kessie is a professional, we’ll see what happens on a contractual level.”
Since joining the club five years ago, Kessie has featured in 211 matches, in all competitions, directly contributing to 52 goals along the way.